Six-minute walking test performance is associated with survival in cirrhotic patients.

Background: Patients with cirrhosis are at risk of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, with resulting cardiac dysfunction and exercise limitations. Six minute walking test (6MWT) assesses functional status and predicts morbidity and mortality in cardiopulmonary diseases.

Aim: To determine if it associates with mortality by analyzing 6MWT performance in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Autonomic dysfunction is common in liver cirrhosis and is associated with cardiac dysfunction and mortality: prospective observational study.

Background: Although autonomic dysfunction has been shown to be associated with liver cirrhosis, the prevalence and prognostic implications are unclear. Abnormal heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of autonomic function, has not been well investigated in cirrhosis.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of high-risk HRV parameters in a cohort of cirrhotic patients and their association with cardiac dysfunction and mortality.

Nutrition Interventions for Chronic Liver Diseases and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

The progressively increasing rates of obesity have led to a worldwide epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. It is currently the most common cause of liver disease worldwide and projected to be the leading indication for liver transplantation in the United States by 2020. NAFLD is associated with both liver-related and overall mortality.

Steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis are predicted by the characteristics of very low density lipoprotein in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background & Aims: A major challenge in the management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is to identify patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and early liver fibrosis. The progression of NAFLD is accompanied by distinctive changes in very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), a lipoprotein particle produced exclusively in the liver. Herein, we sought to determine the characteristics of VLDL profiles associated with NASH and liver fibrosis.

Poor Inter-test Reliability Between CK18 Kits as a Biomarker of NASH.

Background And Aim: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects 15-40% of the general population; 10-20% of those patients have a more severe form of the disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Cytokeratin-18 (CK18), released during apoptosis and one of the most studied biomarkers in NASH, can be measured by a number of commercially available kits. We compared serum measurements of the CK18 M30 from two different kits using the same cohort to evaluate the reliability between two test kits.