McSteen BW, Ying XH, Lucero C, Jesudian AB. Viral etiologies of acute liver failure. World J Virol 2024; 13(3): 97973 [PMID: 39323454 DOI: 10.5501/wjv.v13.i3.97973]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Brian W McSteen, MD, Department of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Campus, Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates 505 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021, United States. qqq9001@nyp.org
Research Domain of This Article
Virology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Virol. Sep 25, 2024; 13(3): 97973 Published online Sep 25, 2024. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v13.i3.97973
Viral etiologies of acute liver failure
Brian W McSteen, Xiao-Han Ying, Catherine Lucero, Arun B Jesudian
Brian W McSteen, Xiao-Han Ying, Department of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Campus, New York, NY 10021, United States
Catherine Lucero, Arun B Jesudian, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, United States
Author contributions: McSteen BW performed the literature review and prepared the original draft of the article; All authors were involved in the conceptualization of this work; All authors contributed to the review and editing of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Jesudian AB received consulting and speaking for Salix Pharmaceuticals, consulting for Dynavax Therapeutics, and speaking for Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. McSteen BW, Ying XH, and Lucero C have no financial conflicts to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Brian W McSteen, MD, Department of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Campus, Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates 505 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021, United States. qqq9001@nyp.org
Received: June 14, 2024 Revised: August 7, 2024 Accepted: August 19, 2024 Published online: September 25, 2024 Processing time: 75 Days and 10.1 Hours
Abstract
Acute liver failure (ALF) is a rare cause of liver-related mortality worldwide, with an estimated annual global incidence of more than one million cases. While drug-induced liver injury, including acetaminophen toxicity, is the leading cause of ALF in the Western world, viral infections remain a significant cause of ALF and the most common cause in many developing nations. Given the high mortality rates associated with ALF, healthcare providers should be aware of the broad range of viral infections that have been implicated to enable early diagnosis, rapid treatment initiation when possible, and optimal management, which may include liver transplantation. This review aims to provide a summary of viral causes of ALF, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, and expected outcomes.
Core Tip: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a rare cause of liver-related mortality worldwide, with viral infections remaining a leading global cause. Healthcare providers should be aware of the broad range of viral etiologies that have been implicated to cause ALF given its heterogeneous presentations and high mortality rate. This review aims to provide a summary of known viral etiologies for ALF so that early diagnosis, rapid treatment initiation when possible, and optimal management including liver transplantation can be pursued. Further, this review intends to underscore the importance of further study and characterization of ALF to improve our care and understanding of this condition.
