Identification of signature gene set as highly accurate determination of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease progression.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is characterized by fat accumulation in the liver. MASLD encompasses both steatosis and MASH. Since MASH can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer, steatosis and MASH must be distinguished during patient treatment. Here, we investigate the genomes, epigenomes, and transcriptomes of MASLD patients to identify signature gene set for more accurate tracking of MASLD progression. METHODS: Biopsy-tissue and blood samples from patients with 134 MASLD, comprising 60 steatosis and 74 MASH patients were performed omics analysis. SVM learning algorithm were used to calculate most predictive features. Linear regression was applied to find signature gene set that distinguish the stage of MASLD and to validate their application into independent cohort of MASLD. RESULTS: After performing WGS, WES, WGBS, and total RNA-seq on 134 biopsy samples from confirmed MASLD patients, we provided 1,955 MASLD-associated features, out of 3,176 somatic variant callings, 58 DMRs, and 1,393 DEGs that track MASLD progression. Then, we used a SVM learning algorithm to analyze the data and select the most predictive features. Using linear regression, we identified a signature gene set capable of differentiating the various stages of MASLD and verified it in different independent cohorts of MASLD and a liver cancer cohort. CONCLUSION: We identified a signature gene set (i.e., CAPG, HYAL3, WIPI1, TREM2, SPP1, and RNASE6) with strong potential as a panel of diagnostic genes of MASLD-associated disease.

A case report of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy and sorafenib combination therapy followed by metastasectomy of lung and muscle metastases.

Currently, various tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors have been suggested in the treatment guidelines for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, sorafenib was the only systemic drug approved 10 years ago. In 2010, a woman diagnosed with HCC rupture and multiple lung metastases visited our hospital. At the time of visiting our hospital, she had undergone transarterial chemoembolization at another hospital to control bleeding due to HCC rupture. We treated her with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy and sorafenib combination therapy to increase the control of intrahepatic tumors in consideration of the modest efficacy of sorafenib. The intrahepatic tumor was almost controlled. Metastasectomy was performed to control lung oligometastasis. Subsequently, additional muscle metastasis was confirmed, and metastasectomy was performed. Although this is a very rare case, it shows that a multidisciplinary approach can improve the prognosis of patients with HCC.

Sorafenib with or without concurrent transarterial chemoembolization in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: The phase III STAH trial.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Sorafenib is first-line standard of care for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), yet it confers limited survival benefit. Therefore, we aimed to compare clinical outcomes of sorafenib combined with concurrent conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) vs. sorafenib alone in patients with advanced HCC. METHODS: In this investigator-initiated, multicenter, phase III trial, patients were randomized to receive sorafenib alone (Arm S, n = 169) or in combination with cTACE on demand (Arm C, n = 170). Sorafenib was started within 3 days and cTACE within 7-21 days of randomization. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: For Arms C and S, the median OS was 12.8 vs. 10.8 months (hazard ratio [HR] 0.91; 90% CI 0.69-1.21; p = 0.290); median time to progression, 5.3 vs. 3.5 months (HR 0.67; 90% CI 0.53-0.85; p = 0.003); median progression-free survival, 5.2 vs. 3.6 months (HR 0.73; 90% CI 0.59-0.91; p = 0.01); and tumor response rate, 60.6% vs. 47.3% (p = 0.005). For Arms C and S, serious (grade ≥3) adverse events occurred in 33.3% vs. 19.8% (p = 0.006) of patients and included increased alanine aminotransferase levels (20.3% vs. 3.6%), hyperbilirubinemia (11.8% vs. 3.0%), ascites (11.8% vs. 4.2%), thrombocytopenia (7.2% vs. 1.2%), anorexia (7.2% vs. 1.2%), and hand-foot skin reaction (10.5% vs. 11.4%). A post hoc subgroup analysis compared OS in Arm C patients (46.4%) receiving ≥2 cTACE sessions to Arm S patients (18.6 vs. 10.8 months; HR 0.58; 95% CI 0.40-0.82; p = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Compared with sorafenib alone, sorafenib combined with cTACE did not improve OS in patients with advanced HCC. However, sorafenib combined with cTACE significantly improved time to progression, progression-free survival, and tumor response rate. Sorafenib alone remains the first-line standard of care for patients with advanced HCC. LAY SUMMARY: For patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma requiring sorafenib therapy, co-administration with conventional transarterial chemoembolization did not improve overall survival compared to sorafenib alone. Therefore, sorafenib alone remains the first-line standard of care for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical Trial Number: NCT01829035.

A Case of Sorafenib-induced DRESS Syndrome in Hepatocelluar Carcinoma.

Sorafenib is currently the only targeted therapy available for advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Cutaneous adverse events associated with sorafenib treatment include hand-foot skin reaction, but there has been no report of drug reaction (or rash) with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) syndrome. Here, we report a case of 72-year-old man with HCC and alcoholic liver cirrhosis who developed skin eruptions, fever, eosinophilia, and deteriorated hepatic and renal function under sorafenib treatment. He has since successfully recovered with conservative care.

Intraoperative radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma in 112 patients with cirrhosis: a surgeon's view.

PURPOSE: This retrospective study was an investigation of overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and prognostic factors affecting OS and DFS in cirrhotic patients who received intraoperative radiofrequency ablation (IORFA). METHODS: Between April 2009 and November 2013, 112 patients (94 men, 84%; 18 women, 16%) underwent IORFA for 185 cases of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Repeat IORFA was done in 9 patients during the same period (total of 121 treatments). RESULTS: All patients were followed-up for at least 12 months (mean follow-up, 32 months). Surgical resection combined with IORFA was performed in 20 patients. The technical effectiveness at 1 week was 91.78% (111 of 121). Readmission was 9.1% (11 of 121) and the most common cause was ventral hernia. Procedure-related mortality was 2.7% (3 of 112) and continued fatal biliary leakage was 1.8% (2 of 112). Local recurrence developed in 10 patients (8.9%). Most recurrence was intrahepatic. Cumulative survival was assessed in 33 patients who received IORFA as primary treatment (naive patients) and 79 non-naive patients. The cumulative DFS and OS rate at l and 3 years was 54% and 24%, and 87% and 66%, respectively. Moderate ascites (P = 0.001), tumor located segment I (P = 0.001), portal vein thrombosis (P = 0.001) had poor survival were significant factors by multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: IORFA alone or in combination with surgical resection extends the spectrum of liver surgery. A fundamental understanding of RFA, additional comorbidities, and postablation complication are necessary to maximize the safety and efficacy of IORFA for treating HCC with cirrhosis.

Real-Life Experience of Sorafenib Treatment for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Korea: From GIDEON Data.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to report real life experiences of sorafenib therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Korea, using a subset of data from GIDEON (Global Investigation of Therapeutic Decisions in HCC and of Its Treatment with Sorafenib; a large, prospective, observational study). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2009 and April 2012, a total of 497 patients were enrolled from 11 sites in Korea. Of these, 482 patients were evaluable for safety analyses. Case report forms of paper or electronic version were used to record safety and efficacy data from all patients. RESULTS: More patients of Child-Pugh A received sorafenib for > 8 weeks than did patients of Child-Pugh B (55.5% vs. 34.3%). Child-Pugh score did not appear to influence the starting dose of sorafenib, and approximately 70% of patients both in Child-Pugh A and B groups received the recommended initial daily dose of 800 mg (69.0% and 69.5%, respectively). The median overall survival (OS) and time to progression (TTP) were 8.5 months and 2.5 months. In Child-Pugh A patients, the median OS and TTP were 10.2 months and 2.5 months. The most frequent treatment-emergent drug-related adverse event was hand-foot skin reaction (31.7%), followed by diarrhea (18.0%). The incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events was similar in both Child-Pugh A (85.4%) and Child-Pugh B (84.8%) patients. CONCLUSION: Sorafenib was well tolerated by Korean HCC patients in clinical settings, and the safety profile did not appear to differ by Child-Pugh status. Survival benefit in Korean patients was in line with that of a previous pivotal phase III trial (SHARP).

