Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder in Patients with Alcoholic Liver Disease

• Published in: The American journal of medicine Vol. 130; no. 2; pp. 124 - 134
• Main Authors: Leggio, Lorenzo, MD, PhD, MSc, Lee, Mary R., MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.2017; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Alcohol use disorder; Alcoholic liver disease; Alcoholism; Alcoholism - complications; Alcoholism - diagnosis; Alcoholism - therapy; Behavior Therapy; Disease Progression; Humans; Internal Medicine; Liver disease; Liver diseases; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic - pathology; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic - therapy; Substance abuse treatment; Treatment; Alcohol use disorder; Treatment; Liver disease; Alcoholic liver disease
• ISSN: 0002-9343; 1555-7162
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2016.10.004

Abstract Alcohol is a leading cause of liver disease worldwide. Although alcohol abstinence is the crucial therapeutic goal for patients with alcoholic liver disease, these patients have less access to psychosocial, behavioral, and/or pharmacologic treatments for alcohol use disorder. Psychosocial and behavioral therapies include 12-step facilitation, brief interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational enhancement therapy. In addition to medications approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for alcohol use disorder (disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate), recent efforts to identify potential new treatments have yielded promising candidate pharmacotherapies. Finally, more efforts are needed to integrate treatments across disciplines toward patient-centered approaches in the management of patients with alcohol use disorder and alcoholic liver disease.