The spectrum of liver diseases in alcoholism

Liver biopsies obtained from 100 alcoholic patient attending a clinic primarily for the management of their alcoholism, have been reviewed. The morphological appearances have been correlated with histories of alcohol consumption and with clinical and biochemical findings. There were 77 men and 23 women. Eight biopsies appeared normal, 62 showed fatty liver with or without fribrosis, 17 had alcoholic hepatitis with or without fibrosis and 13 had alcoholic hepatitis with established cirrhosis. Patients with fatty liver had drunk as long and as heavily as those with alcoholic hepatitis, suggesting that some other factor in addition to alcohol is of importance in the development of alcoholic hepatitis. Clinical and biochemical abnormalities showed no constant relationship to histological findings. Thus liver biopsy would seem to be an essential part of the full clinical assessment of the alcoholic patient.