Tumor-to-muscle ratio of 8F-FDG PET for predicting histologic features and recurrence of HCC.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence is observed in up to 70-80% of patients despite a curative treatment. Microvascular invasion (MVI) and poor differentiation are strong risk factors for recurrence, but these cannot be known preoperatively. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of 18F-FDG PET with MVI and differentiation, and predictive role of tumor-to-background ratio of PET for recurrence in HCC. METHODOLOGY: Fifty-four patients had 18F-FDG PET/CT study before surgical resection as a first treatment of HCC between December 2008 and December 2012. We analyzed the predictive role of metabolic parameters of PET for recurrence of HCC. Maximal standardized uptake value, tumor-to-nontumor ratio, tumor-to-muscle ratio (TMR) and tumor-to-blood ratio were tested as metabolic index of 18F-FDG PET. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients had increased uptake in preoperative PET and 14 (51.9%) of them experienced the recurrence. Increased uptake in PET and TMR were associated with MVI (p = 0.04, p = 0.005) and histologic differentiation (p = 0.018, p = 0.002). MVI was the only predictive factor for re- currence in multivariate analysis although TMR ≥ 6.36 showed a favorable result despite no statistical significance (p = 0.061). CONCLUSIONS: Increased 18F-FDG uptake of HCC, especially high TMR might be correlated with MVI and poor differentiation, and tends to have a risk for recurrence in HCC.

Rapidly aggravated skeletal muscle metastases from an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

We present a rare case of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) with multiple skeletal muscle metastases. The patient was a 55-year-old Asian woman presenting with abdominal pain; abdominal and pelvic computed tomography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography revealed an unresectable ICC with hepatic metastasis and metastastatic lymphadenopathy in the porto-caval area. After 3 mo of treatment with palliative radiotherapy and chemotherapy, magnetic resonance imaging of the thoracolumbar spine detected right psoas muscle and paraspinous muscle metastases. We performed an ultrasound-guided percutaneous fine-needle biopsy that confirmed a similar pattern of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The patient treated with palliative chemotherapy and achieved 10 mo of survival. Here we report the first case quickly spread to multiple sites of muscle even though the three-month treatment, compare to the other cases reported muscle metastases at diagnosis.

A case of focal nodular hyperplasia with growth progression during pregnancy.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is the second most common benign solid tumor of the liver and is usually found in young females. In FNH, spontaneous bleeding or rupture rarely occurs and malignant transformation is unlikely. The etiology of FNH is unclear, but because of female predominance and young age at onset, it seems that female hormone has an important role for the development of FNH. Although the development and the complications of hepatocellular adenomas have been related to the use of oral contraceptives and pregnancy, the influence of oral contraceptives and pregnancy on the growth and complications of FNH is controversial. Most FNH are stable in size and rarely complicated during pregnancy. We describe here a case of FNH with growth progression during pregnancy in a 27-year-old female. Her course of pregnancy and delivery was uneventful. Two months after delivery, the size of FNH was decreased.

Serological and molecular characteristics of the first Korean case of Echinococcus multilocularis.

In December 2011, we reported an autochthonous case of Echinococcus multilocularis infection in a 42-year-old woman in Korea. The diagnosis was based on histopathological findings of the surgically resected liver cyst. In the present study, we evaluated the serological and molecular characteristics of this Korean E. multilocularis case. The patient's serum strongly reacted with affinity-purified native Em18 and recombinant Em18 antigens (specific for E. multilocularis) but negative for recombinant antigen B8/1 (reactive for Echinococcus granulosus). In immunoaffinity chromatography, the serum also strongly reacted with E. multilocularis and only weakly positive for E. granulosus. We determined the whole nucleotide sequence of cox1 (1,608 bp) using the paraffin-embedded cystic tissue which was compared with E. multilocularis isolates from China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Austria, France, and Slovakia. The Korean case showed 99.8-99.9% similarity with isolates from Asia (the highest similarity with an isolate from Sichuan, China), whereas the similarity with European isolates ranged from 99.5 to 99.6%.

Gastric ischemia after epinephrine injection in a patient with liver cirrhosis.

