Alcoholic hepatitis

Description:

Alcoholic hepatitis – the diffusion inflammatory process in hepatic fabric which is result of toxic damage of a liver alcohol and products of its disintegration. It, as a rule, the chronic disease developing in 5–7 years from the beginning of regular alcohol intake.

Symptoms of Alcoholic hepatitis:

Alcoholic hepatitis is shown in two forms:

Persistent form. Rather stable form of a disease, remains ability to reversibility of inflammatory process on condition of the alcoholization termination. At continuation of alcohol intake can pass into the progressing form of alcoholic hepatitis.

The progressing form (active easy, average, heavy degree) – melkoochagovy necrotic damage of a liver which result it becomes frequent cirrhosis. Makes 15–20% of cases of alcoholic hepatitis. At timely treatment of alcoholism stabilization of inflammatory processes with preservation of the residual phenomena is possible.

Reasons of Alcoholic hepatitis:

At intake about 90% of alcohol are metabolized in a liver with formation of acetic aldehyde, the substance striking liver cells – hepatocytes. Alcohol and its metabolites start the cascade of the chemical changes in an organism leading to a hypoxia of hepatocytes and, finally, to a necrosis of cells of a liver.

Weight of alcoholic hepatitis is directly connected with a dose, quality of alcohol and lasting its reception.

Treatment of Alcoholic hepatitis:

Complex treatment of alcoholic hepatitis includes: elimination of an etiological factor, a vysokokenergetichesky diet with high content of protein, drug treatment, operational treatment.

Treatment of any form of alcoholic hepatitis provides the alcohol intake termination. However it is necessary to consider that really no more than one third of patients completely refuse alcohol after the message of the diagnosis; still approximately as much considerably reduce amount of the taken alcoholic drinks while about 30% in general ignore recommendations of the doctor. The last category is preferential presented by alcoholics who demand collaboration of the hepatologist and the narcologist.

The adverse forecast at them is defined by impossibility to convince the patient of need of abstinence owing to alcohol addiction, on the one hand, and existence of contraindications to purpose of the neuroleptics recommended by the narcologist owing to a liver failure, with another.

At refusal of alcohol jaundice, ascites and encephalopathy can disappear, but if the patient still takes alcohol and it is bad to eat, alcoholic hepatitis can recur. Sometimes this recurrence comes to an end with death, but more often symptoms disappear in several weeks or months.