NASH/Liver Fibrosis Prevalence and Incidence of Nonliver Comorbidities among People with NAFLD and Incidence of NAFLD by Metabolic Comorbidities: Lessons from South Korea.

BACKGROUND: NAFLD incidence, NASH prevalence, NAFLD fibrosis prevalence, incidence of metabolic comorbidities, and mortality data in the NAFLD population remain limited. AIMS: We used a meta-analytic approach to "stage" NAFLD among the Korean population. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and KoreaMed from inception until June 29, 2019, and calculated pooled estimates via the random-effects model. RESULTS: We screened 1,485 studies and analyzed 191 eligible studies: 179 (3,556,579 participants) for NAFLD prevalence and outcome analysis and 32 (1,089,785 participants) for NAFLD incidence analysis. NAFLD prevalence was 31.46% overall and 50-60% in those with metabolic risks. The incidence (per 1,000 person-years) of NAFLD was 42.8 overall and 70-77% in those with metabolic risk. The incidence (per 1,000 person-years) of new-onset T2DM, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease was found to be 16.9, 47.9, 100.6, and 13.9, respectively. From biopsy data, 30.21% of the NAFLD population had moderate-to-severe steatosis (9 studies, 2,461 participants) and 52.27% had NASH (7 studies, 1,168 participants) and 85.41% had fibrosis

Hepatitis C Virus Cure Rates Are Reduced in Patients With Active but Not Inactive Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Practice Implication.

BACKGROUND: Cure rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for patients with active and inactive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may differ, but well-controlled studies are limited. We aimed to evaluate DAA outcomes in a large East Asian HCV/HCC population compared with HCV/non-HCC patients. METHODS: Using data from the Real-World Evidence from the Asia Liver Consortium (REAL-C) registry (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), we used propensity score matching (PSM) to match HCC and non-HCC (1:1) groups for age, sex, cirrhosis, prior treatment, HCV genotype, treatment regimen, baseline platelet count, HCV RNA, total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, and albumin levels to evaluate DAA treatment outcomes in a large population of HCV/HCC compared with HCV/non-HCC patients. RESULTS: We included 6081 patients (HCC, n = 465; non-HCC, n = 5 616) treated with interferon-free DAAs. PSM of the entire study population yielded 436 matched pairs with similar baseline characteristics. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall SVR rate of HCC (92.7%) and non-HCC (95.0%) groups. Rates of treatment discontinuation, adverse effects, and death were also similar between HCC and non-HCC groups. Among patients with HCC, those with active HCC had a lower SVR than inactive HCC cases (85.5% vs 93.7%; P = .03). On multivariable analysis, active HCC, but not inactive HCC, was significantly associated with lower SVR (OR, 0.28; P = .01) when compared with non-HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Active HCC but not inactive HCC was independently associated with lower SVR compared with non-HCC patients undergoing DAA therapy, although cure rate was still relatively high (85%) in active HCC patients.

Histological expression of methionine adenosyl transferase (MAT) 2A as a post-surgical prognostic surrogate in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Deregulation of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) is involved in hepatocarcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic implications of the level of histological MAT1A and MAT2A in patients with resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: A total of 210 patients with HCC who underwent curative resection between 2004 and 2011 were included. The levels of MAT proteins were immunohistochemically measured. RESULTS: MAT1A and MAT2A were over-expressed in 134 (63.8%) and 124 (59.1%) of the 210 tumor tissues, respectively. Up-regulation of tumoral MAT1A was independently associated with male gender, and inversely related to tumors >5 cm (adjusted odds ratios [OR] 2.59, P = 0.008, and OR 0.44, P = 0.012, respectively). Enhanced MAT2A expression was significantly related to age ≥60 years and serum AFP >200 ng/mL (OR 0.51, P = 0.030; and OR 2.65, P = 0.003; respectively). Tumoral MAT2A over-expression independently predicted an increased rate of recurrence within 1 year after hepatectomy (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 2.45, P = 0.012), but that was not the case for MAT1A expression (HR 0.90, P = 0.744). High MAT2A was also an independent predictor of early recurrence (HR 2.54, P = 0.034) in the subset of patients without microvascular invasion (n = 155). CONCLUSIONS: Over-expression of MAT2A in HCC may be a useful biomarker for predicting and monitoring tumor recurrence, especially early after hepatic resection.

Tumor Volume Doubling Time as a Dynamic Prognostic Marker for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To evaluate the clinical value of tumor growth rate in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, we investigated the growth rate of HCC by calculating the tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) and its impact on survival and recurrence. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of 269 HCC patients who underwent two or more pretreatment imaging studies of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging was performed. Tumor growth rate and TVDT were calculated by comparing tumor volumes between imaging studies. Clinical parameters independently related to a TVDT of <2 months were evaluated. After dividing patients into slow-growing (159 patients with TVDT >2 months) and rapid-growing (110 patients with TVDT <2 months) groups, we compared the groups in terms of their survival and recurrence outcomes. The response to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) was evaluated according to TVDT. RESULTS: The median tumor growth rate and TVDT were 37.5%/month and 2.37 months, respectively. By logistic regression analyses, a high Child-Pugh score, small initial tumor diameter, gross vascular invasion, and tumor multiplicity were found to be independently associated with a TVDT of <2 months (P < 0.05). Patients in the rapid-growing group had lower survival rates and higher recurrence rates (P < 0.05). The response to TACE was worse in the rapid-growing group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A fast HCC growth rate is associated with poor liver function and aggressive tumor biology. HCC patients with shorter TVDTs exhibit poorer survival and recurrence outcomes as well as a poor response to TACE.

Correction to: Tumor Volume Doubling Time as a Dynamic Prognostic Marker for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error in corresponding author e-mail. It was submitted and published as kimkim70@amc.seoul.kr instead of kimkm70@amc.seoul.kr.

Prognostic nomograms for prediction of recurrence and survival after curative liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To develop clinical predictive nomograms generating per-patient numerical probabilities of postoperative recurrence-free and overall survival at specific times. BACKGROUND: The prognosis after surgical resection is diverse in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: In a retrospective review, we evaluated data from 1085 mostly early-stage patients newly diagnosed with HCC who were subsequently treated by curative resection. We randomly divided the subjects into derivation (n = 760) and validation (n = 325) samples. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were developed and separately validated on the basis of pre- and postoperative clinical and pathological covariates assessed for association with 2-year recurrence and 5-year HCC-specific death. The discriminatory accuracy of the models was compared with traditional tools by analyzing receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: The statistical nomograms built on the basis of sex, serum albumin, platelet count, microvascular invasion, and calculated tumor volume had good calibration and discriminatory abilities, with c-indices of 0.69 (2-year recurrence) and 0.66 (5-year survival), respectively. These models showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit and discrimination abilities in the independent validation cohort (c-index, 0.66 for 2-year recurrence; and 0.67 for 5-year survival). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve using our methods were greater than those of conventional staging systems in the validation patients, indicating better discriminatory capability (corresponding c-indices, 0.55-0.56; and 0.55-0.61, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our simple user-friendly calculators, which present graphically postsurgical prognostic models for recurrence and survival outcomes in patients with curatively resectable HCC, offer useful guidance to clinicians and patients for individually planning recurrence surveillance and adjuvant therapy.

Clinical implications of preoperative and intraoperative liver biopsies for evaluating donor steatosis in living related liver transplantation.

