Andres Duarte-Rojo, MD, MS, DSc
Andres Duarte-Rojo, MD, MS, DSc
Ramon Bataller, MD, PhD
Ramon Bataller, MD, PhD
Vikrant Rachakonda, MD
Vikrant Rachakonda, MD

Rachakonda V, Bataller R, Duarte-Rojo A. Recent advances in alcoholic hepatitis. F1000Res. 2020 Feb 10;9:F1000 Faculty Rev-97. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.20394.1. PMID: 32089834; PMCID: PMC7014576.

ABSTRACT
Alcoholic hepatitis is the severest clinical presentation of alcoholic liver disease. Lacking an effective pharmacologic treatment, alcoholic hepatitis is associated with a poor prognosis and its recovery relies mostly on abstinence. With alcohol use disorder being universally on the rise, the impact of alcoholic hepatitis on society and health-care costs is expected to increase significantly. Prognostic factors and liver biopsy can help with timely diagnosis, to determine eligibility and response to corticosteroids, and for prognostication and transplant referral. Although recent discoveries in the pathophysiology of alcoholic hepatitis are encouraging and could pave the way for novel treatment modalities, a multidisciplinary approach considering timely identification and treatment of liver-related complications, infectious and metabolic disease, malnutrition, and addiction counseling should be emphasized. Apart from proper selection of candidates, transplant programs should provide adequate post-transplant addiction support in order to make of early liver transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis the ultimate sobering experience in the next decade.
For full text, please click here.