This is what I picked up off the on-line Yahoo yorkie forums - it is interesting.
Corticosteroids
Corticosteroid therapy is indicated in treatment of chronic active hepatitis, cholangiohepatitis, and immune-mediated hepatopathies. Corticosteroids have several therapeutic benefits in liver disease. They reduce the inflammatory component of liver disease and arrest destruction of hepatocytes in chronic active hepatitis and immune-mediated hepatopathies by reducing tissue lymphocyte and plasma cell numbers. They may also be of value in reducing mild degrees of fibrosis. Corticosteroid use may lead to an increase in serum albumin levels and bile flow and may decrease serum transaminase levels.
The preferred corticosteroids are prednisone or prednisolone. Because corticosteroids are normally metabolized by the liver before renal excretion, the dosage must be carefully calculated to avoid signs of corticosteroid excess. In general, the starting dosage of prednisone for inflammatory liver disease in dogs is 0.5 mg/lb divided BID for 2-4 weeks, followed by a decrease in dosage by one-half at each of several ensuing 2-6 week intervals, until an alternate day remission dosage of 0.1 - 0.2 mg/lb is reached.
Long-term therapy is usually necessary for chronic active hepatitis. Reinstitution of therapy after a relapse is not often as successful in controlling the disease as the initial therapy. The course of therapy for cholangiohepatitis is variable (3-4 months to several years). Affected animals should be monitored by periodic recheck of blood chemistry profiles and bile acid assays and repeat liver biopsies where possible. |