Which clinical and sonographic parameters may be useful to discriminate NASH from steatosis?

Background: The natural history of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) includes the passage through steatosis.

Goal: To retrospectively evaluate the usefulness of sonographic parameters compared to histological diagnosis when differentiating steatosis from NASH.

Study: This retrospective study reviewed records of patients with steatosis from databases of our Departments, selecting only those who had been diagnosed by sonography and liver biopsy [64 males (63.

Prevalence and incidence of cryoglobulins in hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis patients: a prospective study.

Objective: A high prevalence of cryoglobulins has been reported in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and the incidence of cryoglobulins and their association with clinical symptoms in chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis patients.

Methods: The prevalence of cryoglobulins and cryoglobulinemic syndrome was investigated at enrollment in 237 patients (213 with chronic hepatitis and 24 with cirrhosis).

Coarse nodular US pattern in hepatic cirrhosis: risk for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of the coarse nodular ultrasonographic (US) pattern and its prognostic importance in terms of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in hepatic cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV); HBV with hepatitis D virus (HDV), formerly known as hepatitis delta virus; hepatitis C virus (HCV); and alcoholic cirrhosis (ALC) or primary biliary disease (primary biliary cirrhosis [PBC]).

Materials And Methods: Four hundred two cases of hepatic cirrhosis caused by HBV (94 patients), HDV (100 patients), HCV (100 patients), ALC (63 patients), or PBC (45 patients) were retrospectively reviewed to identify the US pattern present at diagnosis and its possible association with the cause of the disease and subsequent development of HCC during a mean follow-up of 43.9 months +/- 29.

Occurrence of HCC in asymptomatic HCV-related chronic hepatitis.

Patients with persistently normal ALT affected with HCV-related chronic hepatitis exist. The natural history of liver disease in these patients was demonstrated to be very slow and progression to cirrhosis likely absent. The case we report describes the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a patient with persistently normal ALT affected with mild chronic hepatitis.