A controlled trial of 6-methylprednisolone in acute alcoholic hepatitis. With a note on published results in encephalopathic patients.

In a prospective double-blind study, 27 patients with alcoholic hepatitis were randomized for 6-methylprednisolone (12 patients) or placebo treatment (15 patients). The mortality was 50% among steroid treated patients and 47% in the control group (P less than .05). The role of liver biopsy feasibility at selection is emphasized since the mortality in this group was 10% as opposed to 71% when the procedure was contraindicated (P less than .01). Complications in the steroid-treated subjects were similar quantitatively and qualitatively to those observed in the control series.