OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of certain noninvasive liver-damage markers in predicting liver diseases and the clinical severity of liver cirrhosis. METHODS We tested serum specimens from 57 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 30 with nonalcoholic cirrhosis, and 22 with toxic hepatitis (TH). The Bonacini, King, and Göteborg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI) scores were calculated usi...

BACKGROUND Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is an inflammatory disease that in some patients leads to exocrine and endocrine dysfunction. In industrialized countries the most common aetiology is chronic alcohol abuse. Descriptions of associated genetic alterations in alcoholic CP are rare. However, a common PNPLA3 variant (p.I148M) is associated with the development of alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC)....

Alcoholic hepatitis is the most severe and acute form of alcoholic liver disease. The mortality rate associated with alcoholic hepatitis is high, largely due to the lack of suitable pharmacological interventions. While there has been substantial research in the area, generating pharmacological interventions has been plagued by the lack of a robust mouse model both for testing and for understand...

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...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) cause significant morbidity and mortality in affected patients and are common causes of liver failure worldwide [1]. NAFLD and ALD are histologically indistinguishable by conventional methods but their disease courses are quite divergent. In particular, ALD patients with steatohepatitis have a more rapid progression to ...

Caput medusae and palmar erythema are cardinal signs in cirrhosis of liver with portal hypertension. Palmar erythema is described more often as a marker for alcoholic etiology of chronic liver disease. The peripheral stigmata of chronic liver disease are not routinely seen now a days due to early diagnosis and better therapy. We recently encountered an interesting patient of alcoholic liver dis...

The article summarizes the proceedings of a symposium on recent advances in research on the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease at the 2001 RSA meeting in Montreal, Canada. The chairs were Amin A. Nanji and Samuel W. French. The presentations were (1) Role of inflammatory mediators in alcoholic liver injury by Amin A. Nanji, (2) Role of endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide binding protein, CD14 an...

Although there are no liver diseases specific to advanced age, the clinical course and management of liver diseases in the elderly may differ in several aspects from those of younger adults. During the last decade an explosion of new knowledge in liver disease has provoked increasing enthusiasm among hepatologists. On the other hand, the development of new emerging conditions (e.g. non-alcoholi...

UNLABELLED The ability of endogenous IL-10 to modulate inflammatory response and to limit hepatotoxicity has been shown in several models of liver injury. AIMS The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationship between liver disease and the balance between pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines in acute alcoholic hepatitis. METHODS Twenty-five patients with pure steatosis, 17 with ...