Is Liver Fibrosis Reversible?

Abstract

Cirrhosis represents a late stage of progressive scarring in chronic liver disease. It begins with subendothelial or pericentral fibrosis (hepatic fibrosis) and progresses to panlobular fibrosis with nodule formation (cirrhosis). Once established, fibrosis has generally been considered to be irreversible. This belief was established more than half a century ago, when the diagnosis of cirrhosis was made clinically on the basis of signs of end-stage liver disease, such as ascites, muscle wasting, variceal bleeding, jaundice, and encephalopathy. These features continue to indicate a poor prognosis in the absence of liver transplantation and are still used to classify the severity of . . .