Interobserver Variability in Scoring Liver Biopsies with a Diagnosis of Alcoholic Hepatitis

Recommendations for Performance Evaluation of Machine Learning in Pathology: A Concept Paper From the College of American Pathologists

CONTEXT.—

Machine learning applications in the pathology clinical domain are emerging rapidly. As decision support systems continue to mature, laboratories will increasingly need guidance to evaluate their performance in clinical practice. Currently there are no formal guidelines to assist pathology laboratories in verification and/or validation of such systems. These recommendations are being proposed for the evaluation of machine learning systems in the clinical practice of pathology.

OBJECTIVE.—

To propose recommendations for performance evaluation of in vitro diagnostic tests on patient samples that incorporate machine learning as part of the preanalytical, analytical, or postanalytical phases of the laboratory workflow. Topics described include considerations for machine learning model evaluation including risk assessment, predeployment requirements, data sourcing and curation, verification and validation, change control management, human-computer interaction, practitioner training, and competency evaluation.

DATA SOURCES.—

An expert panel performed a review of the literature, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidance, and laboratory and government regulatory frameworks.

CONCLUSIONS.—

Review of the literature and existing documents enabled the development of proposed recommendations. This white paper pertains to performance evaluation of machine learning systems intended to be implemented for clinical patient testing. Further studies with real-world clinical data are encouraged to support these proposed recommendations. Performance evaluation of machine learning models is critical to verification and/or validation of in vitro diagnostic tests using machine learning intended for clinical practice.

Precision diagnostics in transplanted organs using microarray-assessed gene expression: concepts and technical methods of the Molecular Microscope® Diagnostic System (MMDx)

There is a major unmet need for improved accuracy and precision in the assessment of transplant rejection and tissue injury. Diagnoses relying on histologic and visual assessments demonstrate significant variation between expert observers (as represented by low kappa values) and have limited ability to assess many biological processes that produce little histologic changes, for example, acute injury. Consensus rules and guidelines for histologic diagnosis are useful but may have errors. Risks of over- or under-treatment can be serious: many therapies for transplant rejection or primary diseases are expensive and carry risk for significant adverse effects. Improved diagnostic methods could alleviate healthcare costs by reducing treatment errors, increase treatment efficacy, and serve as useful endpoints for clinical trials of new agents that can improve outcomes. Molecular diagnostic assessments using microarrays combined with machine learning algorithms for interpretation have shown promise for increasing diagnostic precision via probabilistic assessments, recalibrating standard of care diagnostic methods, clarifying ambiguous cases, and identifying potentially missed cases of rejection. This review describes the development and application of the Molecular Microscope® Diagnostic System (MMDx), and discusses the history and reasoning behind many common methods, statistical practices, and computational decisions employed to ensure that MMDx scores are as accurate and precise as possible. MMDx provides insights on disease processes and highly reproducible results from a comparatively small amount of tissue and constitutes a general approach that is useful in many areas of medicine, including kidney, heart, lung, and liver transplants, with the possibility of extrapolating lessons for understanding native organ disease states.

Clinical criteria accurately diagnose severe but not moderate alcohol-associated hepatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The precision of clinical criteria and the utility of liver biopsy for diagnosis or prognosis remain unclear in patients with alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH). We systematically reviewed the literature to answer these questions.

METHODS

Four databases were searched for studies describing the precision of clinical criteria (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, European Association for Study of Liver, or classical) and the role of histology in AH. The precision(positive predictive value) of criteria was pooled through random-effects meta-analysis, and its variation was investigated through subgroups and meta-regression of study-level factors with their percent contribution to variation (R2). The risk of bias among studies was evaluated through the QUADAS2 tool (PROSPERO-ID-CRD4203457250).

