Limited utility of routine bone scintigraphy in the staging of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The most widely used staging system for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the Barcelona Liver Clinic Cancer (BCLC) system, which considers tumor burden, performance status, and liver function. Tumor burden is assessed with cross sectional imaging of the abdomen and chest, controversy surrounds the routine use of bone scintigraphy (BS) for detecting extrahepatic metastases. This study evaluated the role of BS in staging HCC in Mexican patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study of all adults with HCC at a Mexican referral center from 2000 to 2018. Staging included abdominal computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging, chest CT, and BS. The main outcome was the impact of BS on staging and/or therapy plans. RESULTS: Among 238 patients, 2 with fibrolamellar variant and 44 with incomplete data were excluded. Median age was 66 years, 84 % had cirrhosis, and the predominant etiology was hepatitis C virus (43 %). BCLC stages were distributed as follows: A (14 %), B (7 %), C (68 %), and D (11 %). Extrahepatic disease was present in 18 %; only 8 % patients had a positive BS. Among the positive cases, 4 were true positives, but they did not alter staging or therapy plans. CONCLUSIONS: Routine BS in HCC staging demonstrated low yield, with a notable rate of false positives. Considering the implications of extrahepatic disease, BS may be justified for liver transplant candidates outside conventional criteria. Our study highlights the limited role of BS in early-stage HCC and advocates for a more selective utilization.

Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on liver transplant recipients. Experience in a reference center in Mexico.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: COVID-19 vaccination has proved to be effective to prevent symptomatic infection and severe disease even in immunocompromised patients including liver transplant patients. We aim to assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the mortality and development of severe and critical disease in our center. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of LT patients in a reference center between March 2020 and February 2022. Demographic data, cirrhosis etiology, time on liver transplantation, immunosuppressive therapies, and vaccination status were recorded at the time of diagnosis. Primary outcome was death due to COVID-19, and secondary outcomes included the development of severe COVID-19 and intensive care unit (ICU) requirement. RESULTS: 153 of 324 LT recipients developed COVID-19, in whom the main causes of cirrhosis were HCV infection and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. The vaccines used were BNT162b2 (48.6%), ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (21.6%), mRNA-1273 vaccine (1.4%), Sputnik V (14.9%), Ad5-nCoV-S (4.1%) and CoronaVac (9.5%). Case fatality and ICU requirement risk were similar among vaccinated and unvaccinated LT patients (adjusted relative case fatality for vaccinated versus unvaccinated of 0.68, 95% CI 0.14-3.24, p = 0.62; adjusted relative risk [aRR] for ICU requirement of 0.45, 95% CI 0.11-1.88, p = 0.27). Nonetheless, vaccination was associated with a lower risk of severe disease (aRR for severe disease of 0.32, 95% CI 0.14-0.71, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 in LT patients, regardless of the scheme used. Vaccination should be encouraged for all.

Portopulmonary Hypertension: An Updated Review.

Portal hypertension may have major consequences on the pulmonary vasculature due to the complex pathophysiological interactions between the liver and lungs. Portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH), a subset of group 1 pulmonary hypertension (PH), is a serious pulmonary vascular disease secondary to portal hypertension, and is the fourth most common subtype of pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is most commonly observed in cirrhotic patients; however, patients with noncirrhotic portal hypertension can also develop it. On suspicion of PoPH, the initial evaluation is by a transthoracic echocardiogram in which, if elevated pulmonary pressures are shown, patients should undergo right heart catheterization to confirm the diagnosis. The prognosis is extremely poor in untreated patients; therefore, management includes pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies with the aim of improving pulmonary hemodynamics and moving patients to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). In this article, we review in detail the epidemiology, pathophysiology, process for diagnosis, and most current treatments including OLT and prognosis in patients with PoPH. In addition, we present a diagnostic algorithm that includes the current criteria to properly select patients with PoPH who are candidates for OLT.

Prevalence of Metabolic-associated Fatty Liver Disease in Mexico and Development of a Screening Tool: The MAFLD-S Score.

