Korean J Gastroenterol.  2020 Aug;76(2):65-70. 10.4166/kjg.2020.76.2.65.

Medical Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease

• Song DS

• KMID: 2505811
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2020.76.2.65

Abstract

Alcoholic liver disease is a major cause of liver disease that results in significant morbidity and mortality in Korea. Abstinence isthe most important strategy to prevent disease progression. Corticosteroids improve the one-month survival in patients with severealcoholic hepatitis, but it was not effective on long-term survival. An N-acetylcysteine treatment combined with corticosteroidsmay provide a short-term survival benefit than corticosteroids alone. Pentoxifylline is unlikely to affect short-termsurvival. Hence, studies on new therapies, such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and fecal microbiota transplantation, areongoing. This paper briefly reviews the current knowledge of the medical treatment of alcoholic liver disease.

Keyword

Liver diseases, alcohol; Therapeutics; Adrenal cortex hormones

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Treatment of alcoholic hepatitis. mDF, Maddrey’s discriminant function.

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