Cirrhosis refers to the development of irreversible scarring and damage to the liver through chronic repetitive injury. As the liver tries to regenerate itself it develops regenerative nodules of liver tissue surrounded by scar tissue or fibrosis. Repetitive liver injury can be caused by chronic viral infection (HCV or HBV), repetitive alcohol misuse, fatty liver and steatohepatitis (NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), autoimmune liver disease (antibodies against the liver), iron overload (haemochromatosis or hemochromatosis) or various cholestatic disease such as primary biliary cirrhosis (biliary cholangiopathy) or sclerosing cholangitis. There are other rarer causes of cirrhosis.