AASLD Position Paper: The Management of Acute Liver Failure: Update 2011

These recommendations provide a data-supported approach. They are based on the following: 1) Formal review and analysis of recently-published world literature on the topic [Medline search]; 2) American College of Physicians Manual for Assessing Health Practices and Designing Practice Guidelines; 3) guideline policies, including the AASLD Policy on the Development and Use of Practice Guidelines and the AGA Policy Statement on Guidelines;; and 4) the experience of the authors in the specified topic. Intended for use by physicians, the recommendations in this document suggest preferred approaches to the diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive aspects of care. They are intended to be flexible, in contrast to standards of care, which are inflexible policies to be followed in every case. Specific recommendations are based on relevant published information. This document has been designated as a Position Paper, since the topic contains more data based on expert opinion than on randomized controlled trials and is thus not considered to have the emphasis and certainty of a Practice Guideline. Nevertheless, it serves an important purpose of facilitating proper and high level patient care and we have characterized the quality of evidence supporting each recommendation, in accordance with the Practice Guidelines Committee of the AASLD recommendations used for full Practice Guidelines (Table 1) These recommendations are fully endorsed by the AASLD.