Pancreatic involvement in chronic viral hepatitis.

Aim: To elucidate the frequency and characteristics of pancreatic disorders in the course of chronic viral hepatitis.

Methods: We prospectively assessed the serum pancreatic enzyme levels and imaging findings in patients with chronic viral hepatitis and healthy control subjects.

Results: Serum amylase (t-Amy), salivary amylase (s-Amy), pancreatic amylase (p-Amy) and serum lipase levels were higher in hepatitis patients in comparison to control subjects.

Detection, using a novel method, of a high prevalence of cryoglobulinemia in persistent hepatitis C virus infection.

To elucidate precisely the prevalence and significance of cryoglobulinemia in hepatitis C, we examined the prevalence of serum cryoglobulin (CG) among 232 consecutive hepatitis C virus carriers (23 asymptomatic carriers, 164 with chronic hepatitis, 45 with cirrhosis), 30 consecutive hepatitis B virus carriers and 100 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. We used a gel-diffusion procedure that detects CG with greater sensitivity and specificity than the conventional precipitation method. Among the 232 patients, 166 were tested for the presence or absence of CG by the precipitation method also, which showed 60 (36.

Outcomes of small nodular lesions in heavy drinkers.

Background: Increased detection of nodular lesions in patients not yet definitively diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has occurred with the use of advanced imaging techniques. In heavy drinkers, decrease in the size of nodular lesions during on-going observation, and negation of diagnoses of HCC after surgical resection have been reported, suggesting the need for caution in diagnosis in such cases.

Methods: The subjects were eight heavy drinkers with small nodular lesions, 20 mm or less in diameter.