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© 1981 Medical Council on Alcohol

research-article

Drug Therapy in Alcoholic Liver Disease

J B SAUNDERS, MB, MRCP, Lecturer and ROGER WILLIAMS, MD, FRCP, Consultant Physician and Director of the Liver Unit

The Liver Unit, King's College Hospital and Medical School Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS

Drug therapy in patients with alcoholic liver disease may be directed towards preventing the disease progessing, treating complications such as ascites and hepatic encephalopathy, and treating associated clinical problems such as the alcohol-withdrawal syndrome. No drugs, with the possible exception of cortiscosteroids, modify the disease process significantly. Treatment of ascites has improved in recent years with the use of aldosterone antagonists such as spironolactone, and lactulose has proved to be a useful drug in the management of hepatic encephalopathy. Sedatives and other drugs that depress central nervous system fuction must be used with great caution, particularly in patients who have decompensated liver disease or who continue to drink heavily. The possibility of toxic side-effects must be considered before any drug is prescribed for a patient with alcoholic liver disease.


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