WHAT IS AUTOIMMUNE HEPATITIS/LIVER DISEASE?

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is an uncommon chronic liver disease that has the potential to lead to cirrhosis. It is characterized by inflammation of the liver and/or liver damage caused by an attack on the liver by a person’s own immune system. This disease was first recognized in 1950, when it was noted that the condition primarily affected young women who stopped menstruating (a condition known as amenorrhea); who suffered from arthritis; who had a severe form of chronic hepatitis that rapidly progressed to cirrhosis; and who had an elevated protein (gamma globulin) found on their blood tests.

            Some similarities between AIH and systemic lupus erythematosus ((SLE)) another autoimmune disease, led to AIH being named lupoid hepatitis in 1956. Presently, much more is known about AIH. For starters, it has been confirmed that AIH and SLE are two totally separate disorders. Thus, the term “lupoid hepatitis” is no longer used. Furthermore, it has been established that despite a greater occurrence rate among young women - women account for approximately 70 to 80 percent of cases - AIH may also occur in men, and it may occur in either gender at any age. Finally, case studies have established that AIH has varying manifestations. It is not always a severe, rapidly progressive disease, as originally believed. In fact, it may have a mild, asymptomatic (without symptoms) natural history.

AIH occurs in about 100,000 to 200,000 people   in the United States at any given time, and it accounts for approximately 10- 20% of chronic hepatitis cases in the world.  Approximately   6% of liver transplantations   in the United States are performed due to AIH.

      It was originally believed that the disease most commonly manifested itself at either of two age intervals -   peripubertally (around 13 years old), or around fifty to sixty years old. It is now known that AIH can develop   at any age, and has been diagnosed   in infants as well as in people in their seventies. However, in most cases, a patient with AIH is over 40 years old at the time of initial visit to a liver specialist.

All contents of this article are Copyright © Melissa Palmer, MD

Melissa Palmer, MD is the author of " Dr. Melissa Palmer's Guide of Hepatitis and Liver Disease". (Published 2004. Penguin Putnam).

The office of Melissa Palmer, M.D. is located at:

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Plainview, Long Island N.Y 11803

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