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Review article: the treatment of alcoholic liver disease
Author(s) -
BLENDIS L. M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2036.1992.tb00568.x
Subject(s) - medicine , alcoholic liver disease , alcoholic hepatitis , intensive care medicine , disease , cirrhosis , pathogenesis , liver disease , hepatitis , gastroenterology
SUMMARY Over the past 20 years we have moved from a situation in which we had no therapy for alcoholic liver disease, through a period when any therapy we had was purely empirical, to an era where we have specific therapies for different aspects of this disease based upon sound pathogenic principles. In this short review, an attempt has been made to summarize these advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease. In particular, they explain why patients with severe acute alcoholic hepatitis continue to deteriorate in hospital despite withdrawal from alcohol, why they respond to corticosteroids, why only a small percentage of patients develop cirrhosis, and why propylthiouracil may offer Protection.