The role of liver biopsy in selecting optimal donors is an area of continuing controversy in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Our aim was to assess the potential implications of preoperative and intraoperative biopsies for evaluating donor liver fat content. Three thousand eight hundred fifty-nine consecutive subjects underwent predonation needle biopsy of the right lobe, and 1766 of these subjects actually donated their livers for LDLT and underwent intraoperative wedge biopsies of paired right and left lobes. The preoperative workup protocol also included abdominal ultrasonography (USG) and computed tomography (CT). Intersample agreement on steatosis grades (<5%, 5% to <15%, 15% to <30%, and ≥30%) was calculated, and clinicometabolic factors related to sampling variability were evaluated. For detecting ≥30% steatosis in the 3859 potential donors, USG and CT had sensitivities of 84.9% and 57.3%, specificities of 76.3% and 92.7%, positive predictive values of 29.6% and 48.0%, and negative predictive values of 97.7% and 94.8%, respectively. Analyses of the 1766 actual donors showed that with respect to the total steatosis grades of intraoperative right and left biopsies versus preoperative biopsy, 36.7% and 36.0% of the pairs, respectively, differed from the weighted κ values of 0.44 and 0.40. Similar agreement levels existed for macrovesicular and microvesicular steatosis subtypes. The per-subject agreement rate for the total steatosis grade between intraoperative right and left biopsies was 83.6%. According to a multivariate analysis, independent factors affecting the variability of the total steatosis results from preoperative and intraoperative biopsies (major features) were higher systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and alanine aminotransferase values and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol values. In conclusion, imaging may be insufficiently sensitive for evaluating donor hepatic steatosis. Preoperative and selective intraoperative liver biopsies are mandatory for assessing donor steatosis in LDLT unless preoperative imaging demonstrates no fat.

Real-world treatment outcome with protease inhibitor direct-acting antiviral in advanced hepatitis C cirrhosis: a REAL-C study.

INTRODUCTION: Current guidelines discourage the use of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) containing protease-inhibitor (PI) in advanced HCV cirrhosis. We aimed to compare the real-world tolerability of PI vs. non-PI DAA regimens in this population. METHODS: We identified advanced cirrhosis patients treated with DAA from the REAL-C registry. The primary outcome was significant worsening or improvement in CPT or MELD scores following DAA treatment. RESULTS: From the REAL-C registry of 15,837 patients, we included 1077 advanced HCV cirrhosis patients from 27 sites. 42% received PI-based DAA. Compared to non-PI group, the PI group was older, had higher MELD and higher percentage with kidney disease. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW; matching on age, sex, history of clinical decompensation, MELD, platelet, albumin, Asia site, Asian ethnicity, hypertension, hemoglobin, genotype, liver cancer, ribavirin) was used to balance the two groups. In the IPTW-matched cohorts, the PI and non-PI groups had similar SVR12 (92.9% vs. 90.7%, p = 0.30), similar percentages of significant worsening in CTP or MELD scores at posttreatment week 12 and 24 (23.9% vs. 13.1%, p = 0.07 and 16.5% vs. 14.6%, p = 0.77), and similar frequency of new HCC, decompensating event, and death by posttreatment week 24. In multivariable analysis, PI-based DAA was not associated with significant worsening (adjusted odds ratio = 0.82, 95% CI 0.38-1.77). CONCLUSION: Tolerability and treatment outcomes were not significantly different in advanced HCV cirrhosis treated with PI-based (vs. non-PI) DAA up to CTP-B or MELD score of 15. Safety of PI-based DAA in those with CTP-C or MELD beyond 15 awaits further data.

Circulating tumor cells are associated with poor outcomes in early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies evaluating association between circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have shown inconsistent results due to suboptimal detection methods and patient heterogeneity. METHODS: Patients undergoing surgery for early-stage HCC were prospectively enrolled. The CTC numbers were determined using a tapered slit platform, which detects CTCs based on the cell size and morphology. Survival and recurrence were evaluated, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to demonstrate the prognostic significance of CTC. RESULTS: Of 105 patients, 25 had increased CTC numbers after surgery (ΔCTC > 0, defined as positive) and a significantly higher level of recurrence (p = 0.042). A positive ΔCTC was seen to be an independent predictor of recurrence (hazard ratio 2.28), along with hepatitis B virus infection, alanine aminotransferase level, and the presence of satellite nodules (all p < 0.05). Subgroup analyses showed that a positive ΔCTC was associated with lower survival and higher recurrence among patients with low alpha-fetoprotein levels and cirrhosis (all p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Calculation of ΔCTC based on the physical properties of the cells is predictive of recurrence in patients with early HCC undergoing surgery.