King's College Criteria for Acute Liver Failure

Identifies patients with acute liver failure who have a poor prognosis without transplantation, using separate acetaminophen and non-acetaminophen criteria; high specificity but low-to-moderate sensitivity, so a negative result does not exclude a poor prognosis.

Etiology of acute liver failure

INR (prothrombin; used in both branches)

Arterial pH (acetaminophen branch; after fluid resuscitation)

Serum creatinine (mg/dL; acetaminophen branch)

Hepatic encephalopathy grade (acetaminophen branch)

Age (years; non-acetaminophen branch)

Unfavorable etiology (non-acetaminophen branch)

Jaundice-to-encephalopathy interval (days; non-acetaminophen branch)

Serum total bilirubin (mg/dL; non-acetaminophen branch)