What are the causes and triggers of chronic and acute liver failure?

  Chronic plus acute liver failure refers to the clinical syndrome of liver failure due to acute liver injury on top of pre-existing chronic liver disease, manifested by symptoms such as jaundice, coagulation disorders, concurrent ascites and hepatic irritability.  The clinical subtypes of ACLF include: 1. Type 1 ACLF: good liver function compensation despite chronic liver disease before the development of liver failure; 2. Type 2 ACLF: decompensated cirrhosis already exists before the development of liver failure.  Among the causes of liver failure, alcoholic hepatitis is the main cause in Western countries, and hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus infection is the main cause in Asia. The proportion of alcoholic and drug-related factors has increased significantly in the last 3 years.  The causes of HBV-induced slow-accelerated liver failure include: interruption or reduction of nucleotide drugs, HBV mutation and irregular use of antiviral drugs accounting for 13.2%; exertion and alcohol consumption accounting for 10.8% and 3.5% respectively; hepatotoxic drugs accounting for 8.1%; and abdominal infection accounting for 1.4%.  Acute causes of ACLF: 1. Infectious factors: (1) hepatophilic or non-hepatophilic virus infection; (2) hepatitis B (dominant or recessive) or hepatitis C reactivation; (3) other infectious factors affecting the liver.  2. Non-infectious factors: (1) alcohol: history of alcohol consumption within 4 weeks; (2) hepatotoxic drugs, herbal medicines; (3) autoimmune hepatitis or Wilson’s disease episodes; (4) variceal bleeding (no consensus); (5) surgical procedures.  3. unknown hepatotoxic factors.