transaminase, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time. Imaging tests such as transient elastography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging can be used to show the liver tissue and the bile ducts. Liver biopsy can be performed to examine liver tissue to distinguish between various conditions; tests such as elastography may reduce the need for biopsy in some situations. In liver disease, prothrombin time is longer than usual. In addition, the amounts of both coagulation factors and anticoagulation factors are reduced as a diseased liver cannot productively synthesize them as it did when healthy. Nonetheless, there are two exceptions in this falling tendency: coagulation factor VIII and von Willebrand factor, a platelet adhesive protein. Both inversely rise in the setting of hepatic insufficiency, thanks to the drop of hepatic clearance and compensatory productions from other sites of the body. Fibrinolysis generally proceeds faster with acute liver failure and advanced stage liver disease, unlike chronic liver disease in which concentration of fibrinogen remains unchanged. A previously undiagnosed liver disease may become evident first after autopsy. Following are gross pathology images: Treatment Anti-viral medications are available to treat infections such as hepatitis B. Other conditions may be managed by slowing down disease progression, for example: By using steroid-based drugs in autoimmune hepatitis. Regularly removing a quantity of blood from a vein (venesection) in the iron overload condition, hemochromatosis. Wilson’s disease, a condition where copper builds up in the body, can be managed with drugs that bind copper, allowing it to be passed from the body in urine. In cholestatic liver disease, (where the flow of bile is affected due to cystic fibrosis) a medication called ursodeoxycholic acid may be given. See also Model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) References Further reading External links Alcohol and health