Autoimmune Hepatitis in Cuban Patients: A Retrospective Analysis of Clinical and Histological Profiles, Treatments, and Outcomes.

Background: Population-based studies on the clinical course and prognosis of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) from Caribbean countries are limited.

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide information regarding the clinical and laboratory findings, histological profile, treatments, and outcomes of patients with AIH with long-term follow-up in a tertiary referral center.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed at the National Institute of Gastroenterology in Havana, Cuba, by enrolling 82 patients with a well-documented, long-term clinical course of AIH.

Fibrosis Severity as a Determinant of Cause-Specific Mortality in Patients With Advanced Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Multi-National Cohort Study.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the natural course of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with advanced fibrosis. We describe long-term outcomes and evaluate the effects of clinical and histologic parameters on disease progression in patients with advanced NAFLD.

Methods: We conducted a multi-national study of 458 patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD with bridging fibrosis (F3, n = 159) or compensated cirrhosis (222 patients with Child-Turcotte-Pugh scores of A5 and 77 patients with scores of A6), evaluated from April 1995 through November 2013 and followed until December 2016, death, or liver transplantation at hepatology centers in Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, and Cuba.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Autoimmune Liver Diseases in a Tertiary Referral Center in Cuba.

Background: Autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) comprise a set of entities characterized by tissue damage as a result of the loss of self-tolerance. There are few reports of AILD from Caribbean countries.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to investigate the clinical patterns, laboratory findings, and immunologic features, treatment responses, and prognoses of AILD in adult patients at a Cuban tertiary referral center.

Serum biomarkers can predict a change in liver fibrosis 1 year after lifestyle intervention for biopsy-proven NASH.

Background & Aims: The dynamic response of serum fibrosis biomarkers to histological changes within the liver following lifestyle intervention (LI) is unknown. We explored relationships between changes in serum biomarkers and liver fibrosis in NASH patients undergoing LI.

Methods: Paired liver biopsies were performed in 261 NASH patients to assess fibrosis change after 1 year of LI.

Development and validation of a noninvasive prediction model for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis resolution after lifestyle intervention.

Unlabelled: Liver biopsy is the gold standard method to assess nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) resolution after therapeutic interventions. We developed and validated a simple and noninvasive scoring system to predict NASH resolution without fibrosis worsening after 1 year of lifestyle intervention. This was a prospective cohort study conducted in 261 patients with histologically proven NASH who were treated with lifestyle changes for 52 weeks and underwent a second liver biopsy to confirm NASH resolution.

Weight Loss Through Lifestyle Modification Significantly Reduces Features of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis.

Background & Aims: It is not clear how weight loss affects histologic features of liver in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We examined the association between the magnitude of weight loss through lifestyle modifications and changes in histologic features of NASH.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 293 patients with histologically proven NASH who were encouraged to adopt recommended lifestyle changes to reduce their weight over 52 weeks, from June 2009 through May 2013, at a tertiary medical center in Havana, Cuba.

[Blastocystis hominis in symptomatic celiac patients].

Introduction: Celiac disease (EC) not diagnosed or treated affect histological, immunological and nutritional status of patients who suffer it. These changes allow infection by parasites that cause no symptoms in immunocompetent patients, such as Blastocystis hominis (Bh). OBJETIVE.

Chromoendoscopy with red phenol in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection.

An analytic study to validate a diagnostic test was carried out at the Institute of Gastroenterology in Havana, Cuba in adult patients of both sexes in whom chromoendoscopy was carried out with red phenol at 0.1% over the gastric mucosa for the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection between November 2008 and December 2010. The staining with red phenol at 0.

Antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects of Viusid in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Aim: To investigate the efficacy of Viusid, a nutritional supplement, as an antioxidant and an immunomodulator in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Methods: Sixty patients with chronic hepatitis C who were non-responders to standard antiviral treatment were randomly assigned to receive Viusid (3 sachets daily, n = 30) or placebo (n = 30) for 24 wk. The primary outcome was the change in serum malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxyalkenals (lipid peroxidation products).