Direct Antivirals Can Achieve a Cure in All Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C due to Genotype 5: A French Multicentre Study.

Background: Hepatitis C virus genotype 5 (HCV-GT-5) is found mainly in South Africa. In our area in central France, the prevalence of HCV-GT-5 is 14%.

Methods And Results: Here we evaluated sustained virological response at week 12 post-treatment (SVR12) in 147 HCV-GT-5 patients from 14 French university hospitals (2014-2021) treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) in real-life.

Treatment with bulevirtide in HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis D: ANRS HD EP01 BuleDelta and compassionate cohort.

Background & Aims: In France, bulevirtide (BLV) became available in September 2019 through an early access program to treat patients with HDV. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of BLV in patients with HIV and HDV coinfection.

Methods: Patients received BLV 2 mg ± pegylated interferon-α (pegIFNα) according to the physician's decision.

Hepatitis B Delta: assessment of the knowledge and practices of hepato-gastroenterologists practicing in non-academic settings in France.

Background: Data on the management of Hepatitis B-Delta (HB-D) by hepatogastroenterologists (HGs) practicing in nonacademic hospitals or private practices are unknown in France.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practices of HGs practicing in nonacademic settings regarding HB-D.

Methods: A Google form document was sent to those HGs from May to September 2021.

Early detection of liver injuries by the Serum enhanced binding test sensitive to albumin post-transcriptional modifications.

Early and sensitive biomarkers of liver dysfunction and drug-induced liver injury (DILI) are still needed, both for patient care and drug development. We developed the Serum Enhanced Binding (SEB) test to reveal post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) of human serum albumin resulting from hepatocyte dysfunctions and further evaluated its performance in an animal model. The SEB test consists in spiking serum ex-vivo with ligands having specific binding sites related to the most relevant albumin PTMs and measuring their unbound fraction.

Risk of delayed bleeding after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection: the Limoges Bleeding Score.

Background: Clinically significant delayed bleeding (CSDB) is a frequent, and sometimes severe, adverse event after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). We evaluated risk factors of CSDB after colorectal ESD.

Methods: We analyzed a prospective registry of 940 colorectal ESDs performed from 2013 to 2022.

International survey among hepatologists and pulmonologists on the hepatic hydrothorax: plea for recommendations.

Background: The Hepatic hydrothorax is a pleural effusion related to portal hypertension; its diagnosis and therapeutic management may be difficult. The aims of this article are which follows: To gather the practices of hepatogastroenterologists or pulmonologists practitioners regarding the diagnosis and management of the hepatic hydrothorax.

Methods: Practitioners from 13 French- speaking countries were invited to answer an online questionnaire on the hepatic hydrothorax diagnosis and its management.

Towards hepatitis C elimination in France: Scanvir, an effective model to test and treat drug users on dedicated days.

According to the French recommendations, the elimination of the hepatitis C virus by 2025 could be a realistic public health goal. Screening policies are being intensified, and access to treatment is promoted for patients who escape the usual care pathway. The 'Scanvir' program is an original strategy based on dedicated screening days, as part of the 'test, treat and cure HCV' event in addiction care centers in a French region, during which innovative screening technologies (RDTs, FibroScan® and point-of-care HCV RNA testing) are brought on site and access to a multidisciplinary team is offered.

Hepatic and renal improvements with FXR agonist vonafexor in individuals with suspected fibrotic NASH.

Background & Aims: The LIVIFY trial investigated the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of vonafexor, a second-generation, non-bile acid farnesoid X receptor agonist in patients with suspected fibrotic non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Methods: This double-blind phase IIa study was conducted in two parts. Patients were randomised (1:1:1:1) to receive placebo, vonafexor 100 mg twice daily (VONA-100BID), vonafexor 200 mg once daily (VONA-200QD), or 400 mg vonafexor QD (VONA-400QD) in Part A (safety run-in, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics) or placebo, vonafexor 100 mg QD (VONA-100QD), or VONA-200QD (1:1:1) in Part B.

Iohexol plasma and urinary concentrations in cirrhotic patients: A pilot study.

Background: Renal failure is an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with cirrhosis. Equations to calculate serum creatinine significantly overestimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Plasma clearance of direct biomarkers has been used to improve the accuracy of evaluations of GFR in this population, but no study has simultaneously measured plasma and urinary clearance, which is the gold standard.

A Hybrid Model Associating Population Pharmacokinetics with Machine Learning: A Case Study with Iohexol Clearance Estimation.

Background: Maximum a posteriori Bayesian estimation (MAP-BE) based on a limited sampling strategy and a population pharmacokinetic model is frequently used to estimate pharmacokinetic parameters in individuals, however with some uncertainty (bias). Recent works have shown that the performance in individual estimation or pharmacokinetic parameters can be improved by combining population pharmacokinetic and machine learning algorithms.

