title: Acute liver failure.
abstract: Untreated acute liver failure (ALF) has a poor outcome and so rapid diagnosis and management is vital if the patient is to survive. ALF has such profound and widespread physiological consequences that whenever possible, patients with ALF should be managed in an intensive care unit. Management is to support the physiology and treat the underlying cause. Advice should be sought from a centre capable of performing liver transplantation. Should recovery seem unlikely, liver transplantation is a viable treatment option in some cases.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2WB, UK. Electronic address: tony.whitehouse@uhb.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wendon
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D016031:Liver Transplantation
keywords: Acute; Diagnosis; Liver failure; Management; Physiopathology