Publications by authors named "Masafumi Haraguchi"
We measured intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP) levels, a useful marker of small intestinal mucosal injury, in patients with cirrhosis to determine their relationship with liver function and complications. This cross-sectional study included 71 patients with cirrhosis admitted for treatment of cirrhotic complications or hepatocellular carcinoma (cohort A) and 104 patients with cirrhosis who received direct-acting antiviral therapy for HCV (cohort B). I-FABP levels, measured by ELISA, were evaluated relative to hepatic reserve and compared with non-invasive scoring systems for diagnostic performance in cirrhotic complications.
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- This study focused on differentiating between alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) using advanced whole-slide imaging technology on liver specimens from transplant patients.
- It analyzed samples from 36 ALD patients and 17 MASLD patients, revealing distinct fibrosis patterns where ALD was characterized by thicker collagen and a more uneven distribution compared to the more uniform fibrosis in MASLD.
- The research demonstrated that a digital analysis approach could accurately diagnose ALD and MASLD, achieving 100% sensitivity and specificity, thus highlighting the benefits of digital pathology in improving liver disease diagnostics beyond traditional methods based on alcohol consumption.
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- Digital pathology allows for noninvasive measurement of pathological features and, when paired with artificial intelligence, it enhances information analysis and sharing, addressing knowledge gaps.
- Fibrosis, a key indicator of chronic inflammation, is crucial in assessing chronic liver diseases like viral hepatitis and metabolic dysfunction-related liver disease.
- This review explores how digital pathology can evaluate liver fibrosis prognosis, highlighting methods such as fiber quantification, collagen analysis, SHG/TPE microscopy, and Fibronest™.
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- After pancreaticoduodenectomy, 20-40% of patients experience steatotic liver disease (SLD), but the role of specific gene polymorphisms (PNPLA3 and TM6SF2) in this condition post-surgery is not well understood.
- A study involving 43 pancreatic cancer patients assessed these gene variants and their correlation with SLD and high hepatic fibrosis indexes (HFI) after surgery.
- Results indicated that while PNPLA3 variants showed no significant association, the TM6SF2 minor allele was linked to a higher incidence of steatohepatitis, suggesting its potential impact on liver health after the procedure.*
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- The study aimed to assess whether total bile acid (TBA) levels can help identify patients with decompensated cirrhosis who need echocardiography for diagnosing portopulmonary hypertension.
- Out of 135 patients evaluated, elevated TBA levels and main pulmonary artery diameter were linked to higher tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient (TRPG), suggesting TBA can indicate TRPG elevation effectively.
- However, for patients taking ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), the effectiveness of TBA in diagnosing TRPG elevation was reduced, indicating the need for careful interpretation in such cases.
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- The study analyzes mortality rates in patients who achieved sustained virological response (SVR) after receiving interferon-free direct-acting antiviral (IFN-free DAA) therapy, emphasizing the significance of non-liver-related deaths.
- Three cohorts were examined: those without advanced fibrosis or prior hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), those with advanced fibrosis but no prior HCC, and those with a history of HCC after curative treatment.
- Findings indicated that while both non-HCC cohorts had comparable mortality rates to the general population, the cohort with a history of HCC had higher overall mortality, highlighting the need to address non-liver-related health issues in all SVR patients.
Objectives: The aging population, including patients with superficial esophageal cancer, encounters critical dysphagia- and postoperative pneumonia-related issues. Although endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) provides advantages over other modalities, older patients are at higher risk of postoperative pneumonia. Furthermore, the etiologies of pneumonia are complex and include patient- (such as sarcopenia) and treatment- (including ESD) related factors.
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- Patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and type 2 diabetes often experience impaired glucose tolerance and fluctuations, which can lead to hypoglycemia.
- This study analyzed data from 72 patients using a flash glucose monitoring (FGM) system to correlate glucose levels and fluctuations with liver-related health events.
- Results showed that hypoglycemia was a significant factor influencing liver event-free survival, indicating that FGM can be a valuable tool in predicting complications in these patients.
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- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective cancer treatments but can cause serious immune-related adverse events (irAEs), making it important to find biomarkers to predict these effects.
- * In a study of 226 ICI patients, researchers examined the relationship between changes in lymphocyte counts and the occurrence and severity of irAEs.
- * The findings indicated that lower lymphocyte counts at the onset of severe irAEs were significant, and while patients with irAEs had longer overall survival, lymphocyte count changes did not correlate with survival outcomes.
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- * A study of 135 LDLT patients revealed that those with HAD had higher mortality rates compared to those without HAD, particularly among patients with low skeletal muscle index (SMI).
- * Results suggest that HAD is an important independent risk factor for post-transplant mortality, highlighting the need for improved perioperative rehabilitation strategies to enhance patient outcomes.
Introduction: Adjusting immunosuppression to minimal levels post-adult liver transplantation (LT) is critical; however, graft rejection has been reported in LT recipients with normal liver function evaluated by liver biopsy (LBx). Continual protocol liver biopsy (PLB) is performed regularly in LT recipients with normal liver function in some centers; however, its usefulness remains inadequately evaluated. This study aimed to assess retrospectively the usefulness of late PLB after adult LT.
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- The study aimed to assess the survival outcomes and identify risk factors for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated using stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).
- A total of 73 patients were analyzed, revealing high local control rates and 1, 3, and 5-year survival rates of 94.5%, 63.9%, and 45.5%, respectively.
- Key factors affecting prognosis included baseline modified albumin-bilirubin grades and BCLC stages, indicating that patients with better mALBI grades had a more favorable prognosis.
Objective The course of cryptogenic cirrhosis (CC) after liver transplantation (LT) is unknown. We therefore clarified the natural course post-LT for CC and investigated the etiology of CC. Methods Eighteen patients who underwent LT for CC were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnti-VEGF drugs, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, play an important role in systemic therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC). We examined the effects of sorafenib and lenvatinib on proteinuria and renal function.Patients who were administered sorafenib (n = 85) or lenvatinib (n = 52) as first line treatment for uHCC from July 2009 to October 2020, were enrolled in this retrospective observational study.
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- Fibrosis is a key factor in predicting Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its occurrence in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is relatively low; this study aimed to differentiate HCC from non-HCC in cirrhotic livers using histological features.
- Seventeen NAFLD patients undergoing liver transplantation were analyzed, utilizing FibroNest to quantify various histological traits of fibrosis and develop a Phenotypic Composite Fibrosis Score (Ph-CFS) that helps differentiate HCC from non-HCC.
- Results showed significant differences in Ph-CFS scores between HCC and non-HCC cases (4.6 vs. 5.9), with the Ph-CFS providing
Sarcopenia comprises a low skeletal muscle index (SMI) and low muscle strength (MS) or low physical function. Many sarcopenia biomarkers have been reported. With Crohn's disease (CD), a low SMI is predictive of intestinal complications.
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- Atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab shows high response rates in treating patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and EOB-MRI imaging may predict treatment outcomes.
- The study involved 68 patients split between lenvatinib and the combination therapy, analyzing the largest HCC lesions using EOB-MRI's hepatobiliary phase for characteristics that could indicate treatment effectiveness.
- Results indicated that while lenvatinib's progression-free survival (PFS) wasn't significantly affected by lesion type, the atezolizumab plus bevacizumab group did show meaningful differences in PFS based on lesion characteristics assessed by EOB-MRI.
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- SNPs in certain genes (like PLIN3, TLL1, and IL28) are linked to the risk of liver issues in hepatitis C patients.
- A study measured liver stiffness and steatosis in 77 patients before and after direct-acting antiviral treatment, focusing on different SNP genotypes.
- Results showed significant changes in liver stiffness for specific genotypes, suggesting that these SNPs could help predict liver health improvements post-treatment.
Aim: Sleep disorder is common in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Liver-related silent complications, including muscle cramps, covert hepatic encephalopathy (HE), and sarcopenia, often reduce the quality of life of patients with CLD and have been reported to cause sleep disorders. In this study, we clarified the prevalence of liver-related complications associated with sleep disorders in patients with CLD.
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- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are emerging as potential biomarkers and therapeutic tools for liver diseases, leading researchers to focus on bile EVs instead of blood EVs, as they are secreted directly from the liver.
- Bile samples from liver transplant recipients with end-stage liver disease showed significantly higher concentrations of EVs, especially in those with hepatocellular carcinoma, compared to normal liver donors.
- High-expression microRNAs (miRNAs) were found to be predominantly elevated in the bile EVs of recipients, with specific miRNAs linked to alcoholic liver disease, suggesting that bile EVs could serve as valuable biomarkers for assessing liver health.
Aim: Sarcopenic dysphagia has become an urgent matter of debate in our aging society. However, little is known about the relationship between sarcopenia and dysphagia in patients with liver cirrhosis. Our aim was to assess sarcopenia and dysphagia among elderly patients with cirrhosis using two easy-to-use screening tests, i.
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- The study evaluated the effects of lenvatinib treatment on liver function in older patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
- It involved 119 patients with a median age of 72, finding that those who maintained liver function had better overall survival rates.
- Results indicated that older patients were more likely to experience liver function deterioration after treatment, suggesting the need for potential dose adjustments for this age group.
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- Liver cirrhosis leads to serious complications and muscle loss after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), making physiotherapy crucial for recovery.
- This study aims to compare the effects of combining neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) with nutrition (branched-chain amino acids, BCAA) against NMES alone in improving muscle mass in post-LDLT patients.
- Researchers will assess changes in muscle mass and strength over three months using body composition analysis and ultrasonography to determine the effectiveness of the combined therapy.
Objective The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) level is known to increase following the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection using direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs). This study aimed to investigate the changes in the lipid profiles, including small-dense LDL cholesterol (sdLDL), in HCV patients treated with DAAs. Patients We retrospectively assessed 67 HCV patients who achieved sustained virological response with DAA administration and were observed for more than 2 years, of whom 32 were on daclatasvir/asunaprevir, 14 were on sofosbuvir/ledipasvir, and 21 were on sofosbuvir/ribavirin.
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- The study investigates the anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activity of geranylgeranylacetone (GGA), which previously showed promise against hepatitis C virus.
- Researchers used various HBV-infected cell models to measure the effects of GGA treatment on HBV-related proteins, mRNA, and viral activity.
- The results indicated that GGA reduced the levels of HBV proteins and mRNA by downregulating key promoters and transcription factors, suggesting its potential as a supplementary treatment alongside existing therapies.