Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is the spectrum of liver injury that chronic heavy drinking produces. It begins with fat accumulating in hepatocytes (steatosis), may progress through inflammation (steatohepatitis) and fibrosis to cirrhosis, and in a further step can end in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Two features organise the whole subject: the injury is dose-dependent, so the risk rises with the amount and pattern of drinking, and the earliest stages can improve when drinking stops.
- Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease explains how much and how a person drinks, and which host factors decide who progresses.
- Pathogenesis of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease explains how ethanol and its metabolites injure the hepatocyte and how fibrosis develops.
- Clinical Manifestations of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease explains the often-silent course and the physical, laboratory and histological findings as the disease advances.
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease explains how harmful drinking is recognised, how ALD is classified and separated from its mimics, and the general management of the disease.
- Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis explains the acute severe syndrome, how its severity is scored, and when corticosteroids and early liver transplantation are used.