NO. Most people with liver disease expect to feel pain over their liver.  This type of pain is known as right upper quadrant pain or tenderness (RUQT). However, RUQT is rarely due to chronic liver disease or chronic hepatitis. RUQT may occur during the acute stages of liver disease (liver disease or hepatitis that has occured within the last 6 months). It may occasionally occur when one experiences a flare-up of a chronic liver disease, although these flare-ups are very uncommon. It is most often caused by acute inflammation, irritation, and distention of the liver’s surface. Otherwise, the liver is rarely tender.

If pain in the region of the liver is experienced, other causes must be considered. For example, it may indicate gallstones, which happen to be associated with many liver diseases. Or it may indicate liver cancer—also known as hepatoma or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Scar tissue from prior abdominal surgery- known as adhesions, is also a cause of abdominal pain. Intestinal pain must also be considered, as the right side of the large intestine lies in close vicinity to the liver. Many people claim that although they do not actually feel pain in the liver region, they experience a rather vague sense of “fullness” or an “awareness” of the liver. The cause for this is unclear. If a person experiences abdominal pain associated with swelling of the abdomen, ascites—the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen—must be considered. Ascites is associated with advanced liver disease. Other causes of abdominal pain include those related to the stomach, such as peptic ulcer disease and gastritis, which are not necessarily indicative of liver disease and are readily treatable when -discovered.

The sphincter of oddi is a muscle that is also located on the RUQ. This sphincter functions as a one-way valve that allows pancreatic and biliary secretions and enzymes to enter the small intestine to aide in the digestion of food, while preventing secretions to back-up into the rest of the body. When this sphincter does not function properly, it becomes very tight and does not allow drainage of the pancreatic and bile ducts. This can result in RUQ pain. A sphincterotomy - cutting the sphincter of oddi is the treatment of choice.