Does Fatty Liver Disease Cause Upper Right Quadrant Pain?

Posted on Sun, 15 Apr 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 Answered on

Fri, 18 Aug 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : Greetings Doctor,

In early February, I felt slight (mild) pain in upper right quadrant of my abdomen. The pain came on gradual and was mild and episodic. During the first week of March, the pain again began in the upper right and then radiated to the lower right quadrant as well as into my back. An ultrasound was preformed March 13, 2018, see attached report. The report didn’t locate a gallstone, but mentioned noticing a fatty liver. The pain remained episodic until recently, where its mostly constant mild pain in upper/lower right quadrant. The pain isn’t associated with eating food, consuming alcohol or any physical activity.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Klerida Shehu (13 hours later)

Brief Answer:
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Detailed Answer:

Hi,

I read carefully all your concerns and I can say as follows:
1. With regards to abdominal ultrasound and fatty liver. It can not explain your symptoms. Fatty liver doesn't cause abdominal pain.
2. You are reporting that pain is usually at the upper and lower right quadrant. Usually, it is related to large bowel issues like
- IBS( irritable bowel syndrome)
- large bowel tumors ( rarely)
This is why to my opinion you need to do a colonoscopy to rule out large bowel issues.

Hope it was helpful to you!

Regards,
Dr. Klerida Shehu, Gastroenterologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar