Curriculum · Gastroenterology
Prognostic markers in acute liver injury
What it is
A sudden increase in serum AST and ALT levels is acute liver injury. Acute liver failure is acute liver injury complicated by encephalopathy and coagulopathy, with an INR >1.5, in a patient without previous cirrhosis. The two markers that carry the word failure are therefore not the transaminases but the encephalopathy and the INR.
Causes and risk
The most common identifiable causes of acute liver injury are acetaminophen hepatotoxicity, idiosyncratic drug reactions and HBV infection.