Hepatitis C donor positive to recipient negative solid organ transplants: Early direct acting antiviral insurance approval rates with and without documented viremia.

Background: Current guidelines support early initiation of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) in hepatitis C virus (HCV) donor positive and recipient negative (D+/R-) solid organ transplants (SOTs). According to experts, access to DAA therapy is a key barrier to early treatment.

Methods: This single-center, retrospective study assessed the rate of DAA prescription approval with or without confirmed HCV viremia, time to approval, and reasons for denial in HCV D+/R- SOTs.

Liver disease related to the heart.

In this article, we review both acute and chronic liver diseases that occur as a result of heart or circulatory system failure. Ischemic hepatitis, congestive hepatopathy, cardiac cirrhosis, and Fontan liver disease are reviewed. We review clinical presentation, diagnostic data, prognosis, and available therapeutic strategies for these entities.

Beyond a broken heart: circulatory dysfunction in the failing Fontan.

The role of ventricular dysfunction in late morbidity and mortality of univentricular hearts has been described previously. However, a significant proportion of adult Fontan patients who die or require heart transplantation do so with preserved ventricular function. The clinical deterioration in patients who have undergone Fontan palliation requires a broader view of circulatory dysfunction, one that takes into account the complex interaction of regulatory systems affecting hepatic, renal, and pulmonary blood flow, in addition to cardiac function.

Features of portal hypertension are associated with major adverse events in Fontan patients: the VAST study.

Background: Chronic congestive hepatopathy is known to cause hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension in patients post-Fontan operation for single ventricle palliation. The clinical significance of these findings is not clear. We hypothesized that features of portal hypertension would be significantly related to major adverse events.

Critical care management of patients before liver transplantation.

The critical care management of patients before liver transplantation is aimed at optimizing hepatic and extrahepatic organ function before the transplant operation, with a goal to favorably influence perioperative and postoperative graft and patient outcomes. Critical illness in liver disease can present in the context of acute liver failure or acute on chronic liver failure. The differing pathophysiologic processes underlying these 2 types of liver failure necessitate specific approaches to their intensive care management.

HIV/AIDS and Colorectal Cancer: A Review in the Era of Antiretrovirals.

Since the discovery of HIV/AIDS and the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, there have been many observations regarding the causes of HIV/AIDS deaths, opportunistic infections, and coexisting diseases such as non-AIDS-defining malignancies. The bulk of the literature worldwide has been epidemiologic and has involved cross-linkage of both HIV/AIDS and cancer registries. Prior retrospective studies have also utilized death certificates.