RESULTS

Of 4320 studies, 18 in the systematic review and 15 (10/5: low/high risk of bias, N=1639) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled precision of clinical criteria was 80.2% (95% CI: 69.7-89.7, I2:93%, p < 0.01), higher in studies with severe AH (mean-Model for End-Stage Liver Disease > 20) versus moderate AH (mean-Model for End-Stage Liver Disease < 20): 92% versus 67.1%, p < 0.01, and in studies with serum bilirubin cutoff 5 versus 3 mg/dL (88.5% vs.78.8%, p = 0.01). The factors contributing to variation in precision were Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (R2:72.7%), upper gastrointestinal bleed (R2:56.3%), aspartate aminotransferase:aspartate aminotransferase ratio (R2:100%), clinical criteria (R2:40.9%), bilirubin (R2:22.5%), and Mallory body on histology (R2:19.1%).The net inter-pathologist agreement for histologic findings of AH was variable (0.33-0.97), best among 2 studies describing AH through simple and uniform criteria, including steatosis, ballooning, and neutrophilic inflammation. Few studies reported the utility of histology in estimating steroid responsiveness (N = 1) and patient prognosis (N = 4); however, very broad septa, pericellular fibrosis, and cholestasis were associated with mortality. Bilirubinostasis was associated with infection in 1 study.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical criteria are reasonably precise for diagnosing severe AH, while there is an unmet need for better criteria for diagnosing moderate AH. Histologic diagnosis of AH should be simple and uniform.

Liver surface nodularity and ascites are associated with mortality risk in acute alcohol-associated hepatitis

BACKGROUND

Acute alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) is associated with high mortality. CT-derived liver surface nodularity (LSN) is a robust prognostic biomarker in other chronic liver diseases. The aim of this study was to determine relationships between LSN, disease severity, and mortality in AH.

METHODS

Adults hospitalized with AH from January 2016 to March 2020 were included if an abdominal CT was performed between 8 weeks prior to 72 h after hospitalization. LSN was measured using quantitative methods (Liver Surface Nodularity Software version 0.88, Birmingham, AL, USA). Cox proportional hazards models, logistic regression and AUROC analysis were used to examine relationships between LSN and 180-day transplant-free survival.

RESULTS

Of 386 patients hospitalized with AH during the study period, 230 had CT scans performed, and 205 met inclusion criteria. Mean transplant-free survival was 127 days (95% CI 118-137). Within each cohort, patients were grouped into low [LSN-LOW, N = 109 (53.2%)] and high [LSN-HIGH, N = 96 (46.8%)] LSN strata based on an optimal cutoff of 2.86 derived from unadjusted ROC curves. Patients with high LSN had features of portal hypertension, which included encephalopathy [53 (55.2%) vs. 43 (39.4%), p = 0.017], ascites on CT [81 (84.4%) vs. 69 (63.3%), p = 0.001] and portosystemic shunts [78 (81.2%) vs. 69 (63.3%), p = 0.003]. High LSN, ascites and MELD were independently associated with lower likelihood of 180-day transplant-free survival, and inclusion of a score assigning 1 point each for high LSN or ascites on CT (AHRADS score) to MELD enhanced diagnostic accuracy of AUROC for 180-day survival compared to MELD alone [AUROC 0.782 (95% CI 0.719-0.845) vs. 0.735 (0.667-0.802), p = 0.023].

CONCLUSIONS

CT-derived factors that include LSN and ascites are radiographic biomarkers associated with 180-day transplant-free survival in alcohol-associated hepatitis.

Standardizing the histological assessment of late posttransplantation biopsies from pediatric liver allograft recipients

Excellent short-term survival after pediatric liver transplantation (LT) has shifted attention toward the optimization of long-term outcomes. Despite considerable progress in imaging and other noninvasive modalities, liver biopsies continue to be required to monitor allograft health and to titrate immunosuppression. However, a standardized approach to the detailed assessment of long-term graft histology is currently lacking. The aim of this study was to formulate a list of histopathological features relevant for the assessment of long-surviving liver allograft health and to develop an approach for assessing the presence and severity of these features in a standardized manner. Whole-slide digital images from 31 biopsies obtained ≥4 years after transplantation to determine eligibility for an immunosuppression withdrawal trial were selected to illustrate a range of typical histopathological findings seen in children with clinically stable grafts, including those associated with alloantibodies. Fifty histological features were independently assessed and, where appropriate, scored semiquantitatively by six pathologists to determine inter- and intraobserver reproducibility of the histopathological features using unweighted and weighted kappa statistics; the latter metric enabled distinction between minor and major disagreements in parameter severity scoring. Weighted interobserver kappa statistics showed a high level of agreement for various parameters of inflammation, interface activity, fibrosis, and microvascular injury. Intraobserver agreement for these features was even more substantial. The results of this study will help to standardize the assessment of biopsies from long-surviving liver allografts, aid the recognition of important histological features, and facilitate international comparisons and clinical trials aiming to improve outcomes for children undergoing LT.

Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease and Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis

Alcohol-related liver disease is a spectrum of disease in which continued, significant alcohol use can cause progression from fatty changes in the liver to inflammation, fibrosis, and eventually cirrhosis. The rates of alcohol consumption, alcohol use disorder, and alcoholrelated liver disease have increased substantially during the past several years. However, the amount of alcohol consumption may not be the only risk factor for such progression of disease. Studies have found several other risk factors, including sex, race, and genetic predisposition, as possible culprits of worsening disease. As a result, clinicians must understand and implement screening tools for early diagnosis and remain up-to-date with the evolving nature of treatment options. This article reviews the diagnosis and treatment of alcohol use disorder as well as the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and treatment of alcohol-related liver disease, including alcohol-associated hepatitis.

Quantitative and qualitative liver CT: imaging feature association with histopathologically confirmed hepatic cirrhosis

PURPOSE

To assess the diagnostic performance of quantitative and qualitative imaging features of hepatic cirrhosis on CT.

METHODS

A single-center retrospective cohort study was performed on all patients who had undergone non-targeted liver biopsy < 3 months following abdominal CT imaging between 2007 and 2020. Histopathology was required as a reference standard for hepatic cirrhosis diagnosis. Two readers independently assessed all CT quantitative and qualitative features, blinded to the clinical history and the reference standard. The diagnostic performance of each imaging feature was assessed using multivariate regression and logistic regression in a recursive feature elimination framework.

RESULTS

98 consecutive patients met inclusion criteria including 26 with histopathologically confirmed hepatic cirrhosis, and 72 without cirrhosis. Liver surface nodularity (p < 0.0001), lobar redistribution (p < 0.0001), and expanded gallbladder fossa (p < 0.0016) were qualitative CT features associated with liver cirrhosis consistent between both reviewers. Liver surface nodularity demonstrated highest sensitivity (73-77%) and specificity (79-82%). Falciform space width was the only quantitative feature associated with cirrhosis, for a single reviewer (p < 0.04). Using a recursive feature elimination framework, liver surface nodularity and falciform space width were the strongest performing features for identifying cirrhosis. No feature combinations strengthened diagnostic performance.

CONCLUSION

Many quantitative and qualitative CT imaging signs of hepatic cirrhosis have either poor accuracy or poor inter-observer agreement. Qualitative imaging features of hepatic cirrhosis on CT performed better than quantitative metrics, with liver surface nodularity the most optimal feature for diagnosing hepatic cirrhosis.

Liver biopsy for assessment of chronic liver diseases: a synopsis

The world-wide increase in chronic liver disease (CLD) calls for refinement of diagnostic and prognostic measures for early and accurate disease detection and management. Regardless of the aetiology, liver biopsy allows direct visualisation of specimen under the microscope. It facilitates histological evaluation of disease-specific morphological alterations. Thereby, it aids in disease diagnosis, prognosis, and assessment of treatment compliance/response. Indeed, with the advent of non-invasive methods, liver biopsy is used less frequently than before, but it is still considered as a gold standard for staging and grading several CLDs. This short review revisits liver biopsy. It highlights the significance of liver biopsy in evaluating CLDs and explains the commonly used Ishak, METAVIR and Batts-Ludwig scoring systems for grading and staging CLDs. The utility of liver biopsy in examining alcohol-related liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is discussed along with the disease-specific alcoholic hepatitis histology score (AHHS) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease activity score (NAS). Additionally, the review elaborates on the role of liver biopsy in evaluating viral hepatitis, haemochromatosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Contextual explanation on the diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated liver disease (MAFLD) is provided. The significance and clinical indications of repeat biopsy are also explained. Lastly, caveats and limitations associated with liver biopsy are reviewed. Essentially, this review collates the application of liver biopsy in assessing various CLDs and provides succinct explanations of the core scoring systems, all under one roof. It is clinically relevant and provides a useful synopsis to budding scientists and hepato-pathologists.

Liver Biopsy in Patients With Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease With Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure

Patients with alcohol-associated liver disease may develop severe forms of presentation of acute-on-chronic liver failure, with a high risk for short-term mortality. Alcoholic hepatitis should be suspected among patients with alcohol-associated liver disease who present with acute-on-chronic liver failure. In this review, we discuss the need and feasibility of liver biopsy in the diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis and predicting its prognosis among decompensated patients with alcohol-associated liver disease and acute-on-chronic liver failure.

Murine Models of Alcohol Consumption: Imperfect but Still Potential Source of Novel Biomarkers and Therapeutic Drug Discovery for Alcoholic Liver Disease

Animal models of liver disease are fundamentally important to strengthen our knowledge and understanding of human liver diseases. Murine models of alcohol consumption are utilized to investigate alcoholic liver injury to develop new therapeutic targets. The well accepted and commonly used murine models of chronic alcohol consumption are Meadows-Cook (MC) and Lieber-DeCarli (LD). LD model is based on an isocaloric high-fat liquid diet, but mice under the MC model fed on a regular chow diet with alcohol added to the drinking water. Alcoholic liver disease in real world is frequently diagnosed in patients with obesity and high fat intake, mirroring LD diet. The overlap of the specific effect of ethanol and obesity is difficult to differentiate by clinician and pathologist. In this commentary, we will further discuss our research findings comparing MC and LD as a tool to dissect early alcohol versus increased fat intake detrimental effects on the liver. The critical analysis of these two models could provide evidence to differentiate the specific impact of alcohol on the liver from the combined influence of alcohol and diet. Ultimately, these investigations could uncover potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for personalized type of alcoholic liver injury.

Substances use disorders and liver injury: a concise review

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are often associated with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and psychiatric comorbidities. In addition, they are often subjected to polytherapy. For these reasons SUDs patients are at greater risk of developing liver disease. In this concise review, liver damage from amphetamines, cannabinoids, cocaine and opioids is analyzed and the need to identify a possible associated alcohol use disorder is also suggested. Early identification of liver fibrosis is required in SUDs patients. Fibrosis is the most significant predictor of both prognosis and long-term survival. Its identification helps to promote the abstention from substances and alcohol. Active use of heroin, cocaine and synthetic substances is an absolute controindication for liver transplantation. In cases of remission and adherence to a significant care path, the patient is reevaluated. An addiction specialist should be present within the transplant team. If this is not present, a close collaboration with an addiction unit is mandatory.

Prognostic Value of the Alcoholic Hepatitis Histologic Score in Korean Patients with Biopsy-Proven Alcoholic Hepatitis

Background/Aims

The alcoholic hepatitis histologic score (AHHS) is a recently developed clinical model for predicting short-term mortality in Caucasian patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH). The AHHS has not been extensively validated in other ethnic populations. This study validated the AHHS in a Korean patient cohort.

Methods

We conducted a prospective cohort study of hospitalized Korean patients with AH between January 2010 and August 2017. Histopathological findings were assessed to determine the AHHS in all study subjects. Histopathological risk factors were examined by Cox regression analysis to predict overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted to assess the diagnostic performance of the AHHS.

Results

We recruited a total of 107 patients with biopsy-proven AH. None of the individual AHHS components were associated with 3-month mortality. However, the bilirubinostasis type and fibrosis severity were significantly associated with AH mortality beyond 6 months (all p<0.05, except fibrosis severity for 6-month mortality) and OS (all p<0.05). The modified AHHS classification as a binary variable (<5 vs ≥5) was also associated with OS (hazard ratio, 2.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.50 to 5.56; p=0.002), and had higher predictive performance for OS (concordance index [C-index], 0.634; 95% CI, 0.561 to 0.707) than the original AHHS classification (mild vs moderate vs severe: C-index, 0.577; 95% CI, 0.498 to 0.656). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.045).

Conclusions

In this prospective Korean AH cohort, the modified AHHS was significantly associated with OS. Therefore, the AHHS might be a useful histological prognosticator for long-term prognosis in patients with nonsevere AH.

