Feature Channels: Liver Disease

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For a patient awaiting a new organ – namely a liver or kidney – living donation provides a viable alternative and can often shorten a recipient’s wait time.

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Research in animal models suggest that liver cancers with a mutation in the β-catenin gene could respond to treatment with rapamycin, a commonly used immunosupressant.

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Research out of the University of Kentucky has identified a potential pathway by which certain ARV drugs -- commonly given to patients with HIV -- give rise to liver disease.

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A new study in the journal Gastroenterology reveals that the standard method for ranking patients on the waitlist for lifesaving liver transplantation may not prioritize some of the sickest candidates for the top of the list.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that a diet low in free sugars (those added to foods and beverages and occurring naturally in fruit juices) resulted in significant improvement in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adolescent boys.

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The proportion of liver transplants in the United States for alcohol-associated liver disease increased between 2002 and 2016, with much of the increase associated with a decrease in liver transplant for hepatitis C virus infection because of antiviral therapy. This observational study used data from the United Network for Organ Sharing for all liver transplants during the 15-year period and the national study group consisted of nearly 33,000 patients, including 9,438 patients with a diagnosis of alcohol-associated liver disease. Study findings suggest five-year survival after transplant was lower in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease.

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The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) has accredited Loyola Medicine to offer a prestigious two-year fellowship in liver and kidney transplant surgery.

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A large, multi-center study refutes earlier suggestions that antiviral drugs for treating hepatitis C may lead to a higher recurrence of liver cancer.

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The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) has accredited Loyola Medicine to offer a prestigious two-year fellowship in liver and kidney transplant surgery. The first fellow will begin in July, 2020.

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For the first time, researchers at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences have successfully used the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to limit the impact of parasitic worms responsible for schistosomiasis and for liver fluke infection, which can cause a diverse spectrum of human disease including bile duct cancer. 

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) set a new record for total transplants among its five organ specialties in 2018 with more than 500 transplants.

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Liver transplant patients over time experience an increasing trend toward colon cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a study led by a Loyola Medicine gastroenterologist. The study also found that lung and heart transplant patients have a higher trend toward non-melanoma skin cancer.

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Jeffery Nelson, M.D., FACS, FASCRS, Surgical Director of The Center for Inflammatory Bowel and Colorectal Diseases, Institute for Digestive Health & Liver Disease at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, now offers patients a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure for treating hemorrhoids.

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Having two or more non-communicable diseases (multimorbidity) costs the country more than the sum of those individual diseases would cost, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Tony Blakely from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and colleagues.

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Two 29-year-old patients from Michigan and Illinois are recovering following back-to-back triple-organ transplants to replace their failing hearts, livers and kidneys, marking a first in U.S. health care history.

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Experts and research on important topics in the healthcare system

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A new USC study provides new insight on how dietary fat and cholesterol drive the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a serious form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

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Hepatitis C is a good news, bad news kind of disease. The bad news is that many with the liver-attacking virus may not even know it. The good news is that once discovered, doctors can effectively treat and even remove it.

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In a review of registry data for more than 5,300 liver transplants performed in children nationwide, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers identify the type of patient who is most likely to survive a split liver transplant—receiving only part of a donor’s liver—with no additional long-term health risks, which could allow for an increase in the availability of organs. A report on the new study is published in the December issue of the journal Liver Transplantation.

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Camilo Correa, MD, is a surgical oncologist specializing in liver, pancreas, bile duct, and intestinal cancers. A native of Colombia, Correa completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School and a clinical fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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Researchers at The Wistar Institute have developed novel synthetic DNA-encoded monoclonal antibodies (DMAbs) directed against PCSK9, a protein key to regulating cholesterol levels in the bloodstream.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new tool described as a “flight data recorder” for developing cells, illuminating the paths cells take as they progress from one type to another. This cellular tracking device could one day help scientists guide cells along the right paths to regenerate certain tissues or organs, or help study the origins of cancer.

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CINCINNATI--A gene mutation that is believed to have safeguarded some people in 14th century Europe from the bubonic plague today may be protecting HIV patients co-infected with hepatitis C from potentially fatal liver scarring, says a University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine physician-scientist.

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Former MLB player Frank Baker says his experience at UAB’s Pancreatobiliary Disease Center was a home run.

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Millions of Americans have no idea that they have fatty liver disease. This growing problem will soon be the number one reason for liver transplantation, overtaking hepatitis C. Holiday overindulgence in alcohol and food could make the problem dramatically worse.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that universal screening of pregnant women at risk for hepatitis C virus (commonly called HCV) infection is a more efficient and cost-effective diagnostic approach than risk-based screening.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that rates of malignancy occurring outside of the liver were higher in adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease than among adults across most types of cancers.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that hospitalizations and death are increasing among Medicare recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma, mainly due to co-existing alcoholic liver disease, hepatitis C virus infection (commonly called HCV) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (commonly called NAFLD).

