Exploration of useful clinical laboratory values as diagnostic criteria for eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

Background: Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) is a rare eosinophilic infiltrative disorder. In Japan, EGE is diagnosed using clinical symptoms as well as microscopic, haematologic and histopathological findings. In this study, we examined the usefulness of laboratory data in the diagnosis of EGE.

Clinical Outcomes With Lenvatinib in Patients Previously Treated With Atezolizumab/Bevacizumab for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background/aim: The combination of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atz/Bev) has become widely used as a first-line therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, for post-Atz/Bev therapy, evidence on the outcomes of molecular targeted agents, such as lenvatinib, is limited. The present study aimed to assess the clinical effectiveness of lenvatinib on advanced HCC in patients who had previously undergone Atz/Bev treatment.

Large or multiple pseudocysts can impede or complicate the nonsurgical treatment of pancreatolithiasis.

Objectives: We aimed to determine when a coexisting pseudocyst was likely to complicate the nonsurgical treatment of pancreatolithiasis.

Methods: We treated 165 patients with pancreatolithiasis nonsurgically between 1992 and 2020, including 21 with pseudocysts. Twelve patients had a single pseudocyst less than 60 mm in diameter.

Nonsurgical treatment for asymptomatic pancreatolithiasis is meaning: A case report.

Background: Many guidelines for nonsurgical treatment of pancreatolithiasis suggest little guidance for patients with pancreatolithiasis who do not have abdominal pain. Some patients with pancreatolithiasis whom we have treated nonsurgically with extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy did not have abdominal pain, and we describe one of them here.

Methods And Results: A 42-year-old man complaining of an 8-kg weight loss over 6 months was admitted to a nearby hospital, where fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c values were 500 mg/dL and 11.

Independent evolution of multi-dominant viral genome species observed in a hepatitis C virus carrier.

The viral genome quasispecies composition of hepatitis C virus (HCV) could have important implications to viral pathogenesis and resistance to anti-viral treatment. The purpose of the present study was to profile the HCV RNA quasispecies. We developed a strategy to determine the full-length HCV genome sequences co-existing within a single patient serum by using next-generation sequencing technologies.

Benefit From Nonsurgical Treatment for Asymptomatic Pancreatolithiasis.

Objective: Clinical guidelines consider abdominal pain an indication for nonsurgical treatment of pancreatolithiasis. We examined benefit from nonsurgically treating asymptomatic pancreatolithiasis.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 165 patients with pancreatolithiasis who underwent nonsurgical treatment between 1992 and 2020.

Pancreatic Stones: Clinical Outcomes With Nonsurgical Treatment in a Japanese Single-Center Study.

Objectives: While chronic pancreatitis associated with pancreatolithiasis presents with pain, exocrine and endocrine pancreatic functions worsen with time. We examined outcomes of nonsurgical treatment.

Methods: Between 1992 and 2020, we treated pancreatolithiasis nonsurgically in 165 patients with chronic pancreatitis using extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy alone or followed by endoscopic procedures.

B-mode ultrasonographic diagnosis in gallbladder wall thickening.

Diseases associated with gallbladder wall thickening include benign entities such as adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder, acute and chronic cholecystitis, and hyperplasia associated with pancreaticobiliary maljunction, and also cancer. Unique conditions such as sclerosing cholecystitis and cholecystitis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment can also manifest as wall thickening, as in some systemic inflammatory conditions. Gallbladder cancer, the most serious disease that can show wall thickening, can be difficult to diagnose early and to distinguish from benign causes of wall thickening, contributing to a poor prognosis.

Late relapse of hepatitis C virus in patients with sustained virological response after daclatasvir and asunaprevir therapy.

The optimal term of follow-up for patients who achieve sustained virological responses (SVR) is an important topic because of the widespread use of direct-acting antivirals (DAA), which achieve a high SVR rate. Investigations of long-term follow-up among patients with SVR after interferon (IFN) therapy have reported that approximately 80%-100% of patients maintained SVR. However, the long-term durability of SVR to DAA treatment is unknown.

