Questionnaire PLD-complaint-specific assessment identifies need for therapy in polycystic liver disease: A multi-centric prospective study.

Background And Aims: Polycystic liver disease (PLD) can lead to extensive hepatomegaly. Symptom relief is the primary goal of the treatment. The role of the recently developed disease-specific questionnaires for identification of the thresholds and the assessment of therapy needs further investigation.

Viral clade is associated with severity of symptomatic genotype 3 hepatitis E virus infections in Belgium, 2010-2018.

Background & Aims: HEV genotype (gt) 3 infections are prevalent in high-income countries and display a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. Host - but not viral - factors are reported to be associated with worse clinical outcomes.

Methods: Demographic, clinical, and biochemical data laboratory-confirmed HEV infections (by PCR and/or a combination of IgM and IgG serology) at the Belgian National Reference Centre between January 2010 and June 2018 were collected using standardised case report forms.

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhosis: changes and advances over the past two decades.

Background And Aims: Few studies have compared two or more cohorts of cirrhotic patients admitted for upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) several decades apart. Our aim was to compare epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and prognostic characteristics of UGIB (whatever the source) in two cohorts of cirrhotic patients admitted to the emergency room of the same general hospital 2 decades apart.

Methods: One-hundred cases of UGIB in cirrhotic patients consecutively admitted between 1984 and 1990 (cohort A) were compared with 100 similar cases admitted between 2004 and 2009 (cohort B).

IL28B polymorphism and the control of hepatitis C virus infection: ready for clinical use?

Polymorphisms in the region of the interleukin-28B (IL28B) gene have recently been associated with spontaneous and treatment induced clearance of hepatitis C virus infection. The specific mechanisms of how IL28B polymorphisms affect HCV suppression remain unknown. It is a matter of ongoing debate how to incorporate the IL28B data into the current treatment algorithms with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin.