Publications by authors named "Kensuke Munekage"

Article Synopsis
  • Adult colonic intussusceptions are uncommon and often related to organic lead points, but the exact causes and mechanisms remain unclear.
  • A case study of a 74-year-old woman showed retrograde colonic intussusception linked to previous colonoscopies, despite no identifiable lead point found during examination.
  • This finding is significant as it is the first reported case of colonoscopy-related retrograde intussusception without visible abnormalities, suggesting new avenues for understanding how this condition can occur.
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  • Nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), prompting a study of risk stratification methods using histological features and noninvasive markers in patients with liver biopsy-confirmed NAFLD or NASH.
  • The study included 1389 patients and compared the predictive ability of histological factors and noninvasive models such as the aMAP score, FIB-4 index, and ALBI score, revealing that the aMAP score had the highest predictive power for HCC.
  • The aMAP score and FIB-4 index were found to be superior to histological features for
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  • Researchers found that the Fibrosis-3 (FIB-3) index can accurately predict liver fibrosis progression in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), regardless of age.
  • In a study of 1,398 patients, the FIB-3 index performed as well as the Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index for those under 60, but outperformed it for patients aged 60 and older.
  • The FIB-3 index’s effectiveness suggests it could be a more reliable tool for assessing liver fibrosis than existing methods, enhancing diagnosis across different age groups.
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Aims: A multi-stakeholder consensus has proposed MASLD (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease). We aimed to investigate the pathological findings related to the mid-term mortality of patients with biopsy-proven MASLD in Japan.

Methods: We enrolled 1349 patients with biopsy-proven MASLD.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study redefines nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), analyzing its prognosis through a multicenter study involving 1,398 patients.
  • Approximately 99% of the patients were diagnosed with MASLD, showing that those without cardiometabolic risk factors had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) and less severe liver histology.
  • The prognosis for patients with MASLD remained similar to previous findings for NAFLD, with most deaths attributed to extrahepatic cancers and liver-related complications being less common among those without metabolic risks.
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Background And Aims: Both fibrosis status and body weight are important for assessing prognosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to identify population clusters for specific clinical outcomes based on fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index and body mass index (BMI) using an unsupervised machine learning method.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter study of 1335 biopsy-proven NAFLD patients from Japan.

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The relationship between baseline serum albumin level and long-term prognosis of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unknown. This is a sub-analysis of the CLIONE (Clinical Outcome Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) study. The main outcomes were: death or orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), liver-related death, and liver-related events (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC], decompensated cirrhosis, and gastroesophageal varices/bleeding).

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Background And Aims: Noninvasive tests (NITs) have prognostic potential, but whether NITs are comparable with liver biopsy is unclear. This study aimed to examine the prognostic accuracy of NITs for liver-related mortality (LRM) and events (LREs) in patients with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods: We investigated 1313 patients with NAFLD.

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Aim: Impacts of platelet counts at the time of liver biopsy on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of platelet counts in patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD using data from a multicenter study.

Methods: One thousand three hundred ninety-eight patients were included in this subanalysis of the CLIONE (Clinical Outcome Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) in Asia study.

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The prognosis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients depends on liver-related events (LREs), extrahepatic cancers, and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). The fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index is one of the most reliable and useful predictors of the degree of liver fibrosis. Recent studies have reported that the FIB-4 index is also useful for predicting LREs and MACEs in NAFLD patients.

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Background And Aim: Older age, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and obesity are known risk factors for liver-related events (LREs). We investigated the impacts of T2DM and obesity on LRE according to age in Japanese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods: We performed a subanalysis of a retrospective cohort study (CLIONE in Asia), including 1395 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD.

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We previously demonstrated that Mac-2 binding protein (M2BP) is a useful biomarker for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), particularly NAFLD fibrosis prediction. In the present study, we investigated the prognostic value of M2BP in patients with NAFLD. A total of 506 patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD from 2002 to 2013 were enrolled in this study in Japan.

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Background & Aims: There are no detailed reports of clinical outcomes in Asian patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who undergo liver biopsy. We aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes of a large cohort of Asian patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and evaluate the specific effects of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis stage.

Methods: This multicenter registry-based retrospective cohort study, called the CLIONE (Clinical Outcome Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) in Asia, included 1398 patients.

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Background And Aim: The prevalence of glucose intolerance in chronic liver disease patients is high, but glucose intolerance may be overlooked in a single blood test. The purpose of this study is to evaluate blood glucose variability in patients with chronic liver disease by a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) and to examine the discrepancy between hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels estimated from average blood glucose levels and HbA1c.

Methods: This study included 335 patients with chronic liver disease associated with glucose intolerance.

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Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with diabetic nephropathy as well as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can be called "diabetic hepatopathy or diabetic liver disease". NASH, a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty disease (NAFLD), can sometimes progress to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic failure. T2D patients are at higher risk for liver-related mortality compared with the nondiabetic population.

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Objective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is often associated with insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Postprandial hypoglycemia frequently occurs in NAFLD patients; however, the details remain unclear.

Patients And Methods: The 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (75gOGTT) in 502 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in 20 patients were performed, and the characteristics and causes of postprandial hypoglycemia were investigated.

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Article Synopsis
  • * In NAFLD patients, higher blood glucose levels and fluctuations correlated with markers of liver scarring (fibrosis), indicating a gradual worsening of glucose intolerance as liver damage progresses.
  • * In contrast, C-CH patients showed that rising blood glucose levels were linked to lower serum albumin levels, suggesting glucose intolerance emerged suddenly when albumin levels dropped below a certain threshold.
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Article Synopsis
  • Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are linked to worsening non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but how glucose metabolism affects liver damage severity in pre-diabetic patients isn't well understood.
  • A study of 103 NAFLD patients without prior diabetes found that fasting insulin levels were a key predictor of severe liver fibrosis (F3).
  • High fasting insulin levels, specifically above 13.2 μU/mL, were determined to significantly indicate greater liver damage in these patients, highlighting the importance of insulin in assessing liver health before diabetes develops.*
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Background: In Japan, the prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with nonviral liver disease, especially with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD-HCC) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD-HCC), has been increasing. Clarification of the clinical features of NAFLD-HCC and ALD-HCC is needed. We performed a large retrospective multicenter survey to clarify the clinical course of these two types of HCC.

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Aim: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is considered to be an important pathological characteristic in NASH. A sequence variation (I148M) in the patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3/adiponutrin (PNPLA3) gene is known to be associated with the development of NASH.

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Unlabelled: Patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) often have metabolic disorders including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We clarified the predictive factors in glucose metabolism for progression of hepatic fibrosis in patients with NAFLD by the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (75gOGTT) and a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS). One hundred sixty-nine patients (68 female and 101 male patients) with biopsy-proven NAFLD with performance with 75gOGTT were enrolled and divided into four groups according to the stage of hepatic fibrosis (F0-3).

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Aim:   Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Therefore, it is important to evaluate disease activity and distinguish NASH from simple steatosis in NAFLD. Technetium-99 m-2-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile ((99m) Tc-MIBI) is a lipophilic cation designed for myocardial perfusion scintigraphy in the diagnosis of ischemic heart diseases, and its retention reflects mitochondrial function.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene haplotype in Japanese patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and its relationship to hypertension, a key factor in NASH progression.
  • The researchers analyzed specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the AGT gene among 124 NASH patients and 150 healthy controls, finding a significant association between a specific 3-SNP haplotype (CTA) and elevated blood pressure in NASH patients.
  • These findings suggest that targeting the CTA haplotype with medications like ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers may offer new therapeutic options for managing hypertension in NASH patients.
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