What is the reason for the stabbing pain in the liver area

Although pain in the right ribs is not necessarily caused by liver disease. But pain in this area is often a manifestation of pain in the liver area. my country is a country with a very high incidence of hepatitis. Therefore, when the patient has pain in the liver area, doctors often first consider whether the pain is caused by hepatitis. Of course, other liver and gallbladder diseases in the body and lesions of adjacent tissues and organs can also cause pain in this area.

1. Causes of frequent dull pain in the liver area

1. Diseases of the hepatobiliary system, such as viral hepatitis, toxic hepatitis, cirrhosis caused by various reasons, liver abscess, amoebic liver disease, and biliary tract infection can all cause pain in the liver area, especially liver cancer, bile duct cancer, and cholelithiasis, which can cause more severe pain in the liver area.

2. Chest wall lesions, such as local injury of the right hypochondrium muscle, rib fracture, chest wall contusion, osteomyelitis, herpes zoster, intercostal neuritis, epidemic chest pain (, chest wall tuberculosis, etc.

3. Pleural and lung tissue lesions, such as right-sided tuberculous pleurisy, pneumothorax, empyema, hemothorax, pneumonia, bronchial lung cancer, pulmonary embolism, long-term cough and chest and rib pain, etc.

4. Subphrenic abscess, right kidney tumor, pancreatic head cancer, etc. also have similar symptoms of right hypochondrium pain.

2. Factors that may cause liver pain

1. Hepatitis

The liver area is prone to pain during the acute stage of hepatitis. During the acute stage of hepatitis, the cells in the liver have varying degrees of inflammatory swelling, and the entire liver also swells, making the entire capsule tight, affecting the sensory nerve endings on the capsule and causing pain.

2. Psychological factors

Many hepatitis B virus carriers have normal liver function but always feel liver pain, which is considered to be a psychological suggestion of the patient or a non-specific indicator of liver disease. To identify whether liver pain is caused by liver tissue inflammation or emotional disorders. Nearly 20% of patients with liver pain have basically normal liver tissue, but have varying degrees of depression, which is the main cause of liver pain.

3. Fatty liver

Fatty liver is caused by enlarged liver and excessive stretch of the hepatic capsule, which stimulates the sensory nerves on the hepatic capsule and causes pain in the liver area. It may also manifest as tenderness and percussion pain, which is more common in acute fatty liver. In very rare cases of fatty liver, severe pain in the liver area may occur, accompanied by rebound pain and fever.

4. Cirrhosis

Many patients with mild cirrhosis have no symptoms and do not feel pain in the liver area. Symptomatic patients may experience weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, and weight loss, along with an enlarged liver. Some patients with cirrhosis may experience liver pain, which is mostly a dull pain in the liver area. Pain in the liver area is relatively rare in cirrhosis and other causes should be ruled out.

5. Liver cancer

Pain in the liver area may occur due to the rapid growth of the tumor, which increases the tension on the liver capsule, or the infiltration of the liver capsule by liver cancer. This is often the first symptom of mid- to late-stage liver cancer. Discomfort in the right upper abdomen may occur before liver pain, and the pain is mostly intermittent or continuous dull pain or stabbing pain. The pain in the liver area is sometimes mild and sometimes severe, and occasionally it may ease on its own or even disappear within a period of time.

6. Mental stimulation

Anger, shortness of breath, depression, etc. can cause liver qi stagnation and lead to pain.