Background: Management of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) has significantly accelerated in the last few years. Currently, second generation direct acting antivirals (DAAs) promise clearance of infection in most of patients. Here we present the results of the first analysis carried out on data of Lazio clinical network for DAAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Prognostic ability of BCLC-B Subclassification in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Undergoing Transarterial Chemoembolization Background and aims. A subclassification system for intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was recently proposed to optimize treatment allocation. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic ability of that substaging proposal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a severe health condition associated with high hospitalizations and mortality rates, which also imposes a relevant economic burden.
Purpose: The aim of the present survey is to investigate treatment strategies and related costs for HCC in the intermediate and advanced stages of the disease.
Patients And Methods: The survey was conducted in four Italian centers through structured interviews with physicians.
Background: An association between Transjugular Intrahepatic Porto-Systemic Shunt (TIPS) and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis has been suggested, but not confirmed.
Aim: To evaluate the potential role of TIPS in hepatocellular carcinoma development.
Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study among patients with cirrhosis; all cases had undergone TIPS placement.
Background & Aims: We analysed for the first time whether recipient perioperative serum total cholesterol (sTC) concentration is associated with liver transplantation outcome.
Methods: We studied noncholestatic cirrhotics submitted to primary deceased-donor liver transplantation in a prospective group (n=140) from Rome and in a validation retrospective cohort (n=157) from Udine, Italy. Pre-ischaemia and post-reperfusion cholesterol metabolism gene mRNA was measured by RT-PCR in 74 grafts of the study group.
Background & Aims: Environmental and genetic factors contribute to alcoholic cirrhosis onset. In particular, age at exposure to liver stressors has been shown to be important in progression to fibrosis in hepatitis C individuals. However, no definite data on the role of age at onset of at-risk alcohol consumption are available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To investigate the effect of drinking sulphate-bicarbonate-calcium thermal water (TW) on risk factors for atherosclerosis and cholesterol gallstone disease.
Methods: Postmenopausal women with functional dyspepsia and/or constipation underwent a 12 d cycle of thermal (n = 20) or tap (n = 20) water controlled drinking. Gallbladder fasting volume at ultrasound, blood vitamin E, oxysterols (7-β-hydroxycholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol), bile acid (BA), triglycerides, total/low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein cholesterol were measured at baseline and at the end of the study.
Aims: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in non-cirrhotic patients with symptomatic portal hypertension secondary to portal cavernoma.
Methods: Our cohort includes 13 consecutive patients. Eleven were considered for Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement for complications not manageable by medical/endoscopic treatment and two because of the need of oral anticoagulation in presence of high-risk varices.
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol
November 2010
Background & Aims: Bacterial infections are a frequent and serious burden among patients with cirrhosis because they can further deteriorate liver function. We assessed the epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical consequences of bacterial infections in hospitalized cirrhotic patients.
Methods: In a cohort of hospitalized cirrhotic patients (n = 150) referred to a tertiary care setting, all episodes of bacterial infections were recorded prospectively.
Background & Aims: The incidence of post-TIPS hepatic encephalopathy (HE) could be reduced by using stents with a small diameter. The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of HE and the clinical efficacy of TIPS created with 8- or 10-mm PTFE-covered stents.
Methods: Consecutive cirrhotics submitted to TIPS for variceal bleeding or refractory ascites were randomized to receive a 8- or 10-mm covered stent.
Background: Malnutrition is frequently present in case of end-stage liver diseases, and in cirrhotic patients, a poor nutritional status is considered to be one of the predictive factors for increased morbidity and mortality rates after surgery. The impact of the recipients' malnutrition on the outcome of liver transplantation (LT) is still under debate and recent studies have shown controversial results.
Patients And Methods: We prospectively analysed the nutritional status of 38 consecutive patients undergoing LT in our University Hospital.
There is little information on the long-term effect of liver transplantation (LT) on cardiac autonomic dysfunction in cirrhotic patients. We compared cardiac autonomic function before and in the long-term after LT. In a transversal study, we investigated 30 cirrhotics awaiting LT, 15 clinically stable patients 2-6 years after LT and 27 healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Gastroenterol
November 2008
Background And Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence, natural history, and risk factors of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) with the new polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-covered stent grafts in cirrhotic patients.
