Search results for " tests"
showing 10 items of 3284 documents
Circulating, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
1997
Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is thought to play an important role in cellular immunological reactions. Expression can be induced by inflammatory cytokines in a wide variety of cells, including hepatocytes.To compare the behaviour of ICAM-1 in liver diseases.We assayed serum ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma-associated liver cirrhosis, and compared them with a group of cirrhotic patients and controls. sICAM-1 values were also correlated with some biochemical parameters of liver function. Moreover, immunohistochemical localization of ICAM-1 was performed on liver tissue sections of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis and a sample of n…
Assessing inter- and intra-individual cognitive variability in patients at risk for cognitive impairment: the case of minimal hepatic encephalopathy
2014
Recent evidence reveals that inter- and intra-individual variability significantly affects cognitive performance in a number of neuropsychological pathologies. We applied a flexible family of statistical models to elucidate the contribution of inter- and intra-individual variables on cognitive functioning in healthy volunteers and patients at risk for hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Sixty-five volunteers (32 patients with cirrhosis and 33 healthy volunteers) were assessed by means of the Inhibitory Control Task (ICT). A Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) was fitted for jointly modeling the mean and the intra-variability of Reaction Times (RTs) as a function of so…
The prognostic value of thyroid function tests in predominantly non-alcoholic cirrhotic patients: A prospective investigation
1985
The prognostic value of thyroid function parameters (T3, T4, rT3 and the rT3: T3 ratio) and common liver tests (serum bilirubin, albumin and prothrombin activity) was investigated on hospital admission in 100 consecutive patients with predominantly non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Twenty-nine out of 100 patients had a well compensated cirrhosis and their mean values of thyroid tests were similar to those of 40 healthy controls. A low T3 syndrome was found in the remaining 71 decompensated patients. In these thyroid function parameters were correlated with serum bilirubin and prothrombin activity. Moreover mean values of all thyroid and liver tests, except serum albumin, were significantly dif…
Treatment of chronic hepatitis B in sub-Saharan Africa: 1-year results of a pilot program in Ethiopia
2018
Background The World Health Organization has set an ambitious goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is virtually unavailable. Herein, we present the 1-year results of a pilot CHB treatment program in Ethiopia. Methods At a public hospital in Addis Ababa, CHB patients were treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate based on simplified eligibility criteria. Baseline assessment included liver function tests, viral markers, and transient elastography (Fibroscan). Changes in laboratory markers were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Adherence to therapy was measured by …
Risk Factors in Patients With Rapid Recurrent Hepatitis C Virus–Related Cirrhosis Within 1 Year After Liver Transplantation
2009
Abstract Background Recurrent cirrhosis (RC) due to pretransplant underlying disease leads to organ failure and subsequent death after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). RC occurs in up to 30% of patients with recurrent hepatitis C (HCV) within 5 years after OLT. We sought to identify early risk factors for rapid RC within the first year after OLT in HCV-positive patients. Methods Among 404 liver transplanted patients at the University of Mainz between 1998 and 2008, 90 were HCV-RNA positive. To identify predictive factors for rapid RC, we compared HCV-positive patients with advanced fibrosis stages within 1 year after OLT ( n = 13) with these without RC at 5 years after OLT ( n = 23).…
Cathepsin D serum mass concentrations in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and/or liver cirrhosis
1996
Cathepsin D serum mass concentrations were determined by enzyme immunoassay in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 51) and/or liver cirrhosis (n = 92) or benign steatosis (n = 16) and correlated with some biochemical and clinical properties of these diseases. Increased cathepsin D serum mass concentrations (P < 0.001) were observed in all these groups of patients as compared to normal subjects (n = 98). However, patients with steatosis had serum mass concentrations of this enzyme significantly lower (mean 2—3 fold) than those measured in cancer patients (P < 0.05) or cirrhotic patients (P < 0.001). Interestingly, significantly higher cathepsin D serum mass concentrations (m…
Assessment of blood coagulation in severe liver disease using thromboelastography: use of citrate storage versus native blood.
2003
Thromboelastography evaluates the viscoelastic properties of blood coagulation. Using native blood, measurement must start soon after sampling. With normal coagulation, native and citrated blood values correlate well. No data exists from cirrhotic patients. We compared native and citrate thromboelastography parameters in 30 cirrhotic patients (20 Child-Pugh C class, two liver failure). Thromboelastography was performed within 4 min using native blood and after recalcification within 1-2 h of citrate storage. Thromboelastography variables (r, a, k, ma) were compared using the Mann-Whitney test, correlation investigated with the Pearson method and the degree of agreement with the Bland-Altman…
Transient elastography compared to serum markers to predict liver fibrosis in a cohort of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B.
2015
Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography (FibroScan) is a useful tool to assess fibrosis in various chronic liver diseases. However, studies were mainly performed in Western countries and largely focused on chronic hepatitis C (CHC). We therefore carried out a multicenter study to validate the accuracy of LSM in the assessment of liver fibrosis in a large cohort of Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).We compared LSM results to histological staging and serum fibrosis markers (five direct markers, APRI and FIB-4) using Spearman correlation analysis and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUROCs).Four hundred sixty-nine patients were enr…
Parallel reduction of plasma levels of high and low molecular weight kininogen in patients with cirrhosis
1999
SummaryLittle is known about the regulation of high-molecular-weight-kininogen (HK) and low-molecular-weight-kininogen (LK) or the relationship of each to the degree of liver function impairment in patients with cirrhosis. In this study, we evaluated HK and LK quantitatively by a recently described particle concentration fluorescence immunoassay (PCFIA) and qualitatively by SDS PAGE and immunoblotting analyses in plasma from 33 patients with cirrhosis presenting various degrees of impairment of liver function. Thirty-three healthy subjects served as normal controls. Patients with cirrhosis had significantly lower plasma levels of HK (median 49 μg/ml [range 22-99 μg/ml]) and LK (58 μg/ml [15…
Ultrasound detection of abdominal lymph nodes in chronic liver diseases. A retrospective analysis
2003
Aim: To retrospectively evaluate the prevalence of lymph nodes of the hepato-duodenal ligament in a group of patients with chronic liver disease of various aetiologies and to investigate what clinical, aetiological and laboratory data may lead to their appearance. Materials and methods: One thousand and three patients (554 men, 449 women) were studied, including 557 with chronic hepatitis and 446 with liver cirrhosis. The presence of lymph nodes near the trunk of the portal vein, hepatic artery, celiac axis, superior mesenteric vein and pancreas head was investigated using ultrasound. Results: Lymph nodes were detected in 394 out of the 1003 study patients (39.3%); their number ranged from …