Autoimmune Hepatitis Pathophysiology: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

This article explores the causes, symptoms and treatment of Autoimmune Hepatitis Pathophysiology. It is a chronic inflammatory disease caused in liver and is of unknown etiology. The symptoms include fatigue, muscle pain, liver inflammation, fever, jaundice and abdominal pain. The healthcare professionals recommend immunosuppressive glucocorticoids like prednisone and liver transplantation for the patients who do not respond positively to the glucocorticoids.

Running head: ADVANCED PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Autoimmune Hepatitis Pathophysiology
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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ADVANCED PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Thesis statement: “To excavate the cause, symptoms and treatment of Autoimmune
Hepatitis”
Autoimmune Hepatitis Pathophysiology
The disease finds its emergence in the early 1950s, when it was known as lupoid
hepatitis. This is because most of the people suffered from an associated autoimmune
disorder known as systematic lupus erythematosus. Presence of multiple forms of the disease
has resulted in the depletion of the name lupus erythematosus (Manns, Lohse & Vergani,
2015). Now, the disease is commonly known as autoimmune hepatitis pathophysiology.
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory disease caused in liver. It is a
disease of an unknown etiology, affecting the patients to face a lack of tolerance towards the
self-antigens. It occurs when the body looses the capacity to attack the inflamed liver cells.
The symptoms of the disease include fatigue, muscle pain, liver inflammation, fever, jaundice
and abdominal pain.
Causes
According to the student, most of the patients report of chronic hepatitis, which is
viral. However, upon investigations, absence of viral infection has been found. Scientists
relate the disease with the anti-smooth muscle autoantibodies (John et al. 2017). However, no
specific cause has been identified for the disease.
Treatment
The healthcare professionals recommend immunosuppressive glucocorticoids like
prednisone. Experiments have proved the effectiveness of budesonide. Some of the patients
do not respond positively to the glucocorticoids. For these patients, liver transplantation
proves fruitful. This is also applicable for the patients fulminant liver failure.

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ADVANCED PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Epidemiology
Every year 1 or 2 persons out of 100,000 is affected with autoimmune hepatitis.
However, 10-20 persons are adversely affected with this disease. 70% of the women are
affected through this disease as compared to men (Manns, Lohse & Vergani, 2015). Elevation
of liver enzymes and bilirubin are considered as the common outcomes of the diseases.
Critical statement
Without proper guidance of the healthcare professionals, I would not have been
successful in projecting the causes, symptoms and treatment of the autoimmune
pathophysiology. Their guidance and motivation inspired me to take up such a topic for my
research project.

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ADVANCED PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
References
John, K., Hardtke-Wolenski, M., Jaeckel, E., Manns, M.P., Schulze-Osthoff, K. and Bantel,
H., 2017. Increased apoptosis of regulatory T cells in patients with active autoimmune
hepatitis. Cell death & disease, 8(12), p.3219.
Manns, M. P., Lohse, A. W., & Vergani, D. (2015). Autoimmune hepatitis–update
2015. Journal of hepatology, 62(1), S100-S111.