Transabdominal ultrasound-guided pancreatic biopsy: a neglected but safe, effective and inexpensive procedure that needs to be re-juvinalized.

Background: For solid pancreatic masses, ultrasound endoscopic fine-needle biopsy is suggested as the front-line investigation for tissue achievement, notwithstanding the optimal performance of transabdominal ultrasound (TUS)-guided biopsy.

Purpose: To reassess the efficacy and effectiveness of TUS-guided sampling and to determine the factors predictive of accurate histology.

Methods: In total, 142 patients with an indication for a TUS-guided biopsy of a pancreatic mass were analyzed.

Ablation treatment of primary and secondary liver tumors under contrast-enhanced ultrasound guidance in field practice of interventional ultrasound centers. A multicenter study.

The present retrospective study was aimed at characterizing the clinical impact of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) as a guidance technique for ablation of primary and secondary liver tumors at six interventional ultrasound centers. 148 patients (103M/45F, median age 74 yrs.) with 151 liver target lesions (median size 15 mm, 86.

Endothelial dysfunction correlates with liver fibrosis in chronic HCV infection.

Background. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can exert proatherogenic activities due to its direct action on vessel walls and/or via the chronic inflammatory process involving the liver. Aims.

Medical Systemic Therapies for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Clinical Perspectives and Safety Profile.

A multidisciplinary approach based on clinical expertise and knowledge of molecular processes involved in hepatocarcinogenesis is needed for the proper management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Such information must be considered in the context of pathobiology of the underlying liver disease. New drugs targeting specific molecular steps in pathways involved in HCC growth and development bear the promise to radically modify the pharmacological therapies currently in use in hepatooncology.

Conditional survival analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with radiofrequency ablation.

Aim: Survival estimates are commonly reported as survival from the first observation, but future survival probability changes based on the survival time already accumulated after therapy, otherwise known as conditional survival (CS). The aim of the study was to describe CS according to different prognostic variables in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

Methods: Data on 125 very early/early HCC patients treated with RFA between 1999 and 2007 were analyzed.

Role of vaptans in the management of hydroelectrolytic imbalance in liver cirrhosis.

Ascites and hyponatremia are the most common complications in patients with liver cirrhosis and develop as a consequence of a severe impairment of liver function and portal hypertension. Increasing evidences support the central role of renal function alterations in the pathogenesis of hydroelectrolytic imbalances in cirrhotic patients, thus implying a dense cross-talk between liver and kidney in the systemic and splanchnic vascular homeostasis in such subjects. Since Arginin Vasopressin (AVP) hyperincretion occurs at late stage of cirrhosis and plays an important role in the development of refractory ascites, dilutional hyponatremia and finally hepato-renal syndrome, selective antagonists of AVP receptors V2 (vaptans) have been recently introduced in the therapeutic algorithm of advanced cirrhotic patients.

Influence of age and type of underlying disease on complications related to home enteral nutrition: a single Italian center experience.

Background: No data about the influence of age and underlying diseases on home enteral nutrition (HEN)-related complications are reported in the literature. Herein, we retrospectively investigated this issue by analyzing HEN-related complications in a cohort of consecutive patients grouped according to the underlying disease and age.

Material And Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 101 patients referring to our team in 2007-2010 to obtain patients' demographic data, age, nutrition status, duration of HEN treatment, and type of HEN-related complications.

Lesson from an intriguing case of cryoglobulinemia.

Cryoglobulinemia is a pathological condition usually associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic liver disease and less commonly with autoimmune or lymphoproliferative disorders. The possible association of cryoglobulinemia with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is not widely accepted. In our patient, serum negativity for HCV markers initially led us to consider two other causes of cryoglobulinemia.