BACKGROUND The non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis Clinical Research Network has recently shown that portal chronic inflammation is associated with liver fibrosis in American children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. AIM We tested whether the portal chronic inflammation-fibrosis association was present in a series of Italian children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. METHODS We re-a...

In this study we aimed to: 1) examine whether there were differences in mental health and quality of life of liver transplant recipients according to etiology that led to transplantation (alcoholic cirrhosis, Hepatitis B/C Virus, hepatocellular carcinoma and others); and 2) to compare mental health and quality of life between liver transplant and cirrhotic patients, according to etiologies that...

Alcoholic hepatitis is a distinct clinical syndrome among people with chronic and active alcohol abuse, with a potential for 30%-40% mortality at 1 month among those with severe disease. Corticosteroids or pentoxifylline are the current pharmacologic treatment options, but they provide only about 50% survival benefit. These agents are recommended for patients with modified discriminant function...

Severe alcoholic hepatitis is implicated as a costly, worldwide public health issue with high morbidity and mortality. The one-month survival for severe alcoholic hepatitis is low with mortality rates high as 30%-50%. Abstinence from alcohol is the recommended first-line treatment. Although corticosteroids remain as the current evidence based option for selected patients with discriminant funct...

Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique liver membrane antibodies of IgG and IgA class have been demonstrated in a statistically significant proportion of sera from patients with alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis. IgG and IgA class antibodies were found respectively in 23 and 25% of 48 patients with alcoholic hepatitis, in 27 and 33% of 84 with active cirrhosis, and 67 and 58% ...

Abbreviations: HE: Hepatic Encephalopathy; PAMPs: Pathogen associated molecular patterns; TLRs: Toll-like Receptors; NLRs: Nodlike Receptors; LPS: Lipopolysacharide; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; CHB: Chronic Hepatitis B; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; ALD: Alcoholic Liver Disease; BM: Bone Marrow; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; NO: Nitric Oxide; SIRS: Systemic...

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...

Alcoholic hepatitis is a form of acute injury to liver tissue that is also a precursor of cirrhosis, and carries significant morbidity and mortality. Severe alcoholic hepatitis in particular carries a high short-term mortality, and also places an enormous burden on stretched healthcare resources. Treatment of alcoholic hepatitis has been limited to supportive management and nutritional suppleme...

Patients with chronic liver diseases are asymptomatic or have only vague non-specific symptoms. Effective medical treatments for chronic liver disease (before cirrhosis is established) are becoming increasingly available and since abnormal LFTs may be the only indication of this diseases. Aims: comparative study on serum Enzyme levels in various liver diseases. Discussion: serum Alkaline phosph...

In a study of 195 patients derived from five centres in northern Britain and with histologically confirmed alcoholic liver disease we have found an increased prevalence of serological markers of hepatitis B. This increased prevalence was found in each of the five centres; the overall frequency ranged from 11% sero-positivity in fatty liver, 12% in alcoholic hepatitis and 27% in cirrhosis.