Publications by authors named "Denise Harnois"

Article Synopsis
  • Gastrointestinal cancers account for about one-third of global cancer deaths, yet their overall impact has not been thoroughly analyzed.
  • A study in 2021 found 5.26 million new cases and 3.70 million deaths from these cancers, with colorectal cancer being the most prevalent.
  • While some types show a decrease in incidence, there's been a rise in colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancer rates, highlighting the need for public health policies to address risk factors like alcohol consumption and metabolic diseases.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates whether sinusoidal dilatation and congestion in liver biopsies can predict outflow obstruction in hepatic vein anastomoses during transplantation.
  • It involved a retrospective analysis of 166 liver biopsies from 139 patients, assessing the relationship between histologic findings and venous anastomotic pressure gradient.
  • The findings conclude that there is no significant correlation between the histologic changes and the pressure gradient, suggesting that these histological features are not reliable indicators for selecting patients for stenting.
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Introduction: This case describes passenger lymphocyte syndrome (PLS) generating human platelet antigen 1a (HPA-1a) alloantibodies against the recipient's platelets after liver transplant. Given the rarity of PLS, especially in liver transplant with HPA-1a alloantibodies, disease course and management options are poorly described.

Methods: The patient had cirrhosis secondary to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis complicated by hepatocellular carcinoma, encephalopathy, and severe ascites.

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Autoimmune hepatitis is an immune-mediated inflammatory condition of the liver of undetermined cause that affects both sexes, all ages, races, and ethnicities. Its clinical presentation can be very broad, from having an asymptomatic and silent course to presenting as acute hepatitis, cirrhosis, and acute liver failure potentially requiring liver transplantation. The diagnosis is based on histological abnormalities (interface hepatitis), characteristic clinical and laboratory findings (increased aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and serum IgG concentration), and the presence of one or more characteristic autoantibodies.

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Backgrounds/objectives: The escalating incidence of early-onset gastrointestinal cancers is becoming a primary global health concern. Biliary tract cancer (BTC) has been relatively understudied in this regard. We conducted an epidemiological study regarding the burden of this condition.

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Purpose: To compare the outcomes of radiation segmentectomy for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) versus hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with NAFLD- or HCV-related HCC treated with radiation segmentectomy from 01/2017-06/2022 was performed. Eligibility criteria included solitary tumor ≤8 cm or up to 3 HCC ≤3 cm, ECOG 0-1, and absence of vascular invasion or extrahepatic spread.

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Background: Immune-mediated adverse effects of current systemic immunosuppression therapy compromise long-term survival of liver transplant recipients. Our recently observed results showed that intranodal delivery of sirolimus induced interleukin (IL)-10-driven CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. The present report investigated the feasibility of intra-nodal delivery of sirolimus ex vivo into a human liver common bile duct lymph node.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examines the outcomes of liver transplantation (LT) using donation after circulatory death (DCD) grafts in patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT), finding that surgical complexity was increased, but no prior studies focused on this combination.
  • - Out of 771 DCD LTs performed between 2006 and 2020, 91 patients (11.8%) had PVT, with varying severity levels; the majority underwent a procedure to remove clots before transplantation.
  • - The results indicated no significant differences in early allograft dysfunction, primary nonfunction rates, or survival between patients with and without PVT, suggesting DCD liver grafts can be safely used in select PVT cases,
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Background & Objectives: Studies have suggested that smoking may accelerate the progression of fibrosis among patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), although the data are limited. The current review was undertaken with the aim to comprehensively analyze this possible association by identifying all relevant studies and summarizing their results.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review on MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was performed from inception through February 2019 to identify all relevant studies.

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Purpose: To verify the correlation between yttrium-90 glass microsphere radiation segmentectomy treatment intensification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and complete pathologic necrosis (CPN) at liver transplantation.

Methods: A retrospective, single center, analysis of patients with HCC who received radiation segmentectomy prior to liver transplantation from 2016 to 2021 was performed. The tumor treatment intensification cohort (n = 38) was prescribed radiation segmentectomy as per response recommendations identified in a previously published baseline cohort study (n = 37).

