Cirrhosis/Liver Failure News

Exalenz Bioscience announced a collaboration with Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. to use the BreathID Methacetin Breath Test to monitor patients in a phase2b trial evaluating emricasan, according to a press release.

The correlation between portal hypertensive gastropathy and portal hypertension was strong enough to suggest which patients with these conditions could develop cirrhosis, but not hepatocellular carcinoma, according to research published in BMC Gastroenterology.

The increase in follow-up care due to universal bilirubin screening in Canadian newborns was limited by socioeconomic disparities, according to recent findings published in Academic Pediatrics.

Patients with cirrhosis and epilepsy are at higher risk for hepatic encephalopathy, according to research published in BMC Gastroenterology.

Proton pump inhibitors increased the risk for hepatic encephalopathy and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis and ascites, according to recent findings published in Hepatology.

Researchers from Barcelona developed a model that predicted the in-hospital mortality of patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis at a sensitivity of 0.85 and specificity of 0.75, according to recent findings published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. The model includes Child-Pugh score, serum urea, blood leukocyte count and mean arterial pressure.

Obeticholic acid reduced alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin levels in patients with primary biliary cholangitis, according to a phase 3 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. However, patients taking the drug were more likely to experience pruritis.

Recent data published in Hepatology suggest systematic inflammation as the main driver of acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Having non-hepatitis C virus cirrhosis and diabetes puts patients at a higher risk for developing hepatocellular carcinoma, according to research recently published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.