What' s New in Alcoholic Hepatitis

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) was first reported in 1961 as an acute disease in alcoholics with severe clinical syndromes including jaundice, anorexia, nausea, upper abdominal pain, hepatomegaly and fever etc. 1 Today, it is generally accepted that severe AH is a form of acute - on - chronic liver failure in patients with underlying chronic alcohol - related liver disease ( ALD). The detailed diagnosis of AH was recently defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ( NIAAA)- supported consortia and published in 2016. 2 The first diagnostic criterion is alcohol drinking history, which includes heavy drinking > 5 years, recent drinking > 6 months with < 60 days of abstinence before the onset of jaundice, and men with >4 drinks ( 50 -60 g)/day, and women with >3 drinks ( 40 g)/day. The typical clinical sign is jaundice with some non - specific signs and symptoms including malaise, tender hepatomegaly, decompensation (ascites, encephalopathy, bacterial infection, variceal bleeding).