Usefulness of the Trabecular Bone Score in Assessing the Risk of Vertebral Fractures in Patients with Cirrhosis.

The trabecular bone score (TBS), a surrogate measure of bone microarchitecture, provides complementary information to bone mineral density (BMD) in the assessment of osteoporotic fracture risk. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine whether TBS can identify patients with liver cirrhosis that are at risk of vertebral fractures. We enrolled 275 patients who completed evaluations for lumbar BMD, TBS, and vertebral fractures between November 2018 and April 2021.

Usefulness of nutritional therapy recommended in the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology/Japan Society of Hepatology evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for liver cirrhosis 2020.

Background: The JSGE/JSH guidelines for the management of patients with liver cirrhosis revised in 2020 recommends new strategies for nutritional assessment and intervention, although their usefulness in daily clinical practice is unclear.

Methods: A total of 769 patients with cirrhosis were classified into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups according to hypoalbuminemia and sarcopenia, the criteria established for initiating the nutritional therapy algorithm in the guidelines. The association between these groups and mortality was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards model.

Usefulness of the Stroop Test in Diagnosing Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy and Predicting Overt Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) adversely affects the clinical outcomes of patients with liver cirrhosis. This prospective study aimed to evaluate the utility of the Stroop test in the diagnosis of MHE and prediction of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) in Japanese patients with cirrhosis. We enrolled 152 patients who underwent the Stroop test between November 2018 and February 2020.

Handgrip strength stratifies the risk of covert and overt hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis.

Background: Handgrip strength (HGS) is a simple and convenient method to assess nutrition status in patients with cirrhosis. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the utility of HGS for predicting patients with covert hepatic encephalopathy (CHE) and patients at high risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE).

Methods: We reviewed 963 patients with cirrhosis and consequently enrolled eligible 270 patients.

Zinc deficiency predicts overt hepatic encephalopathy and mortality in liver cirrhosis patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Aim: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) is associated with poor outcomes and the development of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). Zinc plays a key role in the detoxification of ammonia, a risk factor of hepatic encephalopathy. This study aimed to investigate whether zinc deficiency predicts OHE occurrence and mortality in LC patients with MHE.