Comparison of Visual Transient Elastography, Vibration Controlled Transient Elastography, Shear Wave Elastography and Sound Touch Elastography in Chronic liver Disease assessment using liver biopsy as 'Gold Standard'.

Purpose: Chronic liver disease (CLD) is considered one of the main causes of death. Ultrasound Elastography (USE) is a CLD assessment imaging method. This study aims to evaluate a recently introduced commercial alternative of USE, Visual Transient Elastography (ViTE), and to compare it with three established USE methods, Vibration Controlled Transient Elastography (VCTE), Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) and Sound Touch Elastography (STE), using Liver Biopsy (LB) as 'Gold Standard'.

Liver Ultrasound Attenuation: An Ultrasound Attenuation Index for Liver Steatosis Assessment.

Objectives: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most widespread chronic liver disease type in the Western countries. Ultrasound (US) is used for NAFLD and hepatic steatosis (HS) grading. The most popular US method for NAFLD assessment is the hepatorenal index (HRI), but because of its limitations, other noninvasive methods have been developed.

Substitution treatment or active intravenous drug use should not be contraindications for antiviral treatment in drug users with chronic hepatitis C.

Introduction And Aims: International guidelines and routine clinical practice express concerns about antiviral treatment in intravenous drug users (IDUs). We analysed the effect of IDU and/or substitution therapy on chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treatment adherence and response.

Patients And Methods: Intravenous drug users with CHC were divided into three groups: (A) patients on a substitution programme; (B) active users; and (C) past IDUs.

Smoking is associated with steatosis and severe fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C but not B.

Objective: The results of retrospective studies suggest an association between smoking, insulin resistance, steatosis and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC); no data are available for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship, if any, of such factors on liver fibrosis in a cohort of patients with CHB and CHC.

Material And Methods: The study prospectively included 271 consecutive patients with CHB (n=95) or CHC (n=176) who had undergone liver biopsies.

Aetiology and outcome of acute hepatic failure in Greece: experience of two academic hospital centres.

Introduction: In Western countries, the most frequent aetiology of acute liver failure (ALF) is acetaminophen overdose, while in developing countries viral infections [hepatitis A virus and hepatitis B virus (HBV)] predominate. Aim: To evaluate the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, outcome and prognostic factors of survival of patients with ALF in Greece during the last 6 years. Results: A total of 40 patients, 28 females (70%), with a median age of 37.

Genotype-phenotype correlations for a wide spectrum of mutations in the Wilson disease gene (ATP7B).

Wilson disease (WND) is caused by mutations in the ATP7B gene and exhibits substantial allelic heterogeneity. In this study we report the results of molecular analyses of 20 WND families not described previously. When combined with our prior results, the cohort includes 93 index patients from 69 unrelated families.