Gallbladder Scalloping, Mammillated Caudate Lobe, and Inferior Vena Cava Scalloping: Three Novel Ultrasound Signs of Cirrhosis.

Purpose: We aimed to present three new ultrasound signs-gallbladder scalloping, mammillated caudate lobe, and inferior vena cava scalloping-and determine their accuracy in diagnosing liver cirrhosis.

Materials And Methods: A total of 201 consecutive patients with a history of chronic liver disease who had undergone ultrasound imaging and liver biopsy were identified. A senior ultrasound radiologist blindly reviewed the ultrasound examinations.

Predicting cancer mortality: Developing a new cancer care variable using mixed methods and the quasi-statistical approach.

Objective: To demonstrate the value of using a variable derived from qualitative analysis in subsequent quantitative analyses.

Data Sources/study Setting: Mixed methods data were combined with 10-year mortality outcomes. Participants with cancer were recruited from services at a large teaching hospital, and mortality data were from the Social Security Death Index.

Majority of patients with hepatitis C express physical, mental, and social difficulties with antiviral treatment.

Objective: The hepatitis C virus can be successfully treated in up to 60% of infected patients. However, treatment is long and is associated with significant side-effects. We investigated difficulties with this treatment as it is an important factor in patient adherence.

Positive serum cryoglobulin is associated with worse outcome after liver transplantation for chronic hepatitis C.

Background: Recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients after liver transplantation is an important clinical problem. Because serum cryoglobulins (CG) are known to be associated with an increased incidence of cirrhosis in nontransplant patients, the authors tested the hypothesis that CG would also predict aggressive recurrent HCV in patients after liver transplantation.

Methods: Using a longitudinal database, the outcomes of 105 allografts transplanted into 97 HCV-positive patients from 1991 through 2002 were analyzed on the basis of CG status using a retrospective cohort design.

T-cell activation after chronic ethanol ingestion in mice.

Chronic excessive consumption of ethanol causes immunodeficiency in human beings and in mice. Immunologic changes have been described in both species, including T-cell and innate immune system cell activation, among others. The features of chronic ethanol-induced activation have similarities in the two species, including an increased effector subset in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

Down-regulation of heme oxygenase-1 by hepatitis C virus infection in vivo and by the in vitro expression of hepatitis C core protein.

Antioxidant enzymes, including heme oxygenase (HO)-1, are an important line of defense against oxidant-mediated liver injury. Because hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection appears to increase the production of oxidants, we evaluated levels of antioxidant enzymes and HO-1 in liver-biopsy samples from HCV-infected patients by immunoblot and semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. In HCV-infected liver samples, levels of immunoreactive HO-1 and HO-1 mRNA were >4-fold lower than levels in control samples, but levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase were unaffected.

A large biloma causing gastric outlet obstruction after a percutaneous liver biopsy.

Biloma formation has not been reported to occur after a routine percutaneous liver biopsy. It is an uncommon yet well known complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We report the development of a biloma within 1 week after a liver biopsy with a Jamshidi needle in a non-cirrhotic patient with hepatitis C.

Liver transplantation for disulfiram-induced fulminant hepatic failure.

Disulfiram has been used as a popular adjunct in programs for alcohol rehabilitation. However, in rare cases, disulfiram has been reported to cause fulminant hepatitis. Disulfiram use and its associated complications in adolescents have received minimal attention in the literature.

Hepatitis C virus-infected patients report communication problems with physicians.

We examined the prevalence and nature of perceived problems in the interaction between physicians and patients diagnosed with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This cross-sectional study included 322 outpatients diagnosed with chronic HCV infection and treated at a tertiary referral hospital's hepatology clinic. Patients were asked to provide demographic information and to complete a semistructured interview, the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) scale.

"They treated me like a leper". Stigmatization and the quality of life of patients with hepatitis C.

Objective: Hepatitis C virus is the most prevalent chronic blood-borne infection in the United States, typically acquired through contaminated blood products or needle sharing. We hypothesized that patients with chronic hepatitis C infection experience stigmatization independent of mode of acquisition and that it negatively affects quality of life.

Design: Cross-sectional observation study.

Recombinant hepatitis C virus-like particles expressed by baculovirus: utility in cell-binding and antibody detection assays.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is difficult to study due to the lack of an efficient cell culture system or small animal model. As a result, HCV-cell interactions are not well-defined. In addition, several studies have identified a subset of patients in whom HCV RNA is present, but HCV antibody is not detected.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in patients with liver disease.

Objectives: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used by 42% of the U.S. population.