Normally, the heart pumps blood through the body and then the blood returns to the heart in a long circle. If blood can't flow easily through the liver, it must return to the heart using other blood vessels. When this happens, blood does not flow normally through the liver. If blood is not filtered by the liver, poisons and wastes can build up in the body. This can cause symptoms such as mental confusion, agitation or tremors, and it can even lead to coma.
Problems can also happen with the other blood vessels that carry blood past the liver.
These vessels have thin walls and can easily break open. Bleeding from a broken vessel is serious and can be fatal. But cirrhosis is most commonly caused by drinking too much alcohol. This is called alcoholic cirrhosis. Women who drink too much alcohol may be at greater risk of developing alcoholic cirrhosis than men who drink too much.