Alcoholic liver disease overview
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Alcoholic liver disease is the major cause of liver disease in Western countries, (in Asian countries, viral hepatitis is the major cause). It arises from the excessive ingestion of alcohol and can present as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Fatty liver and alcoholic hepatitis may be asymptomatic and reversible with abstinence from alcohol. Alcoholic hepatitis involves acute or chronic inflammation of liver parenchyma and is the most common precursor of cirrhosis in the United States.