title: [Acute liver failure in chronic hepatic disease. Clinico-therapeutic evaluation].
abstract: Chronic liver diseases are potentially evolving clinical situations which, independently by the etiology, could proceed towards progressive liver structural and functional impairments. The only efficient treatment is orthotopic liver transplantation. Chronic liver diseases, and up to 40% of liver cirrhosis, are initially asymptomatic, but cirrhosis is the most frequent cause of death among non-neoplastic digestive diseases. Important elements complicating a decompensated liver cirrhosis are ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, digestive bleeding and jaundice. Acute liver failure (ALF) is the expression of a clinical state, that is common to many conditions sharing severe liver structural and functional impairments. In patients affected by decompensated liver cirrhosis, ALF could be triggered by several factors, while the death is caused by bleeding episodes, hepato-renal syndrome, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis or hepatocarcinoma. In patients affected by chronic liver diseases, the diagnosis of ALF is based on progressively increasing jaundice, encephalopathy and coagulopathy. Recent clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of extrahepatic liver support systems, either artificial or bio-artificial, in treating episodes of ALF in chronic liver patients. The preliminary results indicate a potential use of such systems in blood detoxification, but they also showed limits in increasing patient survival.
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Gastroenterologia ed Endoscopia Digestiva Azienda Ospedaliera Arcispedale S. Anna, Ferrara.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scagliarini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gamberini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pazzi
mesh_terms: D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*