Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a potentially lethal syndrome, which is characterized by an acute deterioration of liver function in patients with chronic liver diseases. The present paper reported that an alcoholic cirrhotic patient with ACLF developed septic shock, hydrothorax, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, acute kidney injury, and acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding at the same hospitalization and was successfully rescued by pharmacotherapy alone without any invasive intervention.
Keywords: acute-on-chronic liver failure; bleeding; liver cirrhosis; organ failure; pharmacotherapy.