Metabolic Liver Disease John J. Poterucha, MD

Metabolic liver disease encompasses a diverse group of disorders that can cause liver damage through various mechanisms. Many are due to inborn errors of metabolism that are relatively uncommon. The various metabolic liver diseases are listed in Table 1. This chapter reviews hereditary hemochromatosis, Wilson’s disease, and α1antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency because they are the metabolic liver diseases most gastroenterologists are likely to encounter. These three disorders are compared in Table 2.