[Acute alcoholic hepatitis: treatments].

PROGNOSIS: Acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH) is a severe form of alcohol-related liver disease with a high short-term mortality that can reach 50%. Long-term outcome depends on definitive weaning from alcohol and the development of cirrhosis. ESSENTIAL THERAPEUTIC STEP: Abstention from alcohol is the number one therapeutic measure required for treating AAH. Abstention must be total and definitive. THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES: The pathogenic mechanisms involved in AAH have led to close assessment of numerous treatment protocols. Thirty-three randomized trials have evaluated drug treatments based on various strategies: antiinflammatory action using corticosteroids or colchicine; reduction of the hypermetabolism using propylthiouracil; hepatoprotective effect against oxidative stress using cyanidalol, alpha lipoid acid, silymarine, amlopidine, malotilate; vasodilatation to improve oxygenation of the centrolublular region using a calcium channel inhibitor, amlopidine; increased liver regeneration using anabolism steroids, intravenous perfusion combining insulin and glucagon; antifibrosis action using colchicine, D penicillamine; improved microcirculation due to increased deformability of the red cells and inhibition of TNF-alpha using pentoxifyllin. Eleven therapeutic trials have investigated the effect of parenteral or enteral artificial nutrition. GOLD STANDARD TREATMENT: Among all these strategies, the only one with a proven efficacy is corticosteroid therapy. Four trials have demonstrated the effect of corticosteroid therapy on short-term survival and 3 of the 4 meta-analyses devoted to the topic have demonstrated the usefulness of corticosteroid therapy in severe forms defined by a Maddrey index > or = 32: bilirubin in mumol per liter/17 + 4.6 (patient's PT in seconds--control PT in seconds) and the presence or not of encephalopathy. The gold standard treatment for severe AAH is oral prednisolone 40 mg/d for 1 month (excluding contraindications). PERSPECTIVES: Despite the effect of corticosteroid therapy, mortality at 2 months in severe AAH is still about 30%. Recent experimental data suggest that monoclonal anti-TNF alpha antibodies could be useful.