Proof-of-concept study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of saroglitazar in patients with primary biliary cholangitis.

Background & Aim: Saroglitazar is a novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonist with dual agonistic properties (α/γ). Due to a strong mechanistic rationale, we aimed to test the safety and efficacy of saroglitazar in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) who were either ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) resistant or intolerant.

Methods: In this double-blind, phase II proof-of-concept trial, 37 patients with PBC were randomized to saroglitazar 4 mg (n = 13), saroglitazar 2 mg (n = 14), or placebo (n = 10) daily for 16 weeks.

Posttransplant Outcome of Lean Compared With Obese Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in the United States: The Obesity Paradox.

Morbid obesity is considered a relative contraindication for liver transplantation (LT). We investigated if body mass index (BMI; lean versus obese) is a risk factor for post-LT graft and overall survival in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and non-NASH patients. Using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database, LT recipients from January 2002 to June 2013 (age ≥18 years) with follow-up until 2017 were included.

Lack of Clostridium difficile infection in patients treated with rifaximin for hepatic encephalopathy: a retrospective analysis.

Goals: The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of Clostridium difficile infection in patients who received rifaximin for the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

Methods: Medical charts of patients who received rifaximin for the treatment of HE were reviewed. The number of patients who developed diarrhea during treatment with rifaximin and results of latex agglutination assays to detect C.

Durability of rifaximin response in hepatic encephalopathy.

Goals: To evaluate the durability of the response to rifaximin for treatment of hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

Background: The nonsystemic antibiotic rifaximin has been approved for maintenance of HE remission, and several studies have indicated the efficacy of rifaximin for acute HE; however, the duration of therapeutic response for >6 months remains unknown.

Study: Medical records of patients with cirrhosis who received rifaximin maintenance therapy for HE between January 2004 and May 2009 were reviewed.

Adult onset urea cycle disorder in a patient with presumed hepatic encephalopathy.

Deficiency of any of the 5 enzymes in the urea cycle results in the accumulation of ammonia, leading to encephalopathy; which if untreated, can be lethal and produce devastating neurologic sequelae in long-term survivors. We hereby present an interesting case that presented with hyperammonemia and encephalopathy; later found to have an urea cycle defect.