Cirrhosis/Liver Failure News

Application of a novel noninvasive test comprised of albumin, bilirubin and platelets successfully identified patients with cirrhosis who could safely avoid screening endoscopy without the need for liver stiffness measurements by transient elastography compared with the Baveno VI criteria, according to a published study.

Galectin Therapeutics announced plans for a phase 3 clinical trial of belapectin for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis-related cirrhosis without esophageal varices, according to a press release.

LOS ANGELES — In this video exclusive, Christos S. Mantzoros, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the Boston VA Healthcare System and director of human nutrition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses a new artificial intelligence and machine learning tool for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease prediction.

BOSTON — In this exclusive video from The Liver Meeting 2019, Manu Chakravarthy, MD, PhD, chief medical officer and senior vice president of Axcella Health, discusses positive study results from two product candidates including one for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and one for cirrhosis.

Viking Therapeutics announced the initiation of a phase 2b trial of VK2809, a novel liver-selective thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist undergoing investigation for patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to a press release.

BOSTON — Improvements in frailty among patients with cirrhosis awaiting liver transplantation lowered the risk for mortality regardless of baseline frailty and MELD-Na score, according to data presented at The Liver Meeting 2019.

BOSTON — In this exclusive video from The Liver Meeting 2019, Arun Sanyal, MD, professor of medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, discusses results of the CONFIRM trial, which demonstrated that terlipressin was effective in improving renal function and achieving hepatorenal syndrome reversal in a significant percentage of patients with hepatorenal syndrome type 1.

BOSTON — In this exclusive video from The Liver Meeting 2019, Tarek Hassanein, MD, FAASLD, professor of medicine at UC San Diego Health and medical director of Southern California GI and Liver Centers, discusses results of a phase 2a study, which demonstrated that DUR-928 was well-tolerated and effective in patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis.

BOSTON — In a multicenter study of older patients with cirrhosis, the EncephalApp tool accurately diagnosed cognitive impairment and hepatic encephalopathy, according to a presenter at The Liver Meeting 2019.

BOSTON — Researchers found that health care financial burden was common in patients with cirrhosis and may be associated with lower receipt of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance, according to a presenter at The Liver Meeting 2019.