EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines: Autoimmune hepatitis

The aim of the present Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) is to provide guidance to hepatologists and general physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of AIH in order to improve care for affected patients. In view of the limited data from large con- trolled studies and trials, many recommendations are based on expert consensus. This is to some extent a limitation of this EASL-CPG, but at the same time it is its special strength: consen- sus in this guideline is based on intensive discussions of experts from large treatment centres. The core consensus group has experience of over one thousand AIH patients managed person- ally, and the recommendations have been reviewed by both the EASL Governing Board as well as external experts, who have a similarly wide personal experience. Therefore, the guidelines are a resource of information and recommendations based on the largest experience available thus far. At the same time, we formulate key scientific questions that result from the consensus discussions on the limitations of our knowledge. All recommen- dations of this CPG were agreed upon unanimously (100%) con- sensus. Grading of the recommendations is based on the GRADE system for evidence