2013, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp 161 – 167

Alcoholic hepatitis

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Authors and Affiliations

Correspondence to: Gianni Testino, MD Centro Alcologico Regione – Regione Liguria, Alcohol Unit, Department of Internal and Specialistic Medicine, Padiglione 10 (piano terra), IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, Piazzale R. Benzi 10, 16132, Genova, Italy Phone: 0039-010-5552769, Mobile phone: 331-6447569, E-mail: gianni.testino@hsanmartino.it

Abstract

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a clinical syndrome characterized by jaundice and liver failure that generally occurs after decades of harmful alcohol consumption. Less severe forms of acute AH (AAH) frequently respond to alcoholic abstinence; whereas severe AAHs are characterized by a poor prognosis: up to 40-60% of these patients die within six months. Glucocorticoids currently remain the mainstay for treating severe AAH in patients with Maddrey’s Discriminant Function score > 32. Standard contraindications include recent upper gastrointestinal bleeding, renal insufficiency and uncontrolled infections. The evaluation of concomitant viral infections (hepatitis C and B viruses) is mandatory. Liver transplantation (LT), in non-responders patients, is a possible therapeutic option for severe AAH, but it is rarely used because a 6-month abstinence period is required before listing for LT. Unfortunately, most of these patients die before the end of this sober period. In our opinion, in case of severe AAH and in case of patients with a good social support and without severe psychotic or personality disorders, the lack of pre-LT abstinence period alone should not be considered a hindrance to LT.

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About this article

PMC ID: 3725441
PubMed ID: 23904876
DOI: 

Article Publishing Date (print): 15-06-2013
Available Online: 25-06-2013

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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