Patients And Methods: Seventy-eight cirrhotic patients treated by TIPS with PTFE-covered stent grafts and followed by the same medical team--according to a prospective protocol for diagnostic workup and surveillance strategy--were reviewed. The follow-up was 19.
Liver Int
January 2009
Background/aims: Drugs with antivascular endothelial growth factor A (anti-VEGF-A) action are under clinical evaluation with encouraging results in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The relative VEGF-A protein expression in non-advanced HCC and in the cirrhotic non-tumoral tissue in the same patient, a variable that could be important for treatment efficacy, has been investigated with conflicting results, only using the cirrhotic tissue surrounding the neoplasm (CS).
Methods: We measured, for the first time, VEGF-A expression in non-advanced HCC and in the respective CS and cirrhotic tissue at a distance from the tumour (CD), in 24 patients who underwent liver transplantation.
Activated alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA)-positive hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are pericytes responsible for fibrosis in chronic liver injury. The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), commonly expressed by astrocytes in the central nervous system, is expressed in vivo in the liver in a subpopulation of quiescent stellate cells. In the rat, increased GFAP expression in the acute response to injury and down-regulation in the chronic response have been observed, whereas reports concerning GFAP expression in human liver are still conflicting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To evaluate the influence of familiality on the prevalence of gallstone disease (GD) in Italy.
Methods: Families of 79 subjects with gallstones (cases) and of 79 subjects without gallstones (controls) were investigated for the presence of gallstones by ultrasonography. Index cases and index controls were matched for age, sex, and operative unit.
Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury, a major determinant of initial poor graft function (IPGF) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). We prospectively investigated the association between the recipient plasma preoperative oxidative stress and the occurrence of IPGF after deceased-donor OLT and indirectly studied the source-hepatic or extra-hepatic-of systemic oxidative stress in vivo in cirrhosis. We used a recently developed specific and sensitive mass spectrometry assay to measure 7beta-hydroxycholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol (oxysterols), markers of oxidative stress, in biological matrices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: We evaluated the role and mechanisms by which the GH/IGF1 axis modulates cholangiocyte proliferation.
Methods: GH-receptors (GH-R), IGF1, IGFBP3 (binding protein 3), IGF1-R and receptor substrates (IRS) were evaluated in cholangiocytes of normal or bile duct-ligated (BDL) rat livers. The effects of GH and IGF1 on proliferation of normal quiescent cholangiocytes and the transduction pathways involved were investigated.
Background: The presence of hypercholesterolemia is currently not considered a selection criteria for performing gastric restrictive or diversionary bariatric surgery.
Methods: We prospectively investigated the effects of the bilio-intestinal bypass (BI-bypass) with a wide cholecysto-jejunal anastomosis and of adjustable gastric banding (AGB) on blood lipid concentrations in obese patients. To clarify the mechanism of the hypocholesterolemic effect of the BI-bypass, daily fecal sterol excretion was measured by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC).
A total of 44 donor/recipient perioperative and intraoperative variables were prospectively analyzed in 89 deceased-donor liver transplantations classified as initial good graft function (IGGF) or initial poor graft function (IPGF) according to a scoring system based on values obtained during the 1st 72 postoperative hours from the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) concentration, bile output, and prothrombin activity. The IGGF compared with the IPGF group showed: 1) longer graft (P = .002) and patient (P = .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Portal hypertensive gastropathy is a potential cause of bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis. Studies on its natural history have often included patients submitted to endoscopic or pharmacological treatment for portal hypertension.
Patients And Methods: A total of 222 cirrhotic patients with mild degree of portal hypertension (i.
Background And Aim: Despite a similar Helicobacter pylori prevalence, peptic ulcer is more frequent in cirrhotic patients than in controls. We evaluated whether cirrhotic patients had an increased bacterial density and/or a higher prevalence of H. pylori cagA-positive strains than controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF