Alterations in methionine metabolism that involve changes in the plasma S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) level occur in chronic liver diseases. However, no evidence is available on whether circulating SAMe is involved in the development of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Cross-sectional data on clinical characteristics and plasma SAMe were collected for 130 cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and H...

Gastroesophageal varices are present in 50% of patients with cirrhosis, and variceal hemorrhage develops in up to one third of these patients. The risk of variceal hemorrhage is increased in patients who have large varices and advanced stages of liver disease, as assessed on the basis of the Child– Pugh class.1 Several studies published between 1942 and 1981 showed poor outcomes after variceal ...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS The results of endoscopic treatment with elastic band ligation for esophageal variceal bleeding in patients with Child-Pugh class C cirrhosis remain poor. In comparison with treatment with elastic band ligation, we have found lower rates of rebleeding and mortality with n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate injections. Thus, the aim of the current study was to describe our unit's 10...

We aim to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients treated by transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in Chinese cohort. A total of 2,493 HCC patients treated by TACE were included in this retrospective study. Patients were divided into the younger group (n=1,877) or the elderly group (n=616) based upon their ages (cut-off value o...

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the safe and effective methods to treat liver cirrhosis. The practitioners of TCM assess hepatic function in term of syndrome. But the course of syndrome differentiation is subjectivity. At present most of all the researches are focused on the relationship between the syndrome and the Western medicine objective indicators such as child-pugh grade. In...

BACKGROUND There is limited data on the nutritional status of Asian patients with various aetiologies of cirrhosis. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and to compare nutritional differences between various aetiologies. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study of adult patients with decompensated cirrhosis was conducted. Nutritional status was assessed using standard anthr...

Many staging systems of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were established; however, there is no consensus on which is proper in predicting prognosis. This study aims to evaluate various commonly used staging systems of HCC. Patients who underwent surgery during 2001-2007 were included. All patient data were retrospectively staged using six staging systems, that are American Joint Committee on Can...

BACKGROUND End-stage liver disease is frequently complicated by episodes of gastrointestinal hemorrhage that are often associated with multiple organ dysfunction and require intensive care. This study aimed to identify specific predictors of hospital mortality in critically ill cirrhotic patients with gastrointestinal bleeding, and compare the prediction accuracy of the Child-Pugh score and two...

Dilutional hyponatremia is common in decompensated cirrhosis and can be successfully treated by tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2-receptor antagonist. Data were lacking regarding the effects of tolvaptan on cirrhotic patients with a Child-Pugh score of >10 and a serum sodium concentration of <120 mmol/L. We report a case of forties man with a 20-year history of chronic hepatitis B presenting with yel...

BACKGROUND IGF-I and IGFBP-3 are part of IGF system and, due to their predominantly hepatic synthesis, they seem to correlate with hepatic dysfunction intensity. AIMS To investigate the significance of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in patients with decompensated liver disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS Cross-sectional study that included cirrhotic patients admitted to hospital due to complications of the di...