Aberrant cytokeratin 7 expression by hepatocytes can predict the ductopenia grade in primary biliary cholangitis.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant cytokeratin 7 expression by hepatocytes (CK7+Hs) is the hallmark characteristic of cholestasis diseases, especially in ductopenia diseases such as primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). This study attempted to evaluate the differences and relationships between the clinical and histological features of aberrant cytokeratin 7 (CK7) expression by hepatocytes in PBC patients. METHODS: The clinicopathological data of patients diagnosed with PBC at the Second Hospital of Nanjing between January 2016 and September 2018 were analysed with SPSS 20.0. RESULTS: Eighty-nine PBC patients who underwent liver biopsy were enrolled in this study, and 15, 29 and 45 patients had aberrant CK7 expression by hepatocytes (CK7+Hs (2 +), CK7+Hs (1 +), and CK7-Hs, respectively). There were significant differences in TB, DB, ALP, TA, IgM, interface activity, and ductopenia grade between patients with CK7-Hs and CK7+Hs (2 +) (P < 0.05). The ductopenia grade was also significantly different between patients with CK7+Hs (2 +) and CK7+Hs (1 +) according to sex (P < 0.05). Upon merging the data of CK7+Hs (2 +) and CK7+Hs (1 +) into CK7+Hs, we found significant differences in AMA, AMA-M2, anti-gp210, TB, DB, ALP, TA, IgM, fibrosis, and ductopenia grade between CK7+Hs and CK7-Hs (P < 0.05). The odds ratios (ORs) (and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)) of CK7+Hs according to anti-gp210, ductopenia grade, and interface activity were 6.413 (95% CI 1.363-30.162), 4.145 (95% CI 1.898-9.052) and 3.247 (95% CI 1.556-6.775), respectively (P < 0.05). Spearman's rank correlation according to interface activity and ductopenia grade in patients with CK7+Hs (2 + , 1 + , 0) was r = 0.359 (P = 0.001) and r = 0.396 (P < 0.001), respectively. CONCLUSION: CK7+Hs serves as a cholestasis index of PBC and are associated with the ductopenia grade and interface activity. Aberrant cytokeratin 7 expression by hepatocytes can predict the ductopenia grade in primary biliary cholangitis.

Lower mean platelet volume is a risk indicator of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence following liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Lower mean platelet volume (MPV) is an indicator of platelet activity in the setting of tumor development. This study was to assess the relationship between preoperative MPV and survival outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following liver transplantation (LT). METHODS: The demographic and clinical characteristics of 304 HCC patients following LT were retrieved from an LT database. All the patients were divided into the normal and lower MPV groups according to the median MPV. The factors were first analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, then the factors with P < 0.10 were selected for multivariate Cox regression analysis and were used to define the independent risk factors for poor prognosis. RESULTS: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year tumor free survival was 95.34%, 74.67% and 69.29% in the normal MPV group, respectively, and 95.40%, 59.97% and 42.94% in the lower MPV group, respectively (P < 0.01). No significant difference was observed in post-LT complications between the normal and lower MPV groups. Portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) [hazard ratio (HR = 2.24; 95% confidence interval: 1.46-3.43; P < 0.01) and lower MPV (HR = 1.58; 95% confidence interval: 1.05-2.36; P = 0.03) were identified as independent prognostic risk factors for recipient survival. CONCLUSION: Preoperative lower MPV is a risk indicator of HCC patients survival outcomes after LT.

Pyogenic liver abscess related to intrahepatic bile duct stones: Difficulties in infectious control and diagnosis of concomitant cholangiocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Cholangitis, bacteremia, and pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) can be often caused by intrahepatic bile ducts stone (IBDS), which is endemic to South-East Asia. The association between IBDS and cholangiocarcinoma has been well recognized. Concomitant cholangiocarcinoma in the PLA related to IBDS is often missed. METHODS: A case-control study consisting of 64 patients with PLA related to IBDS and 256 control patients with PLA not related to IBDS was used to investigate clinical features of PLA and incidence of concomitant cholangiocarcinoma in patients with PLA related to IBDS. RESULTS: The main imaging manifestations of PLA related to IBDS was cystic-solid lesions and solid lesions. Of seven patients (10.9%) with pathology-proven cholangiocarcinoma in the same area of PLA related to IBDS among 64 patients, only two patients were initially diagnosed as having concomitant cholangiocarcinoma by biopsy, and other five patients diagnosed as acute inflammatory lesion. Within 60 days after onset, the infection-related death rate and recurrence rate in patients with PLA related to IBDS were 12.9% and 20.3%, respectively, whereas in patients with PLA not related to IBDS were 3.9% and 3.1%, respectively. Only 25% of patients with PLA related to IBDS underwent surgery after admission. The main pathogens in PLA patients related to IBDS were Escherichia coli and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. CONCLUSIONS: The imaging manifestations of PLA related to IBDS often present cystic-solid or solid lesions. PLA related to IBDS is characterized by high rate of recurrence and infection-related death, difficulty in diagnosis of concomitant cholangicarcinoma.