Predictive ability of shear wave elastography for pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response.

Background And Aims: Pruritus is one of the complications with chronic liver disease and markedly worsens quality of life. However, the current status of pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients who have achieved a sustained virological response (SVR) has not been clarified sufficiently. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictors of pruritus in post-SVR patients treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAA).

Comparison of direct sequencing and Invader assay for Y93H mutation and response to interferon-free therapy in hepatitis C virus genotype 1b.

Background And Aim: Virologic failure of interferon-free therapy has been associated with Y93H mutation in the non-structure 5A region in hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b, and screening is recommended. A simple assay based on Q-Invader technology was developed for Y93H mutant screening to reduce cost and effort. The present study sought to compare two methods of detection of Y93H mutation and to evaluate the effect of Y93H mutation on response to interferon-free therapy.

Branched-chain amino acids alleviate hepatic steatosis and liver injury in choline-deficient high-fat diet induced NASH mice.

Background: For successful treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), it may be important to treat the individual causative factors. At present, however, there is no established treatment for this disease. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been used to treat patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Clinical characteristics and molecular analysis of hepatitis B virus reactivation in hepatitis B surface antigen-negative patients during or after immunosuppressive or cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Background And Aim: Reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive patients treated with immunosuppressive or cytotoxic chemotherapy is well known and has emerged as an important clinical issue. The risk is low, but reactivation of HBV in HBsAg-negative patients after resolution of HBV infection also occurs; however, the clinical and virological characteristics remain somewhat unclear. We investigated HBsAg-negative patients who developed HBV reactivation during or after immunosuppressive or cytotoxic chemotherapy to clarify the clinical and virological features.

Long-term outcomes in patients with gallstones detected by mass screening.

Background: Gallstones are detected in about 5% of healthy Japanese. We followed up individuals showing gallstones upon screening, investigating features of those requiring surgery.

Methods: In 2002 we performed health evaluations for 21,550 persons (13,986 men and 7,564 women), detecting gallstones ultrasonographically in 837 or 3.

DSS colitis promotes tumorigenesis and fibrogenesis in a choline-deficient high-fat diet-induced NASH mouse model.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients progress to liver cirrhosis and even hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several lines of evidence indicate that accumulation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and disruption of gut microbiota play contributory roles in HCC. Moreover, in a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis model in mice, a high-fat diet increases portal LPS level and promotes hepatic inflammation and fibrosis.

A case of diverticular colitis with lesions resembling ulcerative colitis and correlation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha staining with clinical manifestations.

A 45-year-old male with a 3-month history of abdominal pain and melena underwent colonoscopy (CS) at our hospital in May 2009. He was diagnosed with diverticular colitis based on findings of redness around diverticula in the sigmoid colon and biopsy findings of non-specific inflammation. The second CS, which was performed in July 2009 to investigate relapse, showed diffuse redness around diverticula in the sigmoid colon.

Early Clinical Response after 2 Weeks of Sorafenib Therapy Predicts Outcomes and Anti-Tumor Response in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background & Aims: We evaluated the relationship between the early clinical response after 2 weeks of sorafenib therapy and the outcomes and anti-tumor response in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients who had intrahepatic hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma and Child-Pugh (CP) class A disease at baseline were enrolled in this prospective, multicenter, observational, non-interventional study. As an early clinical response after 2 weeks of sorafenib therapy, changes in intra-tumor blood flow on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, and remnant liver function were investigated.

Raloxifene Ameliorates Liver Fibrosis of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Induced by Choline-Deficient High-Fat Diet in Ovariectomized Mice.

Background And Aim: The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is higher in men than in women, but according to some epidemiological studies, this gender difference disappears after menopause. Estrogen therapy protects against NAFLD and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) after menopause. We investigated the therapeutic effect of raloxifene, a second-generation selective estrogen-receptor modulator, on NASH induced by a choline-deficient high-fat (CDHF) diet in female ovariectomized (OVX) mice.