[Management of patients with alcoholic hepatitis : why can't we do better?]

Alcoholic steatohepatitis is a severe and frequent manifestation of alcoholic liver disease which is associated with high mortality. This poor outcome is strongly influenced by several aspects of the disease, including the absence of medical treatment with proven benefit other than steroids, the elevated risk of infections, the ineffectiveneness of proregenerative strategies, the high prevalence of concomitant malnutrition, and the elevated rate of alcohol relapse during follow-up. All these parameters should be considered as major therapeutic targets in the near future in order to improve the management and outcome of these patients.