Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2015 Sep;62(3):762-72.
doi: 10.1002/hep.27779. Epub 2015 Apr 13.

Systemic inflammatory response and serum lipopolysaccharide levels predict multiple organ failure and death in alcoholic hepatitis

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Systemic inflammatory response and serum lipopolysaccharide levels predict multiple organ failure and death in alcoholic hepatitis

Javier Michelena et al. Hepatology. 2015 Sep.

Abstract

Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) frequently progresses to multiple organ failure (MOF) and death. However, the driving factors are largely unknown. At admission, patients with AH often show criteria of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) even in the absence of an infection. We hypothesize that the presence of SIRS may predispose to MOF and death. To test this hypothesis, we studied a cohort including 162 patients with biopsy-proven AH. The presence of SIRS and infections was assessed in all patients, and multivariate analyses identified variables independently associated with MOF and 90-day mortality. At admission, 32 (19.8%) patients were diagnosed with a bacterial infection, while 75 (46.3%) fulfilled SIRS criteria; 58 patients (35.8%) developed MOF during hospitalization. Short-term mortality was significantly higher among patients who developed MOF (62.1% versus 3.8%, P < 0.001). The presence of SIRS was a major predictor of MOF (odds ratio = 2.69, P = 0.025) and strongly correlated with mortality. Importantly, the course of patients with SIRS with and without infection was similar in terms of MOF development and short-term mortality. Finally, we sought to identify serum markers that differentiate SIRS with and without infection. We studied serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and lipopolysaccharide at admission. All of them predicted mortality. Procalcitonin, but not high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, serum levels identified those patients with SIRS and infection. Lipopolysaccharide serum levels predicted MOF and the response to prednisolone.

Conclusion: In the presence or absence of infections, SIRS is a major determinant of MOF and mortality in AH, and the mechanisms involved in the development of SIRS should be investigated; procalcitonin serum levels can help to identify patients with infection, and lipopolysaccharide levels may help to predict mortality and the response to steroids.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflict of interest: Nothing to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ninety-day mortality according to (A) the presence of MOF, (B) the presence of SIRS, and (C) the SIRS-associated conditions.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A) Serum levels of procalcitonin according to the presence and severity of alcoholic liver disease, (B) serum levels of procalcitonin in patients with SIRS without infection versus infection-associated SIRS, (C) incidence of MOF according to serum levels of LPS, (D) serum levels of LPS according to the severity of AH assessed by ABIC score, (E) in-hospital infections, and (F) corticosteroid therapy response rate (assessed by the Lille score) according to serum levels of LPS.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Ninety-day mortality according to the levels of (A) procalcitonin and (B) LPS.

Comment in

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Lucey M, Mathurin P, Morgan T. Alcoholic hepatitis. N Engl J Med. 2009;360:2758–2769. - PubMed
    1. Mathurin P, O’Grady J, Carithers RL, Phillips M, Louvet A, Mendenhall CL, et al. Corticosteroids improve short-term survival in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis: meta-analysis of individual patient data. Gut. 2011;60:255–260. - PubMed
    1. Dominguez M, Rincón D, Abraldes JG, Miquel R, Colmenero J, Bellot P, et al. A new scoring system for prognostic stratification of patients with alcoholic hepatitis. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008;103:2747–2756. - PubMed
    1. Moreau R, Jalan R, Gines P, Pavesi M, Angeli P, Cordoba J, et al. Acute-on-chronic liver failure is a distinct syndrome that develops in patients with acute decompensation of cirrhosis. Gastroenterology. 2013;144:1426–1437. - PubMed
    1. Altamirano J, Fagundes C, Dominguez M, García E, Michelena J, Cárdenas A, et al. Acute kidney injury is an early predictor of mortality for patients with alcoholic hepatitis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2012;10:65–71. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms