What if your liver only functioned at 22%?

If there are any professionals out there will you please tell me what would happen to a person if their liver was only functioning at 22%. What would their health be like and some symptoms, please. Is it true that you need to have a liver biopsy to find out how bad fatty liver disease is and at what % the liver is functioning at? This is important and urgent. Thank you in advance.

A fatty liver is only one of the reasons the liver may have problems...there are many more causes. Fatty liver can become a problem when the fat is in the liver cells or
between the liver cells. It puts pressure on the liver cells and can block nourishment and oxygen that the cells need and they can start to be in distress. Sometimes, a person who loses weight will help relieve
this pressure. However, if it is not relieved,
the immune system will step in and cause
inflammation inside the liver. When this occurs, it can lead to the liver cells not being able to do the functions they once did and it can also cause the cells themselves to die off. The dead cells form scar tissue inside of the liver and also block the flow of what the cells, that are left, need and it continues from there.
I am stating this because there is a difference between liver damage and liver function. Usually, when damage occurs to the cells, it isn't until the function of the liver goes down that it shows symptoms in the body.
The liver has many functions, over 500 of them.
The doctor can tell by certain blood tests done, how the liver is handling some of these functions. When the functions deteriate it can cause symptoms like the whites of the eyes and skin turning yellow because the liver cannot convert bilirubin into a soluble form anymore. It can cause a patient to bleed easily since the liver cannot make the factors that help the blood to clot well. It can cause fluid to build up inside the body cause the protein that the liver used to be able to make is decreased and it is what holds the fluids inside the vessels. It can cause the patient to be unable to think clearly because toxins that the liver once handled, get into the blood and go pass the blood brain barrier and into the brain.
A liver biopsy is the very best test for telling how the liver is. Seeing a specific specimen with their own eyes is much better than viewing films of the liver. They can see how much damage there is and also how far advanced the disease may be. It also gives them the idea of how better to treat the patient.

I'm going to give you some links to help you better understand about fatty liver disease and also cirrhosis. These are easy to read and may answer more questions you might have: http://www.medicinenet.com/fatty_liver/a...
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cirrhos...

If a patient only has 78% of their liver function left, it would be best for someone in the family to see about an advance directive being made up or a power of attorney. This way they can talk directly to the patient's doctor or handle the patient affairs when they are unable to do so.
The privacy laws now are strict, even when
it is family asking these questions.

I hope this information is of help to you.