Abstract
Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic liver disease affecting mostly young women and typically showing the presence of various autoantibody according to which it is further classified to individual subtypes. It may be extremely difficult to establish a correct diagnosis; a scoring system developed by an international team of experts has proved to be useful in controversial cases.
Some patients show signs of additional hepatobiliary diseases such as primary sclerosing cholangitis, primary biliary cirrhosis or viral hepatitis; these conditions are referred to as superimposed syndromes. Most cases of autoimmune hepatitis respond well to immunosuppressive therapy, the usual maintenance doses are 10 mg of prednisone and 50 mg of azathioprine.
Treatment must be long term and attempts at its discontinuation are usually followed by relapse of the disease. Liver transplantation is indicated in cases of advanced liver cirrhosis