Liver Disorders in Systemic Diseases

Liver disease may occur in association with various systemic diseases. These primary diseases are predominantly extrahepatic, but associated hepatic dysfunction may develop and often is of clinical significance and diagnostic importance. In some cases, liver disease simply represents a manifestation of the systemic disease process involving the liver, as in disseminated malignancy, systemic infection, and some metabolic diseases. Rarely, it may constitute a relatively unique manifestation of a systemic disease, as in primary sclerosing cholangitis associated with ulcerative colitis.