Endoscopic epinephrine injection is relatively easy, quick and inexpensive. Furthermore, it has a low rate of complications, and it is widely used for the management of nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding. There have been several case reports of gastric ischemia after endoscopic injection therapy. Inadvertent intra-arterial injection may result in either spasm or thrombosis, leading to subsequent tissue ischemia or necrosis, although the stomach has a rich vascular supply and the vascular reserve of the intramural anastomosis. In addition to endoscopic injection therapy, smoking, hypertension and atherosclerosis are risk factors of gastric ischemia. We report a case of gastric ischemia after submucosal epinephrine injection in a 51-year-old woman with hypertension and liver cirrhosis.

Prognostic factors for gallbladder cancer in the laparoscopy era.

PURPOSE: Hepatobiliary surgery has changed dramatically in recent decades with the advent of laparoscopic techniques. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare survival rates according to stages, adjusting for important prognostic factors. METHODS: A retrospective study of a 17-year period from January 1994 to April 2011 was carried out. The cases studied were divided into two time period cohorts, those treated in the first 9-years (n = 109) and those treated in the last 7-years (n = 109). RESULTS: An operation with curative intent was performed on 218 patients. The 5-year survival rates according to the depth of invasion were 86% (T1), 56% (T2), 45% (T3), and 5% (T4). The number of cases of incidental gallbladder cancer found during 3,919 laparoscopic cholecystectomies was 96 (2.4%). Incidental gallbladder cancer revealed a better survival rate (P = 0.003). Iatrogenic bile spillage was found in 20 perforations of the gallbladder during laparoscopic cholecystectomies, 16 preoperative percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainages and 16 percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainages; only percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage patients showed a significantly lower survival rate than patients without iatrogenic bile spillage (P < 0.034). Chemoradiation appeared to improve overall survival (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis also revealed that time period, type of surgery, surgical margin, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node involvement, and chemoradiation therapy had significant effects. CONCLUSION: This study found that the prognosis of gallbladder cancer is still determined by the stage at presentation due to the aggressive biology of this tumor. Early diagnosis, radical resection and appropriate adjuvant therapy can increase overall survival.

Sodium iodide symporter and phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten expression in cholangiocarcinoma analysis with clinicopathological parameters.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was performed to investigate the correlation of sodium iodide symporter (NIS) expression with the functionality and loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) expression in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). METHODS: Immunohistochemistry for the expression of NIS and PTEN was performed in 60 biopsy specimens of CCA. The clinicopathological parameters were retrospectively identified from medical records. The expression pattern of NIS and loss of PTEN expression were analyzed in association with the clinicopathological characteristics, including survival. RESULTS: Normal biliary trees displayed NIS expression, but hepatocytes did not. NIS expression was divided into two patterns: cytoplasmic and membranous. Fifty-nine cases, all except for one case, displayed NIS expression in tumor cells. Twenty-two cases (33.3%) were mixed pattern, and 39 cases (65.05%) were cytoplasmic pattern; the pure membranous pattern was not noted. There was no association between the NIS expression pattern and clinicopathological parameters, including age, sex, differentiation grade, T stage and tumor, node, metastasis stage (p>0.05). The survival rates were similar among various NIS expression patterns. Normal hepatocytes and biliary trees exhibited PTEN expression in the nucleus and cytoplasm. CCA cells displayed nuclear staining. Thirty-six (60.0%) of 60 cases displayed a loss of PTEN expression. The loss of PTEN expression was observed in the advanced T-stage group (p=0.0036), but there was no association between the loss of PTEN expression and other clinicopathological parameters (p>0.05). No association between the loss of PTEN expression and survival was noted. CONCLUSIONS: NIS is expressed in most types of human CCA. The expression pattern suggests a role in cancer development. PTEN loss expression is common in the context of human CCA, especially in the advanced T stage.

