Therapy with lamivudine and steroids in a patient with acute hepatitis B and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.

To the Editor: Tang et al.1 recently reported that lamivudine (LAM) improves renal outcome in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and membranous nephropathy. We would like to add our experience on acute hepatitis B and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.

HCV CLEARANCE AFTER PEG IFN PLUS RBV IMPROVES THE COURSE OF HCV CIRRHOSIS REGARDLESS OF PORTAL HYPERTENSION

Autoimmune pancreatitis: A challenging diagnostic puzzle for clinicians

Autoimmune pancreatitis is a form of pancreatitis with autoimmune stigmata that may present as either focal or diffuse gland involvement. In focal forms, autoimmune pancreatitis shares demographic, clinical, biochemical and imaging features with pancreatic cancer. Since autoimmune pancreatitis is a benign disease and steroid therapy can rapidly resolve symptoms, improve radiological findings and avoid unnecessary surgery, the current clinical challenge is how to differentiate autoimmune pancreatitis from pancreatic neoplasia. Even though definitive diagnosis of the disease is difficult, several diagnostic criteria have been proposed and progress has been made in imaging studies. The managem…

The impact of insulin resistance, serum adipocytokines and visceral obesity on steatosis and fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C

SUMMARY Aims  To assess whether host metabolic factors influence the degree of hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in patients infected with hepatitis C virus, and to evaluate the impact of anti-viral therapy on insulin resistance and serum levels of adipocytokines. Methods  Clinical and biochemical features, anthropometrical characteristics, and levels of fasting insulin, leptin, adiponectin and resistin were measured in ‘naive’ patients with chronic hepatitis C, before, during and after therapy with Peg-Interferon-alpha 2a plus Ribavirin. Results  Forty-eight patients were included (M/F 28/20; mean age 50.0 ± 12.6 years; 62.5% genotype-1). Body mass index was 26.4 ± 4.0 kg/m2, and visceral obe…