hepatic and biliary disorders
Acute Liver Failure
Introduction
Acute liver failure is caused most often by drugs and hepatitis viruses. Cardinal manifestations are jaundice, coagulopathy, and encephalopathy. Diagnosis is clinical. Treatment is mainly supportive, sometimes with liver transplantation and/or specific therapies (eg,N-acetylcysteineforacetaminophentoxicity). (See also Liver Structure and Function and Liver failure can be classified in several ways, but no system is universally accepted (see table). 