Budesonide in autoimmune liver disease: treatment response in a large real life cohort

Introduction: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory liver disorder that leads to end stage liver disease if left untreated. The standard therapeutic regimen consists of prednisolone in combination with azathioprine. AIH generally responds well to immunosuppressive treatment, yet many patients suffer from steroid-specific side effects. Budesonide (a steroid with a high hepatic first-pass metabolism) is an alternative drug and was shown to be effective in inducing and maintaining remission with few steroid-specific side effects (Manns et al. 2010 Gastroenterology). We here report real life data of a…