Objective: The objective of this work was to investigate the use of a hybrid machine learning/population pharmacokinetic approach to improve individual iohexol clearance estimation.

Gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy in refractory gastroparesis: long-term outcomes and predictive score to improve patient selection.

Background And Aims: Limited data exist concerning the long-term efficiency of gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM) as a treatment of refractory gastroparesis. This study evaluated the 3-year results of G-POEM in patients with refractory gastroparesis.

Methods: This was a prospective multicenter study of all G-POEM operations performed in 2 expert French centers for 46 patients with refractory gastroparesis with at least 3 years of follow-up.

Clinical outcomes after treatment with direct antiviral agents: beyond the virological response in patients with previous HCV-related decompensated cirrhosis.

Background: In HCV-infected patients with advanced liver disease, the direct antiviral agents-associated clinical benefits remain debated. We compared the clinical outcome of patients with a previous history of decompensated cirrhosis following treatment or not with direct antiviral agents from the French ANRS CO22 HEPATHER cohort.

Methods: We identified HCV patients who had experienced an episode of decompensated cirrhosis.

A single Bayesian estimator for iohexol clearance estimation in ICU, liver failure and renal transplant patients.

Aims: Iohexol clearance has been proposed to estimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). A population pharmacokinetics (popPK) model was developed from heterogeneous patients. A Bayesian estimator (MAP-BE) based on a limited sampling strategy (LSS) was derived and evaluated in external patients.

Alpha-fetoprotein and focal nodular hyperplasia: An unconventional couple.

We report the case of a 36-year-old patient who was initially managed for gynecomastia. The first biological analyses showed a moderately elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level. After an endocrine etiology was excluded, an abdominal computed tomography scan showed typical focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) proven by biopsy and showing expression of AFP in FNH cells.

EUS-guided biliary drainage with electrocautery-enhanced lumen-apposing metal stent placement should replace PTBD after ERCP failure in patients with distal tumoral biliary obstruction: a large real-life study.

Aims: In cases of malignant distal biliary obstruction, ERCP is the preferred technique for bile duct drainage. In case of failure, the alternative techniques are percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) and more recently endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage. A new type of stent called the electrocautery-enhanced lumen-apposing metal stent (EC-LAMS) has been developed to enable the performance of biliary-enteric anastomosis under EUS-guidance in a single step, without prior bile duct puncture or the need for a guidewire.

Predictive factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B using structural equation modeling: a prospective cohort study.

Background & Aims: The factors predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence in chronic hepatitis B need to be precisely known to improve its detection. We identified pathways and individual predictive factors associated with HCC in the ANRS CO22 HEPATHER cohort.

Methods: The study analyzed HBV-infected patients recruited at 32 French expert hepatology centers from August 6, 2012, to December 31, 2015.

Double-clip traction for colonic endoscopic submucosal dissection: a multicenter study of 599 consecutive cases (with video).

Background And Aims: Colonic endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is particularly challenging and limited to a few expert centers. We recently conducted a pilot study on improvement of colonic ESD with systematic use of a countertraction device (double-clip traction with rubber band [DCT-ESD]).

Methods: A French prospective multicenter study was conducted between March 2017 and September 2019, including all consecutive cases of naive colonic ESD.

Abdominal symptoms during Sjogren's syndrome: a pilot study.

Background: Abdominal symptoms in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS) are poorly documented. The objective of the study was to describe the abdominal symptoms of patients with pSS and to assess their association with characteristics of the disease.

Methods: One hundred and fifty patients with pSS were evaluated using a composite global symptom score for abdominal symptoms and their severity.

Subclinical proximal tubulopathy in hepatitis B: The roles of nucleot(s)ide analogue treatment and the hepatitis B virus.

Background: The recommended monitoring tools for evaluating nucleot(s)ide analogue renal toxicity, such as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and phosphatemia, are late markers of proximal tubulopathy. Multiple early markers are available, but no consensus exists on their use.

Aim: To determine the 24 mo prevalence of subclinical proximal tubulopathy (SPT), as defined with early biomarkers, in treated untreated hepatitis B virus (HBV)-monoinfected patients.

Double-clip traction could be superior to the pocket-creation method with cylindrical cap for colonic ESD: a randomized study in an ex vivo model.

Introduction: In Western countries, debates between ESD vs piece-meal EMR as the best treatment for large colorectal adenomas persist regarding the difficulty of ESD the colon, and the safety and relatively good results of piece-meal endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). Pocket-creation method (PCM) and double-clip countertraction (DCT) are two strategies recently published to facilitate ESD in this challenging situation.

Method: This is a randomized animal study to compare PCM and DCT strategies for colonic ESD on ex vivo models (bovine colon) performed by 3 operators novice in ESD.