Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) refers to a kind of liver diseases caused by long-term heavy drinking. In the early stage

it is often manifested as alcoholic fatty liver disease

which may further develop into alcoholic hepatitis

alcoholic liver fibrosis and alcoholic cirrhosis. Severe alcoholism may lead to extensive hepatocyte necrosis and induce liver failure. Professor Tian Delu has studied digestive diseases for more than 50 years. He has profound understanding and rich clinical experience on the mechanism

prevention and treatment of alcoholic liver disease. He divides ALD into three stages

namely

early stage

middle stage and advanced stage. He focuses on the liver

spleen and kidney for syndrome differentiation and treatment. In the early stage

alcohol poisoning injures the liver and affects the spleen and stomach. The external cause of the disease is alcohol toxin and dampness-heat. Disharmony of the liver and spleen

stagnation of Qi and dampness are the initial pathogenesis. The key points of the treatment are to harmonize the liver and spleen

alleviate a hangover and remove toxin. In the middle stage

both the liver and spleen are injured

and phlegm and blood stasis are blocking. The aggregation of qi

blood and phlegm dampness is the pathogenesis of the middle stage. The key of treatment is to regulate the liver

regulate qi

resolve phlegm and remove blood stasis. In the advanced stage

involvement of the liver and spleen affects the kidney

resulting in a mixture of deficiency and excess. It is the pathogenesis of the advanced stage that the deficiency-excess mixing leads to alcoholic tympanites. The focus of the treatment is to treat both manifestations and root cause of the disease and to use both dredging and supplementation.