Cardiac Liver
Heart failure causes circulatory problems that put more pressure on the portal vein. This particular vein supplies blood to the liver. Due to the dysfunction, the liver grows larger; a condition medical practitioners usually call cardiac liver because of the relationship between the two vital organs. Other experts call it cardiac cirrhosis, which comprises several hepatic imbalances when a person suffers from right-sided heart failure.
The cause of cardiac cirrhosis could be right heart failure, which leads to increased congestion in the veins and puts more pressure on the hepatic (liver) sinusoids, a network of tiny blood vessels to cleanse the blood and add nutrients to it.
Some cardiac abnormalities that can cause cardiac cirrhosis are constrictive pericarditis, cardiac tamponade, pericardial diseases, biventricular heart failure, and severe pulmonary hypertension.
Most people do not feel any symptoms of cardiac liver. However, the congested liver causes mild abdominal discomfort. But still, the liver becomes tender and enlarged, and in severe cases, the patient may have jaundice and develop ascites. In some people, the spleen is affected by the disease, causing it to enlarge, too. Chronic and severe liver congestion can damage the liver and cause cirrhosis (severe scarring.)
