Читать книгу Autoimmune Liver Disease - Группа авторов - Страница 9

Over the last three decades there have been many advances in the understanding of autoimmune liver disease (AILD). The advances in understanding the pathogenesis of these diseases is starting to lead to more specific therapies both for slowing or arresting progression and for treatment of the symptoms. Many people with AILD see delays in diagnosis and are misdiagnosed; treatments tend at best to control progression rather than induce resolution. Symptoms are often not treated because of either poor knowledge or inadequate therapies. Liver transplantation, a highly effective therapy for those with end‐stage disease, has its inherent risks and complications and is really a reflection of a failure to treat the original disease. Recurrence of AILD after transplantation, which manifests despite sufficient immunosuppression to prevent allograft rejection and in a foreign HLA milieu, must provide clues to some of the processes that lead to AILD but the lessons remain obscure.

We have been pleased to edit this volume which we hope will not only provide a balanced and comprehensive background to the pathological and clinical aspects of AILD but also stimulate further research to provide effective therapies. We are indebted to the authors who have worked so hard to summarize complex fields. They represent some of the world leaders in this area and we are grateful to them for their time. We know there is some overlap and minor conflicts between chapters but we have retained these as we would like chapters to be comprehensive and self‐contained.

We would also like to thank Deirdre Barry, Yogalakshmi Mohanakrishnan and Baskar Anandraj at Wiley for their support, patience and editorial skills and, most importantly, our families who have been patient during this time.

Finally, we thank you for reading this volume and hope you find it stimulating and provoking. Whilst autoimmune liver diseases are rare, they are impactful, and every opportunity to raise awareness, standards and knowledge is an opportunity for better patient care.

James Neuberger

Gideon M. Hirschfield