What is autoimmune hepatitis? What are its clinical manifestations? Autoimmune hepatitis is a specific type of “chronic hepatitis” that is related to the autoimmune response. Its characteristics are: 1) it occurs mostly in young women; 2) its clinical manifestations are similar to those of “chronic hepatitis”, with some symptoms resembling “systemic lupus erythematosus”, so it is often referred to as “lupus-like hepatitis “3. the presence of autoimmune antibodies; 4. negative indicators for hepatitis virus; 5. increased serum globulin, especially d-globulin; 6. prone to recurrent attacks; 7. significant effect of hormone therapy for this disease. The following specific talk about what is “autoimmune hepatitis”. 1, clinical manifestations: most of the insidious onset, gradually appear fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal distension and weight loss and other symptoms of hepatitis. It may be accompanied by fever, joint pain or symptoms of chronic arthritis. Symmetrical erythema like butterfly may appear on both sides of the nose of the face, with slight swelling of the skin at the erythema, and some other clinical syndromes. Common ones are pleurisy, myocarditis, pericarditis, chronic glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, polyarthritis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, diabetes mellitus, etc. Physical examination: The patient’s liver is progressively enlarged, spider nevi are visible on the face, neck and forehead, liver palms, jaundice (common), splenomegaly, facial acne, hirsutism, urticaria, bleeding from the gums and nasal mucosa may also appear. 2. Laboratory tests: In addition to common manifestations such as thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, elevated serum transaminases, and elevated serum bilirubin, serological tests include increased sedimentation, elevated serum globulin, especially d-globulin, positive autoimmune antibodies, and lupus-like cells can be found in the blood of some patients. What are the principles of treatment for autoimmune hepatitis? Autoimmune hepatitis is sensitive to glucocorticoids and other immunosuppressive agents, with prednisone being the best choice of hormone. Immunosuppressants are usually azathioprine. With treatment, most patients improve, and a few do not respond to treatment. Treated patients often develop some hormone-induced side effects, such as obesity, full-moon face, and facial acne. Severe cases may also be complicated by osteoporosis, duodenal ulcer, psychosis, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. In view of this, the dose and duration of hormones should be strictly controlled during the treatment, immunosuppressants should be increased or decreased according to the condition, and the change of serum transaminases should be closely monitored. As long as the increase of transaminases does not exceed 3 times the normal value, immunosuppressants can be appropriately reduced or stopped. The disease has a high recurrence rate. Attention should be paid to its recurrence after treatment remission.