Efficacy of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIM: To investigate the efficacy of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) using floxuridine (FUDR) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) confined to the liver. METHODS: Thirty-four patients who had advanced HCC with unresectability or unsuccessful previous therapy in the absence of extrahepatic metastasis were treated with intra-arterial FUDR chemotherapy at our hospital between March 2005 and May 2008. Among the 34 patients, 9 patients were classified as Child class C, and 18 patients had portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT). One course of chemotherapy consisted of continuous infusion of FUDR (0.3 mg/kg during day 1-14) and dexamethasone (10 mg on day 1, 4, 7 and 11), and this treatment was repeated every 28 d. RESULTS: Two patients (5.9%) displayed a complete response, and 12 patients (35.3%) had a partial response. The tumor control rate was 61.8%. The median overall survival times were 15.3 mo, 12.4 mo and 4.3 mo for the patients who were classified as Child class A, Child class B and Child class C, respectively (P = 0.0392). The progression-free survival was 12.9 mo, 7.7 mo and 2.6 mo for the patients who were classified as Child class A, Child class B and Child class C, respectively (P = 0.0443). The cumulative survival differed significantly according to the Child-Pugh classification and the presence of PVTT. In addition to hepatic reserve capacity and PVTT, the extent of HCC was an independent factor in determining a poor prognosis. The most common adverse reactions to HAIC were mucositis, diarrhea and peptic ulcer disease, but most of these complications were improved by medical treatment and/or a delay of HAIC. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that intra-arterial FUDR chemotherapy is a safe and effective treatment for advanced HCC that is recalcitrant to other therapeutic modalities, even in patients with advanced cirrhosis.

A case of hepatic angiomyolipoma which was misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma in a hepatitis B carrier.

We report a rare case of resected hepatic AML, which was misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma in a chronic hepatitis B carrier. A 45-year-old woman who was a carrier of hepatitis B virus infection presented with a hepatic tumor. Her serum alpha-fetoprotein level was normal. Ultrasonography revealed a round and well-circumscribed echogenic hepatic tumor measuring 2.5 cm in the segment VI. On contrast-enhanced computed tomography, a hypervascular tumor was observed in the arterial phase and washing-out of the contrast medium in the portal phase and delayed phase. On MR T1-weighted in-phase images, the mass showed low signal intensity, and on out-of-phase images, the mass showed signal drop and dark signal intensity. On MR T2-weighted images, the mass showed high signal intensity. The mass demonstrated high signal intensity on arterial phase after contrast injection, suggestive of hepatocellular carcinoma. The patient underwent hepatic wedge resection and histopathological diagnosis was a hepatic angiomyolipoma.

Lessons learned from 100 initial cases of laparoscopic liver surgery.

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) is now widely accepted and is being increasingly performed. The present study describes our experience with LLR at a single center over an eight-year period. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 100 patients between October 2002 and February 2010. Forty-six benign lesions and 54 malignant lesions were included. The LLR performed included 58 pure laparoscopy procedures, 18 hand-assisted laparoscopy procedures and 24 hybrid technique procedures. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 57 years; among these patients, 31 were over 65 years of age. The mean operation time was 220 minutes. The overall morbidity was 11% and the mortality was zero. Among the 20 patients with simple hepatic cysts, 50% unexpectedly recurred. Among the 41 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 21 patients (51%) underwent preoperative radiofrequency ablation therapy or transarterial chemoembolization. During parenchymal-transection, 11 received blood transfusion. The width of the resection margins was under 0.5 cm in 11 cases (27%); 0.5 to 1 cm in 22 cases (54%) and over 1 cm in eight cases (12%). There was no port site seeding, but argon beam coagulation-induced tumor dissemination was observed in two cases. The overall two-year survival rate was 75%. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the applications for LLR can be gradually expanded when assuring that the safety and curability of LLR are equivalent to that of open liver resection.

Selective and efficient retardation of cancers expressing cytoskeleton-associated protein 2 by targeted RNA replacement.

