Considerations for Prognosis, Goals of Care, and Specialty Palliative Care for Hospitalized Patients With Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure.

Abstract

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) occurs in about 25% of hospitalized patients with decompensated cirrhosis (DC) (1) and is associated with high, short-term mortality (1, 2). The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) - Chronic Liver Failure (CLIF) EASL-CLIF Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure in Cirrhosis (CANONIC) study showed that 28-day mortality could be predicted after the 3rd day in the intensive care unit (ICU) applying the CLIF-sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (3).