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that people who inject drugs who are infected with the hepatitis C virus have high rates of hepatitis C treatment adherence (completion of their treatment), and sustained virologic response. Based on these findings, researchers conclude these patients should be included in HCV treatment programs.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that using normothermic machine perfusion to preserve steatotic livers leads to altered lipid structure and metabolism and may result in more successful transplantation of these organs.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors rarely develop severe liver toxicity, but the majority of those who do permanently stop this cancer treatment. None of the patients developed liver failure as a result of this treatment.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that weight-loss surgery prior to liver transplantation is superior to medical weight loss approaches at achieving sustained weight loss, as well as significantly lowering risk of metabolic complications after transplant.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that more than half of pediatric liver transplant recipients are under-immunized at the time of their transplant and are at increased risk for vaccine-preventable infections.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that taking a regular aspirin is associated with a dose-dependent reduction in the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, one of the most common liver cancers. The cancer risk reduction is apparent after at least five years of aspirin use, the study showed.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that African-American patients on waitlists for liver transplantation, despite severe disease and high scores for prioritization, persistently face significant disparities and delays in referral.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Preliminary data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found that pre-emptive administration of pan-genotypic, direct-acting antiviral therapy prevents chronic hepatitis C virus infection in hepatitis C-negative cardiac transplant patients who receive donor hearts infected with the virus.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Data from a new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting® – held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases – found the combination of glecaprevir and pibrentasvir is highly effective and well tolerated in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (commonly called HCV) genotype-1 infections who have prior treatment experience with sofosbuvir/NS5A inhibitor.

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A team from the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences is studying the central nervous system changes that impact the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente have discovered that mothers who breastfed a child or children for six months or more are at lower risk for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) years later during mid-life. With no other current prevention options aside from a healthy lifestyle, they say the finding may represent an early modifiable risk factor for a serious and chronic disease.

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The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology announced today that Kerry-Anne Rye of the University of New South Wales Sydney and Nicholas O. Davidson of Washington University in St. Louis will be the next editors-in-chief of the Journal of Lipid Research.

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The Mid-America Transplant Foundation has awarded a Clinical Innovation grant to Saint Louis University School of Medicine researchers to develop new methods for detecting rejection in liver transplant patients.

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Patients with advanced liver disease who receive liver transplants from donors over age 70 significantly reduce their long-term risk of death.

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A map of the cells in the human liver has been created by University Health Network Transplant Program and University of Toronto researchers, revealing for the first time differences between individual cells at the molecular level which can have a profound impact on their behaviour in tissue, tumours and disease.

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Adult patients who received liver and kidney transplants at Rush University Medical Center had better-than-expected one-year survival rates, according to the most recent transplantation on the 5-tier system report by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), which was released on Oct. 9.

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High doses of acetaminophen can damage the liver. Researchers have found a new mechanism by which an acetaminophen breakdown product can impair liver proteins. The compound activates a protein modification pathway called glutathionylation. The finding explains how the compound can damage even proteins it doesn't bind to directly.

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Mayo Clinic的研究显示，相比那些在自行减肥之后接受肝脏移植的患者，同时接受挽救生命的肝脏移植以及减肥手术的肥胖患者在长期保持体重以及代谢并发症上都表现的更好。该研究成果发表在《肝病学》（Hepatology）杂志上。

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Pacientes obesos submetidos simultaneamente a uma cirurgia para perda de peso e ao transplante do fígado tiveram maior sucesso para manter a redução de peso no longo prazo e tiveram menos complicações metabólicas do que pacientes que perderam peso por conta própria antes de passar por um transplante do fígado, segundo pesquisa da Mayo Clinic. As descobertas foram publicadas no periódico Hepatology.

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Obese patients who underwent a life-saving liver transplant and weight-loss surgery at the same time were better able to keep the weight off long term and had fewer metabolic complications than those who lost weight on their own before undergoing a liver transplant, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were recently published in Hepatology.

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Fixing or replacing faulty genes has emerged as a key to unlocking cures for numerous devastating diseases. But if the new, engineered genes can’t find their way into the patient’s genomic sequence, they won’t help.

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Children are at a considerable disadvantage when competing with adults for livers from deceased organ donors in the U.S. allocation system for liver transplants, a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health-led analysis reveals today in JAMA Pediatrics.