End-Stage Liver Disease

PHILADELPHIA — In this video, Paul Kwo, MD, professor of medicine and director of hepatology at Stanford University, speaks with Healio about the underutilization of palliative care for patients with end-stage liver disease.

The FDA has granted breakthrough therapy designation to Boehringer Ingelheim’s survodutide for the treatment of adult patients with noncirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and moderate or advanced fibrosis.

Women with hepatocellular carcinoma were less likely to receive a liver transplant and more likely to die or be removed from the waitlist vs. men, underscoring the need for changes to allocation policies, according to researchers.

Transgender adults had “more than double” the prevalence of cirrhosis vs. cisgender adults, as well as higher rates of comorbidities linked to liver disease progression, researchers reported in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Researchers identified bile duct dysplasia or cancer in most explanted livers with an indication of biliary dysplasia, although as many as 41% had no signs of neoplasia, according to a study of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Ocelot Bio’s OCE-205, a mixed vasopression 1a receptor agonist-antagonist peptide for the treatment of ascites resulting from all causes except cancer, according to a company release.

Nearly 75% of patients with end-stage liver disease in safety-net hospitals were not referred for liver transplant evaluation, mostly due to active alcohol use or insurance issues, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Early palliative care referral would benefit patients with end-stage liver disease, resulting in fewer hospitalizations and more health care proxy assignments and code status changes, according to a presenter here.

WASHINGTON — Patient survival was no different for living donor liver transplant recipients with a MELD score greater than 25 compared with those with lower MELD scores, according to data presented at The Liver Meeting.

The FDA cleared an investigational new drug application for LYG-LIV0001, an allogeneic hepatocyte transplantation solution for end-stage liver disease, according to the agent’s manufacturer.