Fixed point observation of etiology of acute liver failure according to the novel Japanese diagnostic criteria.

BACKGROUND: There has existed important differences in the definition of acute liver failure (ALF) between Japanese criteria and those of other countries. The novel diagnostic criteria for ALF in Japanese patients were established by the Intractable Hepato-Biliary Diseases Study Group of Japan, in order to correspond to those for ALF in Europe and the USA. We prospectively diagnosed our ALF patients based on this novel criteria, and discussed the etiology by a fixed point observation.

METHODS: We investigated the etiology of 54 adult inpatients and outpatients with ALF between 2010 and 2012.

RESULTS: Of 54 patients, 36 were ALF without coma, 17 ALF with coma and one late onset hepatic failure. The etiology was due to viral infections in 38.9%, autoimmune hepatitis in 11.1%, drug-induced liver injury in 13.0%, etiologies without hepatitis in 29.6% (circulatory disturbance in 18.5%, infiltration of the liver by malignant cells in 7.4%, and metabolic diseases in 3.7%) and indeterminate causes in 7.4%.

CONCLUSIONS: Circulatory disturbance was the most frequent etiology according to the novel criteria. Indeterminate etiology was less observed in our study than the nation-wide survey with significance (P = 0.0014).