Alcoholic liver disease: diagnosis and management in general hospital
The three major clinical and morphological forms of alcoholic liver disease are: steatosis, hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. Steatosis may be reversible in those who quit drinking. In severe hepatitis, glucocorticosteroids should be used as firstline treatment. In moderate hepatitis, alcohol cessation and metabolic therapy may produce disease regression. Management of cirrhosis is focused on the prevention and treatment of complications. Longterm therapy with ademetionine (Heptor, Heptral) improves life prognosis in compensated and decompensated liver cirrhosis. In the reported study, intravenous ademetionine have significantly decreased serum bilirubin levels in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis.