Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to talk to you about autoimmune hepatitis.

Then you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash autoimmune hepatitis

or in the gastroenterology section of the zero to finals second edition

medicine book. So let's get straight into it. Autoimmune hepatitis is a rare cause of chronic

hepatitis or inflammation in the liver. It appears to occur due to a combination of genetic and environmental

factors. Let's go through the types. There are two types of autoimmune hepatitis with different

age distributions and auto-antibodies. Type 1 typically affects women in their late 40s or 50s.

It presents around or after menopause with fatigue and features of liver disease on examination.

It takes a less acute course than type 2.

Type 2 usually affects children or young people more commonly girls.

It presents with acute hepatitis with high transaminases on the blood tests and jaundice

or yellowing of the skin.

Let's go through the investigations.

Investigations will show high liver transaminases,

which are ALT and AST,

and minimal change in the ALP or alkaline phosphatase levels,

and this is described as a hepatitic picture.

Raised immunoglobulin G, or IgG, levels are an important finding in autoimmune hepatitis.

Auto-antibodies found in type 1 autoimmune hepatitis are anti-nuclear antibodies for A-N-A,

anti-smooth muscle antibodies for anti-SMA, and anti-soluble liver antigen slash liver pancreas antibodies or anti-sla slash LP.

Auto-antibodies in type 2 autoimmune hepatitis are anti-liver kidney

...