Acute alcoholic hepatitis

: In a group of 1,025 cases of alcoholic liver the authors detected 28 cases (2.73%) of acute alcoholic hepatitis on the basis of the morphologic examination, 75% were males, mean age 45 +/- 18 years. The mean amount of alcohol consumed daily was 106.7 g for a mean duration of 19.78 years. The hepatic lesional substrate was hepatic steatosis and cirrhosis in 7 cases (25%) and steatofibrosis in the other 14 cases (50%). The triggering factors were the abuse of alcohol in 27 cases and a pneumonia in the last case. The disease was characterized by fever, encephalopathy, hepatomegaly, hepatocytolytic-cholestatic syndrome. The evolution was dictated by the gravity of the background hepatic lesional substrate.