Background and Aims: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease. Nowadays, the prevalence of MAFLD in Mexico is unknown with no screening point-of-care tools. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of MAFLD in Mexico and to develop a score for MAFLD screening. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 5 Mexican states, including adult subjects evaluated in checkup campaigns. Subjects underwent a liver ultrasound to look for hepatic steatosis. Based on the most clinically relevant variables associated with MAFLD, we developed the MAFLD-screening score (MAFLD-S). Discrimination and calibration of the score were evaluated using the area under the ROC curve and observed vs predicted plots, respectively. Results: We included 3357 participants (60% female, mean age 47 ± 12 years). Fifty-two percent had hepatic steatosis, and 47% met MAFLD criteria. Subjects with MAFLD were older (48 ± 11 vs 45 ± 13 years, P < .001), were more frequently males (43% vs 36%, P < .001), and had a higher body mass index (31.6 + 4.9 vs 25.6 + 3.8 kg/m2, P < .001) than subjects without MAFLD. The MAFLD-S includes age, body mass index, gender, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia and has an area under the curve of 0.852, 95% CI = 0.828-0.877, with a sensitivity of 78.8% and a specificity of 82.8% for the optimal cutoff. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2018-2019, we predicted a MAFLD national prevalence of 49.6%. Conclusion: Nearly half of the Mexican population has MAFLD, representing a present and future challenge. With external validation, the MAFLD-S could be a valuable and practical screening tool.

Cirrhosis etiology trends in developing countries: Transition from infectious to metabolic conditions. Report from a multicentric cohort in central Mexico.

Background: Cirrhosis is a public health threat associated with high mortality. Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) is the leading cause in Latin America and Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) in western countries. In Mexico, ALD and chronic Hepatitis C Virus infection (HCV) were the most frequent aetiologies during the past decades. We aimed to describe the trends in the aetiologies of cirrhosis in a middle-income country. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including patients diagnosed with cirrhosis between 2000 and 2019 from six different tertiary care hospitals in central Mexico. We collected information regarding cirrhosis etiology, year of diagnosis, hepatocellular carcinoma development, liver transplantation, and death. We illustrated the change in the tendencies of cirrhosis aetiologies by displaying the proportional incidence of each etiology over time stratified by age and gender, and we compared these proportions over time using chi square tests. Findings: Overall, 4,584 patients were included. In 2019, MAFLD was the most frequent cirrhosis etiology (30%), followed by ALD (24%) and HCV (23%). During the study period, MAFLD became the leading etiology, ALD remained second, and HCV passed from first to fourth. When analysed by gender, ALD was the leading etiology for men and MAFLD for women. The annual incidence of HCC was 3·84 cases/100 persons-year, the median survival after diagnosis was 12·1 years, and seven percent underwent LT. Interpretation: Increased alcohol consumption and the obesity epidemic have caused a transition in the aetiologies of cirrhosis in Mexico. Public health policies must be tailored accordingly to mitigate the burden of alcohol and metabolic conditions in developing countries. Funding: None.

Direct-Acting Antivirals in the Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Recurrence after Liver Transplantation: Real-life Experience in a Mexican Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most frequent causes of liver transplantation (LT) worldwide. Patients with HCV viremia at the time of LT universally develop recurrent HCV in the allograft, leading to accelerated fibrosis and graft loss. Treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) is highly effective and safe in this population. AIM OF THE STUDY: To describe the efficacy and safety of DAA in treating post LT HCV recurrence in a Mexican cohort. METHODS: We designed a retrospective cohort study that included all LT patients from 2000-2019 with HCV recurrence after LT who received DAA. Clinical and biochemical characteristics were collected from clinical records. Patients who received treatment before LT and those who received interferon-based therapies after LT achieving sustained viral response at 12 weeks were excluded; patients who didn´t complete DAA therapy were eliminated. The primary outcome was SVR-12. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients received DAA after the LT with 98% SVR-12. The most frequent genotypes were 1b (54%) and 1a (34%). The most common antiviral scheme used was sofosbuvir/ledipasvir for 12 weeks in 59% of the patients. No severe adverse effects were observed. Ribavirin was used in 82% of the patients, of which 23.9% had adverse effects, mostly mild. The median follow-up after LT was 55 months (IQR 43-51), with a global and graft survival at one and three years of 100%. CONCLUSION: In a Mexican cohort, DAA therapy in LT patients with recurrence of HCV infection showed high efficacy and an acceptable safety profile.