Clinical courses after administration of oral corticosteroids in patients with severely cholestatic acute hepatitis A; three cases.

Acute hepatitis A is currently outbreaking in Korea. Although prognosis of acute hepatitis A is generally favorable, a minority of patients are accompanied by fatal complications. Severe cholestasis is one of the important causes of prolonged hospitalization in patients with acute hepatitis A. In such cases, higher chances of additional complications and increased medical costs are inevitable. We report three cases of severely cholestatic hepatitis A, who showed favorable responses to oral corticosteroids. Thirty milligram of prednisolone was initiated and tapered according to the responses. Rapid improvement was observed in all cases without side effects. We suggest that corticosteroid administration can be useful in hepatitis A patients with severe cholestasis who do not show improvement by conservative managements. Clinical trial will be needed to evaluate effectiveness of corticosteroids in these patients.