Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical features and prognosis of patients with alcoholic liver failure. Methods The clinical features and prognosis in 130 patients with alcoholic liver failure who had admitted to Beijing 302nd Hospital of PLA from January 2004 to May 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. Results The precipitating factors of patients with alcoholic liver failure were concurrent infection（52.3%），short-term excessive drinking （8.5%），fatigue （3.8%），emotional change （0.8%） and unknown cause （34.6%）; The curative or improvement rate of patients with alcoholic liver failure was 41.5%，the nonresponsive to treatment was 42.3%，and the mortality rate was 16.2%；Hepatic encephalopathy and cerebral edema or cerebral hernia（33.3%），septic shock （28.6%），hemorrhagic shock （23.8%） and hepatorenal syndrome （9.5%） were the top four causes of death；The incidence of cerebral edema，cerebral hernia，hepatorenal syndrome in nonresponsive or death patients were 14%，7% and 36% respectively，significantly higher than those in improved patients （1%，1% and 6%，respectively，P<0.01）；The blood hemoglobin levels in nonresponsive or death patients[（85.0± 28.3）g/L]was significantly lower than that in improved patients[（95.2±27.6） g/L，P<0.05]；The Maddrey's discriminant function，MELD score and Glasgow score in nonresponsive or death patients were （94.56±63.17），（25.52±8.29）and（9.76±1.04），respectively，significantly higher than those in improved patients [（68.24±24.61），（19.03±10.13）and（9.30±1.11），P<0.01]；Prothrombin time （r=-0.19，P=0.03），international normalized ratio （r=-0.21，P=0.02），blood urea nitrogen （r=-0.28，P=0.01） and creatinine （r=-0.28，P=0.01） were negatively correlated with the prognosis of patients（P<0.05 or P<0.01）；Patients with cerebral edema （r=-0.26，P=0.01），cerebral hernia （r=-0.26，P=0.01） and hepatorenal syndrome （r=-0.38，P=0.01）were negatively correlated with the prognosis（P<0.01）. Conclusions The common precipitating factors of patients with alcoholic liver failure are concurrent infection and short-term excessive drinking. Coagulation， kidney and brain dysfunction are important predictors for poor prognosis.

Key words: Alcoholic liver failure, Clinical features, Prognosis, Infection