Histologic parameter score does not predict short-term survival in severe alcoholic hepatitis

BACKGROUND AND AIM

The alcoholic hepatitis histologic score has been proposed as a new prognostic tool to assess the risk of death in alcoholic hepatitis. We aimed to evaluate its prognostic value in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis.

METHODS

Liver biopsies were analysed independently by two pathologists according to the alcoholic hepatitis histologic score. The Laennec staging system was also used to evaluate fibrosis.

RESULTS

One hundred and seven patients were included, and 89% of the patients received corticosteroids. The alcoholic hepatitis histologic score was available in 105 patients. Histologic scoring showed mild, moderate and severe scores in 10, 29 and 66 patients, respectively. Laennec staging was available for 53 patients, among whom 49 had cirrhosis, including 7 with Laennec 4A, 15 with 4B and 27 with 4C. Survival rates in mild, moderate and severe alcoholic hepatitis histologic score groups were 90%, 72% and 69% at 28 days (p = 0.6), 80%, 52% and 63% at 3 months (p = 0.3), and 70%, 41% and 58% at 6 months (p = 0.3), respectively. Within the alcoholic hepatitis histologic score, fibrosis demonstrated the best interobserver reproducibility (agreement = 100%, Κ = 1.00). Compared to patients with Laennec 4B or 4C cirrhosis, survival rates for patients without cirrhosis or with Laennec 4A cirrhosis were 100% vs 83% at 28 days (p = 0.16), 91% vs 68% at 3 months (p = 0.13), and 82% vs 64% at 6 months (p = 0.2), respectively. In multivariate analysis adjusted for age and for model for end-stage liver disease score, the alcoholic hepatitis histologic score and Laennec stage were not associated with 6-month mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

The alcoholic hepatitis histologic score is not predictive of short-term survival in this cohort of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis.

The molecular diagnosis of rejection in liver transplant biopsies: First results of the INTERLIVER study

Molecular diagnosis of rejection is emerging in kidney, heart, and lung transplant biopsies and could offer insights for liver transplant biopsies. We measured gene expression by microarrays in 235 liver transplant biopsies from 10 centers. Unsupervised archetypal analysis based on expression of previously annotated rejection-related transcripts identified 4 groups: normal "R1_normal " (N = 129), T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) "R2_TCMR " (N = 37), early injury "R3_injury " (N = 61), and fibrosis "R4_late " (N = 8). Groups differed in median time posttransplant, for example, R3_injury 99 days vs R4_late 3117 days. R2_TCMR biopsies expressed typical TCMR-related transcripts, for example, intense IFNG-induced effects. R3_injury displayed increased expression of parenchymal injury transcripts (eg, hypoxia-inducible factor EGLN1). R4_late biopsies showed immunoglobulin transcripts and injury-related transcripts. R2_TCMR correlated with histologic rejection although with many discrepancies, and R4_late with fibrosis. R2_TCMR , R3_injury , and R4_late correlated with liver function abnormalities. Supervised classifiers trained on histologic rejection showed less agreement with histology than unsupervised R2_TCMR scores. No confirmed cases of clinical antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) were present in the population, and strategies that previously revealed ABMR in kidney and heart transplants failed to reveal a liver ABMR phenotype. In conclusion, molecular analysis of liver transplant biopsies detects rejection, has the potential to resolve ambiguities, and could assist with immunosuppressive management.

Restricted immunological and cellular pathways are shared by murine models of chronic alcohol consumption

Murine models of chronic alcohol consumption are frequently used to investigate alcoholic liver injury and define new therapeutic targets. Lieber-DeCarli diet (LD) and Meadows-Cook diet (MC) are the most accepted models of chronic alcohol consumption. It is unclear how similar these models are at the cellular, immunologic, and transcriptome levels. We investigated the common and specific pathways of LD and MC models. Livers from LD and MC mice were subjected to histologic changes, hepatic leukocyte population, hepatic transcripts level related to leukocyte recruitment, and hepatic RNA-seq analysis. Cross-species comparison was performed using the alcoholic liver disease (ALD) transcriptomic public dataset. Despite LD mice have increased liver injury and steatosis by alcohol exposure, the number of CD45⁺ cells were reduced. Opposite, MC mice have an increased number of monocytes/liver by alcohol. The pattern of chemokine gradient, adhesion molecules, and cytokine transcripts is highly specific for each model, not shared with advanced human alcoholic liver disease. Moreover, hepatic RNA-seq revealed a limited and restricted number of shared genes differentially changed by alcohol exposure in these 2 models. Thus, mechanisms involved in alcohol tissue injury are model-dependent at multiple levels and raise the consideration of significant pathophysiological diversity of human alcoholic liver injury.

