Autoimmune Hepatitis A Case Report and Literature Review
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2019
Publication Title
Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Disease
Volume
77
Issue
2
First page number:
146
Last page number:
152
Abstract
Introduction: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a cause of chronic liver disease. It is usually suspected based on clinical presentation and laboratory findings, but the diagnosis relies on the presence of specific autoantibodies and characteristic histology. Other unexplained findings should always prompt investigation for coexisting syndromes. Case Presentation: The patient is a 60-year-old Hispanic female with a history of mild asthma presented with exertional and pleuritic chest pain with weight loss, arthralgia, subjective fever, and night sweats for the last 3 months. Given the nonspecific nature of the presentation, further workup was pursued. Laboratory results indicated pancytopenia, elevated INR, and positive autoimmune panel including ANA, anti-chromatin, anti-histone, and rheumatoid factor as well as abnormal C3 and C4. Subsequent liver biopsy with interface hepatitis lead to a diagnosis of AIH with concurrent systemic lupus erythematosus suspected. Conclusion: The diagnostic work up for AIH is multimodal and aims to differentiate other etiologies such as congestive hepatopathy, iron overload, viral hepatitis, and other autoimmune liver diseases. In this particular case, unusual clinical and laboratory findings led to diagnosis of the overlap syndrome. Treatment for both was necessary to prevent further progression of disease.
Disciplines
Hepatology | Immune System Diseases
Language
English
Repository Citation
Hong, A. S.,
Desta, M.,
Hong, J. M.,
Ohning, G. V.,
Pillinger, M. H.,
Saxena, A.,
Modjinou, D.
(2019).
Autoimmune Hepatitis A Case Report and Literature Review.
Bulletin of the Hospital for Joint Disease, 77(2),
146-152.