Alcoholic Hepatitis and Corticosteroids

Excerpt

During the past decade, much progress has been made in understanding the pathobiology of alcoholic hepatitis. Prospective natural history studies indicate that 80% of patients with this lesion who continue to drink develop cirrhosis within 5 years (1); this is consistent with the finding that ethanol causes increased in-vitro incorporation of tritiated proline into collagen of biopsy specimens of alcoholic hepatitis (2). Alcoholic hepatitis occurs in only 10% to 30% of patients with a history of chronic alcoholism in which intake of alcoholic beverages is sufficient to interfere with work, social responsibilities, and proper food intake. This variation in susceptibility