Autoimmune Hepatitis

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory liver disease. It can lead to cirrhosis, liver dysfunction, hepatocellular carcinoma and death if left untreated. Its clinical presentation is exceedingly variable ranging from asymptomatic to fulminant hepatitis with liver failure. AIH diagnosis is based on the presence of clinical, biochemical, serological and histological criteria, although none of these are disease-specific; thus, other causes of liver disease must be ruled out. Several scoring systems have been created to facilitate and standardize AIH diagnosis. In this chapter, we shall review previous criteria as well as contemporary literature to provide methods for improving serological and histological criteria.