Acute-on-chronic liver failure is an acute deterioration of liver function manifesting as jaundice and coagulopathy with the development of ascites, with a high probability of extrahepatic organ involvement and high 28-day mortality. The pathogenesis involves extensive hepatic necrosis, which is associated with severe systemic inflammation and subsequently causes the cytokine storm, leading to portal hypertension, organ dysfunction, and organ failure. These patients have increased gut permeability, releasing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPS) in the blood, leading to hyper-immune activation and the secretion of cytokines, followed by immune paralysis, causing the development of infections and organ failure in a proportion of patients. Early detection and the institution of treatment, especially in the "Golden Window" period of 7 days, gives an opportunity for reversal of the syndrome. Scores like the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) ACLF research consortium (AARC) score, a model for end stage liver disease (MELD), and the CLIF Consortium acute-on-chronic liver failure (CLIF-C ACLF) score can help in the prediction of mortality. Treatment strategy includes treatment of acute insult. Patients should be considered for early transplant with MELD score >28, AARC score >10, high-grade hepatic encephalopathy, and in the absence of >2 organ failure or overt sepsis to improve survival of up to 80% at five years. Patients, with no option of transplant, can be treated with emerging therapies like faecal microbial transplant, plasma exchange, etc., which need further evaluation.

Severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH) remains a disease with high mortality. Steroid is the main stay and has been shown to give modest 28-day survival benefit in carefully selected patients, but no 90-day survival benefit. Since non-responders have high incidence of infections and increased mortality, it would be worthwhile to identify them before starting steroid therapy. A high and rising bilirubin, urinary acetyl carnitine >2,500 ng/mL, high asiloglycoprotein positive microparticles, and specific features in liver biopsy could predict steroid non-response at baseline. There is an ever-growing need to find new and effective therapies for SAH patients. Besides aggressive nutrition, granulocyte colony stimulating factor, fecal microbiota transplantation, and plasma exchange appear promising therapies and provide a hope for steroid ineligible or steroid non-responsive patients. Suppression of hepatic inflammation, preventing new bacterial or fungal infections, and enhancing liver regeneration will remain the key targets for next generation therapies.

Background/Aims: Liver cirrhosis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Every episode of decompensation and hospitalization reduces survival. We studied the clinical profile and long-term outcomes comparing alcohol-related cirrhosis (ALC) and non-ALC.
Methods: Cirrhosis patients at index hospitalisation (from January 2010 to June 2017), with ≥1 year follow-up were included.
Results: Five thousand and one hundred thirty-eight cirrhosis patients (age, 49.8±14.6 years; male, 79.5%; alcohol, 39.5%; Child-A:B:C, 11.7%:41.6%:46.8%) from their index hospitalization were analysed. The median time from diagnosis of cirrhosis to index hospitalization was 2 years (0.2–10). One thousand and seven hundred seven patients (33.2%) died within a year; 1,248 (24.3%) during index hospitalization. 59.5% (2,316/3,890) of the survivors, required at least one readmission, with additional mortality of 19.8% (459/2,316). ALC compared to non-ALC were more often (P<0.001) male (97.7% vs. 67.7%), younger (40–50 group, 36.2% vs. 20.2%; P<0.001) with higher liver related complications at baseline, (P<0.001 for each), sepsis: 20.3% vs. 14.9%; ascites: 82.2% vs. 65.9%; spontaneous bacterial peritonitis: 21.8% vs. 15.7%; hepatic encephalopathy: 41.0% vs. 25.0%; acute variceal bleeding: 32.0% vs. 23.7%; and acute kidney injury 30.5% vs. 19.6%. ALC patients had higher Child-Pugh (10.6±2.0 vs. 9.0±2.3), model for end-stage liver-disease scores (21.49±8.47 vs. 16.85±7.79), and higher mortality (42.3% vs. 27.3%, P<0.001) compared to non-ALC.
Conclusions One-third of cirrhosis patients die in index hospitalization. 60% of the survivors require at least one rehospitalization within a year. ALC patients present with higher morbidity and mortality and at a younger age.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to study the efficacy and safety of zolpidem for sleep disturbances in patients with cirrhosis. METHODS: Fifty-two Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class A or B cirrhotics with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index >5 were randomized to either zolpidem 5 mg daily (n=26) or placebo (n=26) for 4 weeks. RESULTS: The therapy of 4 weeks was completed by 23 patients receiving zolpidem (3 stopped treatment due to excessive daytime drowsiness) and 24 receiving placebo (2 refused to continue the study). In the zolpidem group, after 4 weeks of therapy, there was significant increase in total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency compared to baseline and improvement in polysomnographic parameters of sleep initiation and maintenance (i.e., decrease in sleep latency time, decrease in wake time, and decreases in number of arousals and periodic limbs movements per hour of sleep), without any significant change in sleep architecture. CONCLUSIONS: Four weeks of 5 mg daily zolpidem in CTP class A or B cirrhosis patients with insomnia led to significant increases in TST and sleep efficiency and improvement in polysomnographic parameters of sleep initiation and maintenance without any significant change in sleep architecture.
Arousal ; Cytidine Triphosphate ; Extremities ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Background/Aims: Quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) is believed to identify patients at risk of poor outcomes in those with suspected infection. We aimed to evaluate the ability of modified qSOFA (m-qSOFA) to identify high-risk patients among those with acutely deteriorated chronic liver disease (CLD), especially those with acute-onchronic liver failure (ACLF). Methods: We used data from both the Korean Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure (KACLiF) and the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver ACLF Research Consortium (AARC) cohorts. qSOFA was modified by replacing the Glasgow Coma Scale with hepatic encephalopathy, and an m-qSOFA ≥2 was considered high. Results: Patients with high m-qSOFA had a significantly lower 1-month transplant-free survival (TFS) in both cohorts and higher organ failure development in KACLiF than those with low m-qSOFA (Ps<0.05). Subgroup analysis by ACLF showed that patients with high m-qSOFA had lower TFS than those with low m-qSOFA. m-qSOFA was an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratios, HR=2.604, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.353–5.013, P=0.004 in KACLiF and HR=1.904, 95% CI 1.484– 2.442, P<0.001 in AARC). The patients with low m-qSOFA at baseline but high m-qSOFA on day 7 had a significantly lower 1-month TFS than those with high m-qSOFA at baseline but low m-qSOFA on day 7 (52.6% vs. 89.4%, P<0.001 in KACLiF and 26.9% vs. 61.5%, P<0.001 in AARC). Conclusions Baseline and dynamic changes in m-qSOFA may identify patients with a high risk of developing organ failure and short-term mortality among CLD patients with acute deterioration.