Biliary diseases as main causes of pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Little is known about aetiology and morbidity and clinical characteristics of pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. METHODS: An analysis between pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates and those caused by non-extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae was performed. RESULTS: Among 817 pyogenic liver abscess patients, there were 176 patients (21.5%) with pyogenic liver abscess of biliary origin, and 67 pyogenic liver abscess patients (8.2%) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates (mainly Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). Of 176 pyogenic liver abscess patients related to biliary disorders, there were 48 pyogenic liver abscess patients (27.3%) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Within 67 pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by Enterobacteriaceae expressing extended-spectrum beta-lactamases, the occurrences of 48 pyogenic liver abscess patients (71.6%) were associated with biliary disorders. When compared with pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by non-extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, there were significantly greater incidences of polymicrobial infections, bacteremia, pulmonary infection, recurrence and death in pyogenic liver abscess patients caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Carbapenems remain mainstay drugs against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Independent risk factors for occurrence of pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae were biliary disorders including extra- and intrahepatic cholangiolithiasis and an abnormal bilioenteric communication between bile and gut, a treatment history of malignancy such as operation and chemotherapy, pulmonary infection, and diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSIONS: Pyogenic liver abscess caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates mainly occurs in patients with biliary disorders or with a treatment history of malignancy. The mainstay of treatment remains carbapenems in combination with adequate aspiration or drainage.

Perceptions of Older People in Nursing Facilities About Advance Care Planning: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: With the ageing of the population intensifying, the implementation of advance care planning (ACP) in nursing facilities is especially crucial. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to search and synthesise qualitative studies exploring the perspectives of older people in nursing facilities about ACP discussions. METHODS: The researchers conducted searches of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and CBM between the time of inception and October 2023. The PICo model was used to build the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Following the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two researchers screened the literature, extracted data and then integrated the literature using the integrative synthesis. RESULTS: A total of 12 articles were included, 47 themes were extracted, and three research integrations were summarised: (1) understanding of ACP; (2) attitude towards ACP; and (3) influencing factors of participation in ACP. CONCLUSION: This study offers guidance for the future development of ACP on the participation of older people in nursing facilities. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is necessary to strengthen the education of ACP-related knowledge in conjunction with the cultural characteristics of different countries, to provide interdisciplinary support for older people through professional teamwork and to promote the development and improvement of ACP-related practices.

A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study on the Attitudes Towards Patient Safety and Influencing Factors of Nurses in Infectious Diseases Wards.

Background: Patient safety is an important aspect of healthcare delivery and is critical to healthcare quality. An assessment of the attitudes of nursing staff in infectious diseases wards towards patient safety may identify deficiencies and allow for the development of educational programmes to train nursing staff to participate in good patient safety practices. Objective: To explore the current situation and influencing factors on nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 446 nurses from infectious diseases wards in eight hospitals in the Hebei Province to participate in an electronic questionnaire survey from October to December 2020. The Chinese version of the safety attitude questionnaire was used to gather the opinions of these participants, and SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used to analyse the data. Results: The average score of safety attitudes towards patients was 3.59 ± 0.30. The scores for each dimension, from high to low, were as follows: management perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, pressure perception: 3.77 ± 0.42 points, safety atmosphere: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, job satisfaction: 3.57 ± 0.43 points, teamwork: 3.55 ± 0.50 points and working conditions: 3.50 ± 0.45 points. The results of the multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the influential factors on nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were as follows: night shift working (ß = 11.885, P = 0.000), years of nursing experience (ß = 2.862, P = 0.001), education level (ß = 4.462, P = 0.001) and marital status (ß = 3.871, P = 1.002), which together explained 33.5% of the total variance. Conclusion: Nurses' attitudes towards patient safety in infectious diseases wards were moderately high. Night shift work, years of nursing experience, education level and marital status affected nurses' attitudes towards patient safety. Managers should focus on these groups of nurses and improve their working conditions and job satisfaction to further enhance patient safety.

