Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;20(5):505-508.
doi: 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0612.

Acute liver failure

Mohammed A Arshad  1 , Nicholas Murphy  2 , Mansoor N Bangash  3
Affiliations

Acute liver failure

Mohammed A Arshad et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Acute liver failure is a rare syndrome and is primarily caused by paracetamol toxicity in developed nations. Survival for patients with acute liver failure has steadily improved over the last few decades from approximately 20% to greater than 60%. This marked improvement in survival has been due to a combination of improvements in medical practice and the use of emergency liver transplantation in selected patients. Early recognition and timely initial management in the non-specialist centre can significantly improve outcomes. Patients should be simultaneously discussed with a transplant centre and referred to critical care. Close liaison with transplant centres to ensure timely transfer in deteriorating patients is important.

Keywords: Acute liver failure; drug overdose; liver transplantation; paracetamol; patient selection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
O’Grady classification of acute liver failure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bernal W, Auzinger G, Dhawan A, Wendon J. Acute liver failure. Lancet 2010;376:190–201. - PubMed
    1. Ganger DR, Rule J, Rakela J, et al. Acute liver failure of indeterminate etiology: a comprehensive systematic approach by an expert committee to establish causality. Am J Gastroenterol 2018;113:1319. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bernal W, Lee WM, Wendon J, Larsen FS, Williams R. Acute liver failure: A curable disease by 2024? J Hepatol 2015;62(1 Suppl):S112–20. - PubMed
    1. European Association for the Study of the Liver. EASL clinical practical guidelines on the management of acute (fulminant) liver failure. J Hepatol 2017;66:1047–81. - PubMed
    1. O’Grady JG, Schalm SW, Williams R. Acute liver failure: redefining the syndromes. Lancet 1993;342:273–5 [and Corrections. Lancet 1993;342:1000]. - PubMed