Other terms
- Acute Myocardial Infarction
- Adjuvant Therapy
- Advanced Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (LUSC)
- Adverse event
- Adverse Event Grading
- Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
- Aging Hands
- Alopecia Areata
- Alopecia Areata
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Angina Pectoris
- Angiogenesis
Acute Hepatic Failure
What is Acute Hepatic Failure? Also referred to as acute liver failure, acute hepatic failure is a sudden, severe injury to the hepatocytes accompanied by symptoms of encephalopathy and impairment of synthetic function in a patient who does not have chronic liver disease or cirrhosis. Acute hepatic failure is rare, affecting around 1 out of 1 million people annually in the United States.
What causes Acute Hepatic Failure?
Acute hepatic failure has several etiological factors:
- Acetaminophen toxicity
- Ischemia
- Drug-induced injury
- Viral infections, such as Hepatitis A, B, and E, HSV, and EBV
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Heat Stroke
- Pregnancy-associated injuries, such as acute fatty liver of pregnancy and HELLP syndrome.
- Budd Chiari syndrome.
Symptoms of Acute Hepatic Failure
The initial symptoms of acute hepatic failure can be nonspecific and may include:
- Fatigue
- Lethargy
- Nausea/Vomiting
- Abdominal pain in the upper right quadrant
- Anorexia
- Pruritus
Symptoms then progress rapidly to the development of jaundice, ascites, and confusion. Without treatment, it can lead to multi-organ dysfunction, coma, and death.
Source: Stravitz, R. T., & Lee, W. M. (2019). Acute liver failure. The Lancet, 394(10201), 869–881. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(19)31894-x
