News Briefing
Drinkers to be screened to help combat liver disease
AT least 10,000 drinkers in Southampton are to
take part in a groundbreaking screening programme
to help spot people developing liver disease
before it is too late.
The disease is known as a silent killer because
at least one in five people who show signs of
liver damage die within a matter of months.
Latest figures from Southampton General
Hospital reveal there were at least 946 liver
admissions last year - with more than 90 per
cent of these due to alcohol.
Of these, 49 people died and the hospital's liver
team is increasingly seeing more young people
with end stage cirrhosis.
Click here to read about plans to calm revellers down with chill-out music
It's hoped the £240,000 screening programme
- devised by University of Southampton liver
expert Dr Nick Sheron - will pick up damage
long before it would otherwise become evident.
"We are basically finding people who have liver
disease but don't know they have liver disease,
because there are lot of people out there in the
community who have a problem and don't know
about it," he said.
"This is because the development of liver disease
is a completely silent process and you don't
know it's happening until it is too late. The first
thing you know about the liver scarring is so bad
that you have essentially got liver failure."
A lifestyle questionnaire will be sent to 10,000
people from six general practices around
Southampton and it's predicted 20 per cent of
respondents will be drinking at levels that could
lead to liver disease.
All of those people will be invited back to their
practice where they will be interviewed by a
nurse and given a blood test.
Click here to read about Southampton's top cop hoping to shake the city's reputation for booze-fulled problems
The test will reveal with 95 per cent accuracy
whether they've got severe scarring or cirrhosis
and with a 70 per cent accuracy whether they've
got early stages of damage.
If they are found to be developing damage they
will then be referred to a liver clinic and treated.
"Admissions are increasing 10 per cent a year
and we are anticipating that to continue into the
future," Dr Sheron said.
"People are getting liver disease younger and
people are dying younger, the youngest I've had
in the past year was 26 and I think one of my
colleagues might have had an even younger
death."
If the three-year programme proves successful
it could be rolled out nationally.
Alison Rogers, British Liver Trust chief executive,
said a national strategic approach covering
both prevention and treatment was desperately
needed.
She said shocking new statistics had revealed
liver disease had climbed to be the fifth largest
cause of death in the country and Britain was the
only developed country where liver disease
deaths were increasing.
2:29pm Saturday 10th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: G Carr, Bishopstoke on 1:05pm Mon 26 May 08
The warnings on the media during the last week have been full of "doom and gloom" but very little information about the actual symptoms of liver damage, just saying that as a nation we are drinking too much is a very negative approach. I have been doing some research on the net this weekend and found your artical very positive. It is good to know that the University of Southamton is taking the lead and starting this programme, by hopefully identifiying people with liver desease and providing treatment before they suffer permanent damage.
The warnings on the media during the last week have been full of "doom and gloom" but very little information about the actual symptoms of liver damage, just saying that as a nation we are drinking too much is a very negative approach. I have been doing some research on the net this weekend and found your artical very positive. It is good to know that the University of Southamton is taking the lead and starting this programme, by hopefully identifiying people with liver desease and providing treatment before they suffer permanent damage.
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