Human cytoskeleton-associated protein 2 (hCKAP2) is upregulated and highly expressed in various human malignances. hCKAP2 has microtubule-stabilizing characteristics and potentially regulates the dynamics and assembly of the mitotic spindle and chromosome segregation, indicating that hCKAP2 plays important functions during mitosis. In this study, we evaluated hCKAP2 as a plausible anticancer target through development and validation of a targeted cancer gene therapy strategy based on targeting and replacement of hCKAP2 RNA using a trans-splicing ribozyme. This targeted RNA replacement triggered transgene activity via accurate trans-splicing reaction selectively in human cancer cells expressing the hCKAP2 RNA and simultaneously reduced the expression level of the RNA in the cells. Adenoviral vector encoding the hCKAP2-specific trans-splicing ribozyme selectively induced cytotoxicity in tumor cells expressing hCKAP2. Moreover, intratumoral injection of the virus produced selective and efficient regression of tumor that had been subcutaneously inoculated with hCKAP2-positive colon cancer cells in mice with minimal liver toxicity. Furthermore, orthotopically multifocal hCKAP2-positive hepatocarcinoma established in mice were efficiently regressed by systemic delivery of adenoviral vector encoding the specific ribozyme under the control of a liver-selective phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase promoter with least hepatotoxicity. The results indicate that hCKAP2 RNA is a promising target for anticancer approach based on trans-splicing ribozyme-mediated RNA replacement.

Splenic infarction associated with sorafenib use in a hepatocellular carcinoma patient.

Sorafenib, a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been shown to improve survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As the clinical use of sorafenib increases, many adverse effects have been reported, such as hand-foot skin reaction, diarrhea, anorexia, asthenia, alopecia, weight loss, hypertension and arterial thromboembolism. However, there are no prior reports of splenic infarction as an adverse effect of sorafenib. Here, a case of splenic infarction in a patient with HCC who was treated with sorafenib is reported. The patient had no other predisposing factors to explain the splenic infarction except for the administration of sorafenib. The splenic infarction improved after sorafenib was discontinued; however, the HCC progressed.

Recurrent hepatic alveolar echinococcosis: report of the first case in Korea with unproven infection route.

Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), a hepatic disorder that resembles liver cancer, is a highly aggressive and lethal zoonotic infection caused by the larval stage of the fox tapeworm, Echinococcus multilocularis. E. multilocularis is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere; the disease-endemic area stretches from north America through Europe to central and east Asia, including northern parts of Japan, but it has not been reported in Korea. Herein, we represent a first case of AE in Korea. A 41-year-old woman was found to have a large liver mass on routine medical examination. The excised mass showed multinodular, necrotic, and spongiform appearance with small irregular pseudocystic spaces. Microscopically, the mass was composed of chronic granulomatous inflammation with extensive coagulation necrosis and parasite-like structure, which was revealed as parasitic vesicles and laminated layer delineated by periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) stain. Clinical and histologic features were consistent with AE. After 8 years, a new liver mass and multiple metastatic pulmonary nodules were found and the recurred mass showed similar histologic features to the initial mass. She had never visited endemic areas of AE, and thus the exact infection route is unclear.

[Clinical features of gas-forming liver abscesses: comparison between diabetic and nondiabetic patients].

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are more likely to have a pyogenic liver abscess with gas formation, which is associated with higher morbidity and mortality. The morbidity and mortality in pyogenic liver abscess are also higher in DM patients than in non-DM patients. This study evaluated the morbidity, mortality, and clinical features in patients with gas-forming liver abscesses associated with DM. METHODS: Among 379 cases of pyogenic liver abscess excluding malignancy from January 2001 through December 2009, 25 patients treated for pyogenic-gas-forming liver abscesses were reviewed retrospectively. We compared the morbidity, mortality, and clinical findings in patients with pyogenic-gas-forming liver abscesses between DM and non-DM patients. RESULTS: Gas formation was present in 25 (6.6%) of 379 cases with pyogenic liver abscess. DM was combined with gas-forming liver abscesses in 19 cases (76%). The most common organism responsible for the gas formation was Klebsiella pneumoniae (82%). Complications were present in 23 cases (92%) of gas-forming liver abscesses, with pulmonary complications (especially pleural effusion) being the most common (n=14, 61%). Four patients (16%) died of sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: Gas-forming liver abscesses are not uncommon in cases of pyogenic liver abscesses and are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. The clinical manifestations and complications do not differ significantly between DM and non-DM patients.