0000000000331134
AUTHOR
E. La Spada
Sex hormones and risk of liver tumor.
The liver is morphologically and functionally modulated by sex hormones. Long-term use of oral contraceptives (OCs) and anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) can induce both benign (hemangioma, adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia [FNH]) and malignant (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]) hepatocellular tumors. Hepatic adenomas (HAs) are rare, benign neoplasms usually occurring in young women, the development and the complications of which have been related to the strength of OCs and the duration of their use. HA incidence has fallen since the introduction of pills containing smaller amounts of estrogens. FNH is a benign lesion, most commonly seen in young women, which is thought to represent a …
Reliability of the bright liver echo pattern in diagnosing steatosis in patients with cryptogenic and HCV-related hypertransaminasaemia.
Aim To evaluate the reliability of the bright liver (BL) echo pattern on ultrasound to detect histological steatosis in chronic cryptogenic hypertransaminasaemia (CCH) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related forms of hypertransaminasaemia. Materials and methods One hundred and fifty patients, 54 with CCH and 96 with HCV hypertransaminasaemia (76 genotype 1/2 and 20 genotype 3), were enrolled. Histological steatosis was measured as the percentage of hepatocytes involved. The reliability of the BL sign was estimated using the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Results Histological steatosis was present in 102/150 patients (68%) divided into 59/96 (62%) in the HCV g…
A key role for abdominal ultrasound examination in "difficult" diagnoses of celiac disease.
Purpose To evaluate the usefulness of abdominal ultrasound examination (US) for the diagnostic workup of cases of suspected CD involving negative serum antibodies and difficult diagnosis. Materials and methods 524 consecutive patients with symptoms of suspected CD underwent an extensive diagnostic workup. 76 (14 %) were excluded since they were positive for serum anti-tTG and/or EmA antibodies. 377 were excluded since they were diagnosed with something other than CD or did not have the alleles encoding for HLA DQ 2 or DQ 8. A diagnosis of CD with negative serum antibodies was probable in 71 patients who underwent abdominal US and duodenal biopsy for histology evaluation. Results Intestinal …
Hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialyzed patients.
In spite of our present improved knowledge of the epidemiology and pathways of contamination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV), infection still remains a public health problem. One category of patients who have suffered greatly from the consequences of HCV infection is certainly that of hemodialysis patients. In the past, in fact, their need for transfusions exposed these patients to infection and, as a result, subjects on dialysis for over 15 years are today paying the price for those inevitable transfusions, as the virus and its pathways of contagion were unknown then. However, still today, albeit at a much lower prevalence, even subjects with a shorter dialysis age present a higher prevalen…