Cholestasis

In medicine, cholestasis is a condition where bilecannot flow from the liverto the duodenum.

Etiology

• gallstones
• abdominal mass(e.g. cancer)
• primary sclerosis cholangitis, secondary to inflammatory bowel disease
• Primary biliary cirrhosis, secondary to autoimmune disorders
• congential anomalies of the bilary tract
• biliary trauma
• some drugs, (e.g. Flucloxacillinand Erythromycin)

Symptoms

• Pale stools,
• dark urine,
• itchiness (pruritis) and
• jaundice.

Bileis secreted by the liver to aid in the digestionof fats. Drugs such as golds salts,nitrofurantoin, anabolic steroids, chlorpromazine, prochlorperazine, sulindac, cimetidine, erythromycin, can cause cholestasis and may result in damage to the liver.

See also

• Liver function tests

External links

• Drug-induced cholestasis- medlineplus.org
• Cholestasis- emedicine.com

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholestasis Wikipedia article Cholestasis.