Alcoholic Liver Disease - Diagnosis

Diagnosis

There are many tests to assess alcoholic liver damage. Besides blood examination, doctors use ultrasound and a CT scan to assess liver damage. In some cases a liver biopsy is performed. This minor procedure is done under local anesthesia, and involves placing a small needle in the liver and obtaining a piece of tissue. The tissue is then sent to the laboratory to be examined under a microscope. The differential diagnoses for fatty liver non-alcoholic steatosis, drug-induced steatosis, include diabetes, obesity and starvation.