Histopathology of Alcohol-Related Liver Diseases

Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to a spectrum of liver histopathology, including steatosis, steatohepatitis, foamy degeneration, fatty liver with cholestasis, and cirrhosis. Although variability in sampling and pathologist interpretation are of some concern, liver biopsy remains the gold standard for distinguishing between steatohepatitis and noninflammatory histologic patterns of injury that can also cause the clinical syndrome of alcohol-related hepatitis. Liver biopsy is not routinely recommended to ascertain a diagnosis of alcohol-related liver disease in patients with an uncertain alcohol history, because the histologic features of alcohol-related liver diseases can be found in other diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and drug-induced liver injury.

Liver Fibrosis Conventional and Molecular Imaging Diagnosis Update

Liver fibrosis is a serious, life-threatening disease with high morbidity and mortality that result from diverse causes. Liver biopsy, considered the "gold standard" to diagnose, grade, and stage liver fibrosis, has limitations in terms of invasiveness, cost, sampling variability, inter-observer variability, and the dynamic process of fibrosis. Compelling evidence has demonstrated that all stages of fibrosis are reversible if the injury is removed. There is a clear need for safe, effective, and reliable non-invasive assessment modalities to determine liver fibrosis in order to manage it precisely in personalized medicine. However, conventional imaging methods used to assess morphological and structural changes related to liver fibrosis, including ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are only useful in assessing advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis. Functional imaging techniques, including MR elastography (MRE), US elastography, and CT perfusion are useful for assessing moderate to advanced liver fibrosis. MRE is considered the most accurate noninvasive imaging technique, and US elastography is currently the most widely used noninvasive means. However, these modalities are less accurate in early-stage liver fibrosis and some factors affect the accuracy of these techniques. Molecular imaging is a target-specific imaging mechanism that has the potential to accurately diagnose early-stage liver fibrosis. We provide an overview of recent advances in molecular imaging for the diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis which will enable clinicians to monitor the progression of disease and potentially reverse liver fibrosis. We compare the promising technologies with conventional and functional imaging and assess the utility of molecular imaging in precision and personalized clinical medicine in the early stages of liver fibrosis.

Alcoholic liver fibrosis: detection and treatment

Alcohol consumption is one of the main risks to public health. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) cause 80% of hepatotoxic deaths, and approximately 50% of cirrhosis is alcohol-related. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) for ethanol is 2.6 g/day, deduced from morbidity and mortality rates due to liver fibrosis. The relative risk of cirrhosis increases significantly for doses above 60 g/day for men and 20 g/day for women over a period of around 10 years. Twenty to 40% of steatosis cases will evolve into steatohepatitis/steatofibrosis, and 8 to 20% will evolve directly into liver cirrhosis. About 20 to 40% of steatohepatitis cases will evolve into cirrhosis, and 4 to 5% into hepatocellular carcinoma. This cascade of events evolves in 5 to 40 years, with the temporal variability caused by the subjects' genetic patterns and associated risk/comorbidity factors. Steatohepatitis should be considered "the rate limiting step:" usually, it can be resolved through abstinence, although for some patients, once this situation develops, it is not substantially modified by abstention and there is a risk of fibrotic evolution. Early detection of fibrosis, obtained by hepatic elastography, is a crucial step in patients with AUDs. Such strategy allows patients to be included in a detoxification program in order to achieve abstention. Drugs such as silybin, metadoxine, and adenosylmethionine can be used. Other drugs, with promising antifibrotic effects, are currently under study. In this review, we discuss clinical and pathogenetic aspects of alcohol-related liver fibrosis and present and future strategies to prevent cirrhosis.