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Purpose: Transarterial radioembolization can serve as an ablative therapy for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Given the volumetric variability of liver segments, this study aimed to characterize the safety of ablative radioembolization by determining percent liver treated (%LT) thresholds associated with biochemical toxicity.

Patients And Methods: Patients with HCC receiving a single ablative radioembolization treatment using glass microspheres from 2017 through 2020 were reviewed.

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Background: Recent studies have suggested an association between modest alcohol consumption and a decreased risk of advanced liver fibrosis among patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) although the results are inconsistent. The current systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to comprehensively investigate this possible association by identifying all the relevant studies and combining their results.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through February 2019 to identify all cross-sectional studies that compared the prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis among NAFLD patients who were modest alcohol drinkers to NAFLD patients who were non-drinkers.

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Nodular regenerative hyperplasia (NRH) of the liver may lead to noncirrhotic portal hypertension with subsequent development of portosystemic shunts. While extrahepatic and macrovascular shunts are readily visualized with imaging or endoscopy, there is no standard technique to detect intrahepatic microvascular portosystemic shunting and quantitatively assess shunt burden. We present a case of a 53-year-old female with suspected NRH and hepatopulmonary syndrome with inconclusive liver biopsies and absent portosystemic shunts per abdominal imaging.

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Background And Aims: The use of statins has been shown to be associated with a decreased risk of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) in many studies although the results have been inconsistent. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to further investigate this possible association by identifying all relevant studies and combining their results together.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through March 2020 to identify all studies that compared the risk of CCA among individuals who use statins with individuals who do not use statins.

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Background And Aims: Altered bile acid (BA) homeostasis is an intrinsic facet of cholestatic liver diseases, but clinical usefulness of plasma BA assessment in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) remains understudied. We performed BA profiling in a large retrospective cohort of patients with PSC and matched healthy controls, hypothesizing that plasma BA profiles vary among patients and have clinical utility.

Approach And Results: Plasma BA profiling was performed in the Clinical Biochemical Genetics Laboratory at Mayo Clinic using a mass spectrometry based assay.

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Goals: We aimed to describe the diagnostic and prognostic performance of transient elastography (TE) and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).

Background: The diagnostic performance of TE and MRE in detecting advanced fibrosis in PBC and in predicting outcomes independent of existing serologic prognostic markers is incompletely understood.

Materials And Methods: Five hundred thirty-eight consecutive patients with PBC at 3 centers with liver stiffness (LS) measurements by TE (n=286) or MRE (n=332) were reviewed.

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Background And Aims: Early detection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) among patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is important to identify more people eligible for curative therapy. While many recommend CCA screening, there are divergent opinions and limited data regarding the use of ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for early CCA detection, and it is unknown whether there is benefit in testing asymptomatic individuals. Our aims were to assess the diagnostic performances and prognostic implications of ultrasound and MRI-based CCA detection.

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We sought to determine the incidence and outcomes of malnutrition in patients with cirrhosis. We performed a retrospective chart review of 134 patients listed for liver transplant (LT) to assess the presence and degree of malnutrition identified by the Subjective Global Assessment score at the time of initial transplant evaluation, follow-up nutrition visits, and at the time of transplant. Number of admissions/readmissions to the hospital, reason for hospitalization(s), and length of stay were determined.

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Background/aims: The number of cases with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exceeded seven million worldwide. However, the data describing the global prevalence of liver injury associated with COVID-19 is lacking secondary to the novelty of this ongoing pandemic. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the association between COVID-19 and liver injury.

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Background/objectives: Liver transplant recipients have an increased risk of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) which associated with higher morbidity and mortality. CDI in liver transplant has been argued to increase hospital costs, charges, and length of stay (LOS) in small studies. However, no recent nationwide analysis determines these outcomes.

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Background And Aims: Recent studies have suggested an association between periodontitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) although the results were inconsistent. The current systematic review and meta- analysis was conducted with the aim to comprehensively investigate this possible association by identifying all relevant studies and combining their results together.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through December 2019 to identify all studies that compared the risk of NAFLD among patients with periodontitis to individuals without periodontitis.

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