Obstructive Jaundice
Hepatitis December 22nd, 2009
Jaundice is defined as that condition in which the eyes, skin, and various other tissues of the body acquire yellow color. This yellowing is caused due to the excessive circulation of bilirubin in the body.
Obstructive jaundice or “Cholestasis” is caused due to some obstruction caused in the flow of bile. The condition of obstructive jaundice is caused due to some drug reaction, presence of stone in bile duct, excessive intake of alcohol, cancer etc.
Symptoms Of Obstructive Jaundice:
The common symptom of obstructive jaundice includes:
- Stools turns pale in colour
- Urine acquires darker colour and also carry urobilinogen
- Itching is noticed in the skin
- Skin and eyes turn yellow in colour
Causes For Obstructive Jaundice:
The causes for obstructive jaundice can be divided as intrahepatic causes and extrahepatic causes.
- Intrahepatic Causes: In this condition any kind of damage caused to the liver cells result in obstructive jaundice. The common cause for this condition to arrive is considered as the excessive intake of alcohol, drugs, hepatitis etc. It is a view that intake of these increases the amount of liver enzymes which indicates liver damage. The symptoms of this condition includes swollen belly and enlarged spleen.
- Extrahepatic Causes: As we know that a common duct which carries bile to intestine from the liver . In case an obstruction is caused in this duct due to stones, or due to presence of pancreatic cancer then it can result in condition. Not only the bile duct stone but even stones present in gall bladder can pass from the gallbladder duct and move into the bile duct obstructing it. This causes obstructive jaundice and pancreatitis in addition to abdominal pain.