Cirrhosis/Liver Failure News

Liver cirrhosis, also known as the fourth and most advanced stage of fibrosis, can result from a variety of causes including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and very often from alcohol-related liver disease — the lines of which can also be blurred.

CHICAGO — During this year’s North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition annual meeting, Mercedes Martinez, MD, from the New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, will co-host the Single Topic Symposium on Chronic Liver Disease Management for the Gastroenterologist.

Data from a phase 2a clinical trial of DUR-928, an endogenous, small-molecule new chemical entity, for patients with alcoholic hepatitis demonstrated that the treatment led to greater reductions from baseline in bilirubin and MELD and improved Lille scores compared with a historical control group from a University of Louisville alcoholic hepatitis study, according to a company press release.

Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis revealed 13 risk factors for intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, the most significant of which included biliary cysts and stones, cirrhosis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Replacing serum creatinine with estimated glomerular filtration rate in a patient’s MELD-Na score appeared to improve waitlist mortality prediction among patients with cirrhosis in need of a liver transplantation, according to study results published in Hepatology.

Frailty correlated with a twofold higher risk for waitlist mortality among both patients with and without obesity in need of liver transplantation, which increased to a threefold higher risk in those with class 2 or higher obesity, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma on a liver transplantation waitlist who had public insurance had worse waitlist outcomes compared with those who had Kaiser Permanente or other private insurance, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis scores and Fibrosis-4 index scores increased longitudinally and at a higher rate in those with fatty liver and fibrosis stage 2 or higher compared with those with stage 1 or no fibrosis, according to data.

Supervised progressive resistance training increased muscle strength and size in patients with compensated cirrhosis while also providing beneficial effects on general performance measures, according to a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Initial results from a phase 3 clinical study of terlipressin showed that the therapy met its primary endpoint of “verified” hepatorenal syndrome type 1 reversal, according to a press release from Mallinckrodt.