Publications by authors named "Ana Maria Ghiuchici"

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has become the preferred method for many clinicians in evaluating focal liver lesions (FLLs) initially identified through standard ultrasound. However, in clinical practice, certain lesions may deviate from the typical enhancement patterns outlined in EFSUMB guidelines. This study aims to assess FLLs that remained inconclusive or misdiagnosed after CEUS evaluation, spanning eight years of single-center experience.

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Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity are frequent complications of cirrhosis, and the dietary patterns of patients with these diseases significantly impact the development of both conditions. This study aims to evaluate the adequacy of the dietary intake of patients with liver cirrhosis. A total of 201 patients with liver cirrhosis were included in this analysis.

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Liver biopsy is the gold standard method for staging liver fibrosis, but it is an invasive procedure that is associated with some complications. There are also non-invasive techniques for assessing liver fibrosis, such as elastography and biological tests, but these techniques can fail in detection or generate false measurements depending on the subject’s condition. This study aimed to determine whether liver fibrosis can be evaluated using contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with arrival time parametric imaging using the ultrasound machine’s parametric image software, the method being called (CEUS-PAT).

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This study aims to evaluate the performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and biological tests to characterize portal vein thrombosis (PVT). We retrospectively analyzed 101 patients with PVT, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In all patients, demographic, biologic, imaging, and endoscopic data were collected.

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Malnutrition and sarcopenia are common complications of liver cirrhosis. This study compares the performance of different nutritional assessment techniques in detecting malnourished patients. Data from 156 patients with liver cirrhosis were collected.

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Sarcopenia is now recognized more and more as a biomarker with poor outcomes in cirrhotic patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia in patients with liver cirrhosis and prospectively investigate the association between sarcopenia and different complications and its impact on survival. This prospective study included patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to our department from 2018 to 2020.

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Background And Aims: Elastography can provide information regarding tissue stiffness (TS). This study aimed to analyze the elastographic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the factors that influence intratumoral elastographic variability in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Methods: This prospective study included 115 patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma evaluated between June 2016-November 2019.

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Aims: to evaluate the accuracy of LR-5 category from the latest Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound algorithm (ACR CEUS LI-RADSv 2017) for the noninvasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in a real-life cohort of high-risk patients.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively re-analysed the CEUS studies of 464 focal liver lesions (FLL) in 382 patients at high-risk for HCC (liver cirrhosis of any aetiology, chronic B or C hepatitis with severe fibrosis) using the ACR CEUS LI-RADSv 2017 algorithm. CEUS LI-RADS categories used for the diagnosis of HCC were: CEUS LR-5 (definitely HCC) and CEUS LR-TIV (HCC with macrovascular invasion).

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The study evaluates the utility of spleen (SS) and liver stiffness (LS) associated with spleen size (SSZ) as non-invasive markers for predicting high-risk varices (HRV). One hundred thirty-two patients with compensated liver cirrhosis who underwent abdominal ultrasound SS (SSM) and LS measurements (LSM) using a 2-D shear wave elastography (2-D-SWE) technique from General Electric and upper endoscopy were included. Similar rates of reliable SSM and LSM were obtained (95.

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Primary biliary tract neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are extremely rare tumors that account for 0.2-2% of all gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors. The typical presentation is with jaundice and other symptoms related to biliary obstruction.

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