Clinical practice is expected to get benefited on how to treat patients with severe or acute alcoholic hepatitis, from results of two recently presented French studies at the International Liver CongressTM 2010 press conference.

The results were presented by Professor Philippe Mathurin from the Hôpital Huriez, CHRU Lille, France.

From Esciencenews.com:

Acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH) however, is an absolute contraindication for liver transplantation. It has a low survival rate, with mortality remaining at around 35% at 6 months despite corticoid treatment, the current standard of care for the condition. The second study presented today will help inform a potential new treatment option for those patients who do not respond to standard treatment with corticoid. Data demonstrated that treatment with combined corticoids plus N-acetyl cysteine (C+NAC) showed an increase in survival rates. There have been few, large, well-designed trials advocating the use of N-acetyl cysteine to slow progression of liver disease. This latest study adds to the growing body of evidence in the benefits of treatment with C+NAC in patients with acute liver disease.

The results suggested that early liver transplantation could be proposed to non-respondents, pending a very careful examination of selected patients. It is worthwhile to note here that patients who do not respond to steroids have a six-month survival of around 30 percent and most death happen within two months.