Alcohol related hepatic lesions in young victims of road traffic accidents in Australia

There is considerable evidence that the advanced stage of alcoholic cirrhosis results from alcohol abuse over 15-20 years. The natural history of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), especially in the early phases, however, is not clear. Tissue damage as seen in liver biopsy specimens is therefore still one of the more reliable indices of alcoholic liver damage. As ethical considerations preclude liver biopsy in a healthy population who drink alcohol, our knowledge of the tissue effects of alcohol ingestion in healthy young adults is poorly documented. A high proportion of the victims of fatal road traffic accidents in Australia are young and apparently healthy. The association between drinking and road traffic accidents was therefore examined to study the possible early tissue effects of alcohol in an otherwise healthy, mainly young population.