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showing 10 items of 5435 documents
Metabolic profile of chronic liver disease by NMR spectroscopy of human biopsies.
2010
Among the different processes occurring during the evolution of liver disease, fibrosis has a predominant role. Liver fibrosis mechanisms are fairly constant irrespective of the underlying etiology. Cirrhosis is the end-stage of this reaction. Metabolic profiles, which are affected by many physiological and pathological processes, may provide further insight into the metabolic consequences of this severe liver disease. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of 1H high resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy in the biochemical profile determination of human liver needle biopsy samples for the characterization of metabolic alterations related to the sever…
Increased intrahepatic and circulating levels of endoglin, a TGF-β1 co-receptor, in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection: relationship t…
2006
Endoglin, a transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 co-receptor, has been associated with renal and cutaneous fibrosis, as overexpression of this protein has been observed in biopsies from patients with glomerulosclerosis and scleroderma, respectively. Our aim was to evaluate whether endoglin may be associated with hepatic fibrosis featuring chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Fifty-two anti-HCV+ patients, five anti-HCV- patients and 27 healthy subjects were studied. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to quantify the expression levels of endoglin and TGF-beta1 in liver biopsy samples, and serum concentrations of endoglin and hyaluronic acid were determined by enzyme-linke…
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…
Prevalence and Risk Factors of Significant Fibrosis in Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Without Steatohepatitis
2019
In patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a risk factor for the development of fibrosis. However, fibrosis has been observed in livers of patients without NASH. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of fibrosis in patients without NASH and risk factors for fibrosis.We analyzed data from 1738 subjects (44.9% with severe obesity) in a cross-sectional liver biopsy cohort enrolled at referral centers in Italy and Finland. Biopsy specimens were analyzed histologically by a blinded pathologist at each center, and a diagnosis of NASH was made based on steatosis (≥5% of hepatocytes), hepatocellular ballooning, and lobular inflammation. We also c…
Digital image analysis of collagen assessment of progression of fibrosis in recurrent HCV after liver transplantation
2013
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Histological assessment of fibrosis progression is currently performed by staging systems which are not continuous quantitative measurements. We aimed at assessing a quantitative measurement of fibrosis collagen proportionate area (CPA), to evaluate fibrosis progression and compare it to Ishak stage progression. METHODS: We studied a consecutive cohort of 155 patients with recurrent HCV hepatitis after liver transplantation (LT), who had liver biopsies at one year and were subsequently evaluated for progression of fibrosis using CPA and Ishak staging, and correlated with clinical decompensation. The upper quartile of distribution of fibrosis rates (difference in CPA or Is…
Prospective Randomized Comparison of Minilaparoscopy and Percutaneous Liver Biopsy
2007
Liver cirrhosis represents an advanced stage of hepatic fibrosis characterized by distortion of organ architecture and formation of regenerative nodules. Retrospective series reported percutaneous liver biopsy to miss cirrhosis in about 30%. The aim of this study was to prospectively compare diagnostic sensitivity regarding the detection of cirrhosis and the complication rates of percutaneous versus minilaparoscopic liver biopsy in chronic liver disease.Eight hundred fifty-seven patients were randomized to percutaneous (415) or to minilaparoscopic liver biopsy (442). Macroscopic liver evaluation was documented as normal, fibrosis, or cirrhosis. Liver specimens were assessed blindly accordin…
Steatosis affects the performance of liver stiffness measurement for fibrosis assessment in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C.
2014
Background & Aims: In Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC), the influence of steatosis on liver stiffness measurement (LSM) is still debated. We assessed the impact of steatosis and its ultrasonographical sign – bright liver echo pattern (BLEP) – on LSM values and on transient elastography (TE) accuracy for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis, in a cohort of consecutive patients with Genotype 1 (G1) CHC. Methods: Patients (n = 618) were assessed by clinical, ultrasonographic and histological (Scheuer score) features. TE was performed using the M probe. Results: Male gender (p = 0.04), steatosis as continuous variable (p <0.001), severity of necroinflammation (p = 0.02) and stage of fibrosis (p <0.001) wer…
The relationship between transient elastography and histological collagen proportionate area for assessing fibrosis in chronic viral hepatitis
2012
Collagen proportionate area (CPA) has a better correlation with hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) than with Ishak stage. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) is proposed as non invasive marker of portal hypertension/disease progression. Our aim was to compare LSM and CPA with Ishak staging in chronic viral hepatitis, and HVPG in HCV hepatitis after transplantation. One hundred and sixty-nine consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections pre/post liver transplantation (LT), had a liver biopsy combined with LSM (transient elastography), CPA (biopsies stained with Sirius Red and evaluated by digital image analysis and expressed as CPA) and H…
Long-term follow-up of hepatitis C virus-positive patients with persistently normal serum transaminases
2013
Material and methods. This study prospectively evaluated the progression of liver disease in a group of anti-HCV-positive patients with persistently normal ALT levels (PNALT) who were HCV-RNA positive. Patients selected for this study were those who presented with PNALT according to the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF) criteria in the year 1995/96 and underwent liver biopsy. They were divided into two groups according to their ALT evolution. Forty-five patients were included in this study. Results. After a median follow-up time of 180 months twenty-five of them maintained PNALT, but two of these developed liver cirrhosis (LC) in a mean time of 174 and 202 months, respec…
Computer-assisted image analysis of liver collagen: relationship to Ishak scoring and hepatic venous pressure gradient.
2009
Histopathological scoring of disease stage uses descriptive categories without measuring the amount of fibrosis. Collagen, the major component of fibrous tissue, can be quantified by computer-assisted digital image analysis (DIA) using histological sections. We determined relationships between DIA, Ishak stage, and hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) reflecting severity of fibrosis. One hundred fifteen patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who had undergone transplantation had 250 consecutive transjugular liver biopsies combined with HVPG (median length, 22 mm; median total portal tracts, 12), evaluated using the Ishak system and stained with Sirus red for DIA. Liver collagen was expres…