Autoimmune Hepatitis

What autoimmune hepatitis is

Autoimmune hepatitis is inflammation of the liver caused by the immune system attacking the liver. It is not an infection, and it does not spread from person to person.

It can occur at any age and is more often diagnosed in women. Without treatment, the inflammation can scar the liver. Advanced scarring is called cirrhosis.

Symptoms and complications

Some people feel nothing, and the condition is found on a blood test. Others become ill over days or weeks. A person may notice:

• Tiredness
• Nausea or poor appetite
• An ache under the right ribs
• Aching joints
• Itching
• Yellow skin or eyes
• Swelling of the belly or legs
• Confusion or unusual sleepiness

Yellow skin, swelling, and confusion are more often signs of advanced scarring. Vomiting blood, or black stools, needs emergency care. If you have urgent symptoms, call 911 or go to an emergency department.

Diagnosis and tests

Blood tests show liver inflammation and look for antibodies linked to this condition. Other liver diseases are ruled out first.

A liver biopsy is often used to confirm autoimmune hepatitis and to see how much scarring is present. Ultrasound and stiffness tests add information.

Your family doctor arranges imaging. A clinician reads the tests together, and no single result sets a treatment plan on its own.

Treatment and management

Medicines that calm the immune system are the usual treatment. They bring the inflammation down for most people. This page does not name a drug or a dose.

Blood tests show whether the inflammation is falling. Treatment often continues for years. The clinician decides any change in the medicine.

Alcohol can injure the liver further. Ask the clinician how much, if any, is reasonable.