Technical aspects of biliary reconstruction in adult living donor liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: The last decade has witnessed great progress in living donor liver transplantation worldwide. However, biliary complications are more common in partial liver transplantation than in whole liver transplantation. This is due to an impaired blood supply of the hilar bile duct during organ procurement and recipient surgery, commonly encountered anatomical variations, a relatively small graft duct, and complicated surgical techniques used in biliary reconstruction. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and PubMed were searched for articles on "living donor liver transplantation", "biliary complication", "anatomical variation", "biliary reconstruction", "stenting" and related topics. RESULT: In this review, biliary complications were analyzed with respect to anatomical variation, surgical techniques in biliary reconstruction, and protection of the arterial plexus of the hilar bile duct. CONCLUSION: Transecting the donor bile duct at the right place to secure a larger bile duct stump, anastomosing techniques, and stenting methods as well as preserving the blood supply to the bile duct are all important in reducing biliary complications.

[Comparison of curative effect of low flow rate plasma exchange combined with hemofiltration for treatment of liver failure].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of plasma exchange (PE) combined with hemofiltration (HF) on liver failure. METHODS: Seventy-seven inpatients with liver failure admitted during January 2006 to August 2007 were randomly assigned to receive PE combined with HF (PE+HF group, 38 cases), or PE alone (PE group, 39 cases). Forty-one inpatients with liver failure who had not received artificial liver support treatment were assigned to serve as control group. The survival rates and biochemical parameters of three groups were compared. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in biochemical parameters before treatment among three groups. Compared with pre-treatment values, albumin (Alb), cholinesterase (ChE) and prothrombin activity (PTA) of both PE group and PE+HF group were significantly increased after treatment, and total bilirubin (TBIL), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) of both PE group and PE+HF group were significantly decreased after treatment (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The survival rate of PE group, PE+HF group and control group was 48.7% (19/39), 68.4% (26/38), and 29.3% (12/41) respectively. The survival rate of PE+HF group was significantly higher than that of control group (chi(2)=12.11, P<0.01). The rate of recovery of consciousness of patients with hepatic encephalopathy in PE+HF group was higher than that of PE group (42.8% vs. 0, P<0.05). Compared with PE alone, the result was better when it was combined with HF in correction of electrolyte disturbance and acid-base imbalance (19/23 vs. 0/21, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Treatment of liver failure by PE combined with HF is safe and effective, and its efficacy is higher than PE alone.

Polymorphisms in cytokine genes and their association with acute rejection and recurrence of hepatitis B in Chinese liver transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND: Acute rejection (AR) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence after liver transplantation (LT) are the two major complications leading to chronic graft dysfunction. Genomic polymorphisms in interleukin (IL)-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha and transforming growth factor (TGF)beta1 genes have been found to affect the susceptibility to certain diseases. However, the relationship between cytokine gene polymorphisms and risk of AR as well as HBV recurrence after LT in Han Chinese has not been reported. The objective of the present study was to investigate the association of polymorphisms within these cytokine genes with the risk of AR as well as HBV recurrence. METHODS: One hundred eighty six Chinese LT recipients in which 41 patients developed AR and 29 patients experienced HBV recurrence were enrolled; 151 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals were selected as controls. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at loci of IL-10 -1082, -819, -592, and TNFalpha -308, -238, as well as TGFbeta1 -988, -800, -509, +869, and +915 were determined by using DNA sequencing and then confirmed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Analyses of linkage disequilibrium and haplotype frequency were performed using Haploview program. RESULTS: The -819 and -592 polymorphisms in the IL-10 gene were in complete linkage (r(2) = 1). Another linkage was found at -509 and +869 in the TGFbeta1 gene (r(2) = 0.66). A significant difference was observed in the distribution of allelic frequencies at position -819 and -592 in the IL-10 gene between ARs and non-ARs (p = 0.036, OR = 1.134, 95% CI 0.999-1.287 and p = 0.036, OR = 1.134, 95% CI 0.999-1.287, respectively). After adjustment for a Bonferroni correction, there was no significant difference between the polymorphism and AR (p >0.05). Furthermore, the overall genotype distribution between HBV recurrence patients and non-HBV recurrence patients was also not significantly different (p >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that gene polymorphisms of IL10, TNFalpha, and TGFbeta1 do not have a major independent role in AR and HBV recurrence after LT and may not be risk factors of AR and HBV recurrence after LT in Chinese liver transplant recipients.

