[Prognosis of acute viral hepatitis in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis]

We report 20 cases of alcoholic cirrhosis with superimposed episodes of acute viral hepatitis. Four had acute type B hepatitis and 16, presumed non A non B hepatitis. Before hepatitis, 17 patients had stopped drinking and only four had a complicated cirrhosis. Eighteen patients had received a blood transfusion within the 6 months before the occurrence of hepatitis (mean: 52 days). All patients developed jaundice, 7 encephalopathy, and 5 ascites. The ASAT/ALAT ratio was greater than 1 in 18 patients. Two patients died of hepatic failure. Follow-up was known in 17 of the 18 surviving patients: in all patients jaundice disappeared and transaminases returned to values less than 3 times the upper limits of normal. In our experience, the prognosis is good when viral hepatitis occurs in patients with non complicated alcoholic cirrhosis.