Publications by authors named "James B Pitt"
Article Synopsis
- Patients with morbid obesity have a high risk of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with liver fibrosis, making effective detection methods crucial.
- A study assessed the accuracy of Fibroscan (a liver-stiffness measurement device) for diagnosing significant liver fibrosis in morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery, using liver biopsies and other evaluations for confirmation.
- Results indicated that the optimal Fibroscan cutoff for distinguishing significant fibrosis was 12.8 kPa, achieving a 71.3% accuracy with notable sensitivity and specificity, highlighting the potential of this method in clinical settings.
Background And Aims: NAFLD and its more-advanced form, steatohepatitis (NASH), is associated with obesity and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular, liver-related, and all-cause mortality. Available human data examining hepatic mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and hepatic mitochondrial turnover in NAFLD and NASH are scant.
Approach And Results: To investigate this relationship, liver biopsies were obtained from patients with obesity undergoing bariatric surgery and data clustered into four groups based on hepatic histopathological classification: Control (CTRL; no disease); NAFL (steatosis only); Borderline-NASH (steatosis with lobular inflammation or hepatocellular ballooning); and Definite-NASH (D-NASH; steatosis, lobular inflammation, and hepatocellular ballooning).
We assessed the relationship between serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and liver fibrosis by histology, in addition to other noninvasive parameters, in obese patients undergoing metabolic surgery. Patients scheduled for elective bariatric surgery were prospectively recruited from a bariatric clinic. An intraoperative liver biopsy was performed, and liver histology was evaluated by a pathologist blinded to the patients' data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF