Direct-acting antivirals after successful treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma improve survival in HCV-cirrhotic patients.

Background & Aims: The effectiveness of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) against hepatitis C virus (HCV), following successful treatment of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), has been studied extensively. However, the benefit in terms of overall survival (OS) remains to be conclusively demonstrated. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of DAAs on OS, HCC recurrence, and hepatic decompensation.

Contrast ultrasound LI-RADS LR-5 identifies hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis in a multicenter restropective study of 1,006 nodules.

Background & Aims: The use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhosis was questioned because of the risk of a false positive diagnosis in cases of cholangiocarcinoma. The American College of Radiology has recently released a scheme (CEUS Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System [LI-RADS®]) to classify lesions at risk of HCC investigated by CEUS. The aim of the present study was to validate this LI-RADS scheme for the diagnosis of HCC.

Clinical Course and Genetic Susceptibility of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis: Analysis of a Prospective Cohort.

Background: Natural history of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is partially characterized in patients from the Mediterranean area whose genetic background differs from that of Northern Europeans.

Objectives: We aimed to describe genetic susceptibility and clinical course of PBC in patients from Southern Italy.

Methods: Socio-demographic, clinical, biochemical and histological data at diagnosis as well as disease progression of 81 PBC consecutive patients were collected.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity Prevention Project.

The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents' obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data.

Clinical features and outcomes of patients with drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Drugs and herbal products can induce autoimmune hepatitis. We assessed frequency and clinical outcomes of patients suffering from drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis.

Methods: All patients with drug-induced liver injury admitted between 2000 and 2011 were retrospectively studied.

Body mass index and liver stiffness affect accuracy of ultrasonography in detecting steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

Background & Aims: Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of ultrasonography in detecting steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We assessed its accuracy in detecting steatosis and factors that affect its diagnostic performance in consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

Methods: We analyzed data from 515 patients with chronic hepatitis C, confirmed by liver biopsy, assessing anthropometric, biochemical, metabolic, virologic, and ultrasonography features.

Survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by percutaneous radio-frequency ablation (RFA) is affected by complete radiological response.

Background: Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) has been employed in the treatment of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as curative treatments.

Aim: To assess the effectiveness and the safety of RFA in patients with early HCC and compensated cirrhosis.

Methods: A cohort of 151 consecutive patients with early stage HCC (122 Child-Pugh class A and 29 class B patients) treated with RFA were enrolled.

Progressive multi-organ expression of immunoglobulin G4-related disease: A case report.

A 63-year-old Caucasian man presented with a cholestatic syndrome, renal failure and arthralgias. A laboratory examination revealed high immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG4 levels (5.95 g/L; normal range: 0.

Assessment of treatment response in hepatocellular carcinoma: a review of the literature.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high incidence all over the world. Even if the primary end point of treatment of HCC is survival, radiological response could be a surrogate end point of survival, and could have a key role in clinical management. Since 1950 several radiological response criteria have been applied; however, it was not until 2000 that specific criteria for HCC were introduced by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), and these were then standardized in 2010 with the development of the modified Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumors (mRECIST) for HCC.

Primary biliary cirrhosis and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: When two rare diseases coexist.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a slowly progressive cholestatic autoimmune liver disease that mainly affects middle-aged women with an estimated prevalence ranging from 6.7 to 402 cases per million. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, or Rendu-Osler-Weber disease, is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by angiodysplastic lesions (telangiectases and arteriovenous malformations) that can affect many organs, including liver, with a prevalence of 1-2 cases per 10000.

Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: present and future.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a major health problem. It is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related death. Despite the availability of several treatment opportunities, diagnosis is still made in an advanced phase, limiting application of most therapeutic choices that currently are based on the Barcelona Clinic Cancer Liver Classification and include surgical resection, orthotopic liver transplantation and ablative methods for very early and early disease, arterial chemoembolization for intermediate stages and systemic therapy with sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Antimitochondrial antibody -M2 positive autoimmune hepatitis during standard of care for chronic hepatitis C.

The current standard of care (SoC) for chronic hepatitis C, i.e. the combination of a pegylated-interferon (PEG-IFN) with ribavirin (RBV), may activate underlying autoimmune conditions.

Successful intravenous immunoglobulin treatment for steroid-resistant eosinophilic enteritis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare condition of unknown etiology characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the bowel. Corticosteroids are the mainstay of EG therapy. Although rare, steroid-resistant EG could be a life-threatening condition with tissue destructive evolution.

Hyperferritinemia is a risk factor for steatosis in chronic liver disease.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between ferritin and steatosis in patients with chronically abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) and high ferritin level.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-four consecutive patients with hyperferritinemia (male > 300 ng/mL, female > 200 ng/mL) were evaluated; clinical, biochemical and serological data, iron status parameters, HFE gene mutations and homeostasis model assessment score were obtained. Steatosis was graded by ultrasound as absent or present.

Retinol-binding protein 4: a new marker of virus-induced steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis c virus genotype 1.

Unlabelled: Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is an adipocytokine associated with insulin resistance (IR). We tested serum levels of RBP4 to assess its link with steatosis in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (CHC) or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nondiabetic patients with CHC (n = 143) or NAFLD (n = 37) were evaluated by liver biopsy and anthropometric and metabolic measurements, including IR by the homeostasis model assessment.

Insulin resistance and diabetes increase fibrosis in the liver of patients with genotype 1 HCV infection.

Objectives: Metabolic factors may affect the course of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Insulin resistance (IR) determines steatosis, but its direct role in affecting progression of hepatic fibrosis is less clear. We aimed to assess whether increasing degrees of IR, up to overt diabetes, are linked to steatosis and higher stages of fibrosis in patients with CHC resulting from genotype 1 HCV (G1-HCV).