Arcuate ligament syndrome inducing hepatic artery thrombosis after liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) is a frequent complication following liver transplantation, but it is rarely caused by arcuate ligament compression of the celiac artery. This article mainly describes our experience in managing a patient with celiac artery stenosis and HAT after liver transplantation. METHODS: A 44-year-old man with a 15-year history of hepatitis B was admitted to our hospital for hepatocellular carcinoma. Before the operation, he received transarterial chemoembolization once, and pretransplant MR angiography indicated a suspected stenosis at the initiation of the celiac artery, while color Doppler showed normal blood flow in the arterial system. In this case, orthotopic liver transplantation was performed for radical cure of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, B-ultrasonography detected poor blood flow in the intra- and extra-hepatic artery on the first posttransplant day, and during exploratory laparotomy a thrombus was found in the hepatic artery. Thus, re-transplantation was conducted with a bypass between the graft hepatic artery and the recipient abdominal aorta with the donor's splenic artery. RESULTS: The patient made an uneventful recovery and color Doppler showed good blood flow in the artery and portal system. Histology confirmed extensive thrombosis in the left and right hepatic artery of the explanted graft, indicating HAT. CONCLUSIONS: Although HAT caused by celiac trunk compression is rarely reported in liver transplantation, the diagnosis should be considered in patients with pretransplant hepatic artery stenosis on angiography and abnormal blood flow on B-ultrasonography. Once HAT is formed, treatment such as thrombectomy or re-transplantation should be performed as early as possible.

Current status and perspective of liver preservation solutions.

BACKGROUND: A safe and effective preservation solution is a precondition for liver transplantation, which is accepted as the radical treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease. The increasing use of marginal donors and non-heart beating donors as well as the establishment of a national organ allocation network call for better preservation. New preservation solutions like histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution and Celsior solution have been introduced to liver preservation, and protective gene intervention and other modifications have also been investigated. In this article, we review recent advances in liver preservation solutions. DATA SOURCES: An English-language literature search was conducted using MEDLINE (1990-2005) on liver preservation solution, biliary complication, protective gene and other related subjects. RESULTS: Although the high viscosity of the University of Wisconsin (UW) solution proved harmful to the hepatic microcirculation, three solutions showed equivalent preservation effects. When the cold ischemia time was short, there were no significant differences among the three solutions in the incidence of biliary complications. So far, modifications of preservation solutions have achieved great success. Several types of protective genes like A20, Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L) and HO-1 were reported to have definite liver protective effects. The addition of other substrates like TNF-alpha antibody, tacrolimus (FK506) and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) can also improve the preservation effect. However, addition of insulin to UW solution is harmful to the graft. CONCLUSIONS: In centers with highly-developed transplantation techniques, HTK and Celsior solutions are acceptable in liver preservation. Protective gene modification and addition of substrates like TNF-alpha antibody, FK506 and FBP are prominent approaches to improve liver preservation.

A novel prognostic model based on serum levels of total bilirubin and creatinine early after liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND/AIM: We aim to evaluate the impact of early renal dysfunction (ERD), early allograft dysfunction (EAD) on post-transplant mortality, and further explore a simple and accurate model to predict prognosis. PATIENTS: A total of 161 adult patients who underwent liver transplantation for benign end-stage liver diseases were enrolled in the retrospective study. Another 38 patients were used for model validation. RESULTS: Poor patient survival was associated with ERD or EAD. A post-transplant model for predicting mortality (PMPM) based on serum levels of total bilirubin and creatinine at 24-h post-transplantation was then established according to multivariate logistic regression. At 3 months, 6 months and 1 year, the area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) of PMPM score at 24-h post-transplantation (0.876, 0.878 and 0.849, respectively) were significantly higher than those of pre-transplant model for end-stage liver diseases (MELD) score (0.673, 0.674 and 0.618, respectively) or the post-transplant MELD score at 24-h post-transplantation (0.787, 0.787 and 0.781, respectively) (P<0.05). Patients with PMPM score -1.4 (high-risk group, n=47) (P<0.001). The patients in the high-risk group showed a relatively good outcome if their PMPM scores decreased to