BACKGROUND: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is characterised by acute hepatic insult manifesting as jaundice and coagulopathy, complicated within 4 weeks by ascites and/or encephalopathy in patients with previously diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic liver disease. We studied the clinical, biochemical and etiological profiles of ACLF patients investigating variables which could predict mortality. METHODS: Consecutive ACLF patients were enrolled and given standard intensive care management. They were monitored for predictors of 90-day mortality. RESULTS: 91 patients were included; besides jaundice (median bilirubin 23.1mg/dL) and coagulopathy, acute onset ascites with or without encephalopathy was the presenting symptom in 92%. In all patients a first diagnosis of chronic liver disease was made, mainly due to hepatitis B (37%) or alcohol (34%). Reactivation of chronic hepatitis B and alcoholic hepatitis were the common acute insults. The 90-day mortality was 63%. On multivariate analysis, hepatic encephalopathy, low serum sodium, and high INR were found to be independent baseline predictors of mortality. Amongst all severity scores studied, MELD, SOFA and APACHE-II scores had AUROCs of >0.8 which was significantly higher than that of Child-Turcotte-Pugh. CONCLUSIONS: ACLF has very high mortality. Hepatic encephalopathy, low serum sodium and high INR predict poor outcome. Mortality can also be predicted by baseline MELD, SOFA or APACHE-II scores.
BACKGROUND: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is characterised by acute hepatic insult manifesting as jaundice and coagulopathy, complicated within 4 weeks by ascites and/or encephalopathy in patients with previously diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic liver disease. We studied the clinical, biochemical and etiological profiles of ACLF patients investigating variables which could predict mortality. METHODS: Consecutive ACLF patients were enrolled and given standard intensive care management. They were monitored for predictors of 90-day mortality. RESULTS: 91 patients were included; besides jaundice (median bilirubin 23.1mg/dL) and coagulopathy, acute onset ascites with or without encephalopathy was the presenting symptom in 92%. In all patients a first diagnosis of chronic liver disease was made, mainly due to hepatitis B (37%) or alcohol (34%). Reactivation of chronic hepatitis B and alcoholic hepatitis were the common acute insults. The 90-day mortality was 63%. On multivariate analysis, hepatic encephalopathy, low serum sodium, and high INR were found to be independent baseline predictors of mortality. Amongst all severity scores studied, MELD, SOFA and APACHE-II scores had AUROCs of >0.8 which was significantly higher than that of Child-Turcotte-Pugh. CONCLUSIONS: ACLF has very high mortality. Hepatic encephalopathy, low serum sodium and high INR predict poor outcome. Mortality can also be predicted by baseline MELD, SOFA or APACHE-II scores.
Authors: Sara Blasco-Algora; José Masegosa-Ataz; María Luisa Gutiérrez-García; Sonia Alonso-López; Conrado M Fernández-Rodríguez Journal: World J Gastroenterol Date: 2015-11-14 Impact factor: 5.742
Authors: A Choudhury; A Jindal; R Maiwall; M K Sharma; B C Sharma; V Pamecha; M Mahtab; S Rahman; Y K Chawla; S Taneja; S S Tan; H Devarbhavi; Z Duan; Chen Yu; Q Ning; Ji Dong Jia; D Amarapurkar; C E Eapen; A Goel; S S Hamid; A S Butt; W Jafri; D J Kim; H Ghazinian; G H Lee; Ajit Sood; L A Lesmana; Z Abbas; G Shiha; D A Payawal; A K Dokmeci; J D Sollano; G Carpio; G K Lau; F Karim; P N Rao; R Moreau; P Jain; P Bhatia; G Kumar; S K Sarin Journal: Hepatol Int Date: 2017-08-30 Impact factor: 6.047