Background: Alcoholic liver cirrhosis is a common indication for liver transplantation. Recurrence of alcohol use was retrospectively analyzed after liver transplantation. Methods: From X/1995 to II/2002, 42 out of 246 patients underwent liver transplantation for alcoholic liver cirrhosis. We administered a questionnaire to all patients surviving at least 1 year post liver transplantation for a...

Background—In patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, endotoxaemia is a frequent finding. Unknown mechanisms, however, prevent typical clinical symptoms of endotoxaemia in many patients. Methods—We determined plasma levels of proand anti-inflammatory mediators, ex vivo cytokine secretion capacity, and expression of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptors on phagocytic blood cells in 49 patients...

BACKGROUND In experimental models, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have the capacity to differentiate into hepatocytes and exhibit antifibrotic effects. However, there have been no studies in humans with alcoholic cirrhosis. AIM The aim of this study was to elucidate the antifibrotic effect of BM-MSCs in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, as a phase II clinical trial. M...

AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect and severity of liver diseases of different etiologies on the values of three non-invasive fibrosis markers. MATERIAL AND METHODS Serum samples from 65 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 31 with non-alcoholic cirrhosis and 32 with toxic hepatitis, were tested. Cirrhotic patients were classified according to the Child-Pugh scale....

BACKGROUND AND AIM Inflammatory changes in the stomach caused by Helicobacter pylori indirectly and directly affect liver function. Moreover, the bacteria may worsen the course of the liver cirrhosis. The study aimed at evaluating the incidence of H. pylori infection among patients with liver cirrhosis, depending on the etiology and injury stage, scored according to Child-Pugh classification. S...

 Multiple genetic and environmental factors interact to determine an individual's predisposition to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and its phenotypic characteristics. Association studies have found a number of alleles associated with the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Our aim was to investigate whether multiple risk-associated alleles may be present in affected monozygotic twi...

Primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh in women worldwide. It rarely occurs before the age of 40 years and reaches its peak incidence at approximatively 70 years of age. Major risk factors for HCC include: infection with hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C (HCV), alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and less...

Severe alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) is the major complication of advanced alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and has a high mortality even when treated with corticosteroids. Despite the importance of reactive oxygen species in the pathophysiology of ALD and ASH, antioxidants provide no benefit in the treatment of patients with ASH. Proinflammatory cytokines are important in the pathophysiology of...

BACKGROUND The liver is the first line of defence against continuously occurring influx of microbial-derived products and bacteria from the gut. Intestinal bacteria have been implicated in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Escape of intestinal bacteria into the ascites is involved in the pathogenesis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which is a common complication of liver cirr...

To determine whether increased intakes of fat and protein or particular drinking habits are associated with the development of alcoholic pancreatitis, a dietary study has been conducted. Patients with clinically evident alcoholic pancreatitis were compared with individuals with clinically evident alcoholic cirrhosis with respect to dietary and drinking habits before the onset of clinical illnes...