ABSTRACT
In March 2022, EASL released a new version of the clinical practice guidelines on haemochromatosis. Haemochromatosis is characterized by elevated transferrin saturation (TSAT) and progressive iron overload mainly involving the liver, and early diagnosis and venesection can prevent liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, diabetes, arthritis, and other complications. For patients with p.Cys282Tyr homozygous mutation of the hemochromatosis gene HFE , haemochromatosis can be diagnosed if serum iron parameters show TSAT > 45% and ferritin > 200 μg/L in female patients, or TSAT > 50% and ferritin > 300 μg/L in male patients and postmenopausal female patients. If a patient has elevated TSAT and ferritin and belongs to other HFE genotypes, magnetic resonance or liver biopsy is needed to confirm iron overload in the liver. Liver fibrosis stage and damage to other organs should be carefully assessed at the time of diagnosis, which will help to determine management strategies. Hepatocellular carcinoma should be screened for patients with progressive liver fibrosis. The goal of venesection is to achieve ferritin < 50 μg/L during the induction stage and ferritin < 100 μg/L during the maintenance stage.
ABSTRACT
In patients with liver disease such as viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, renal injury and renal insufficiency can be generally classified as acute kidney injury (AKI), chronic kidney disease, and acute-on-chronic nephropathy. AKI can be classified as stage 1 (risk stage), stage 2 (injury stage), and stage 3 (failure stage). Traditionally hepatorenal syndrome is classified as types Ⅰ and Ⅱ, and in recent years, type Ⅲ hepatorenal syndrome with organic renal injury has been proposed. Hepatorenal disorder(HRD) is used to describe any renal disease which occurs in patients with liver cirrhosis. At present, sensitive and accurate biochemical parameters used to evaluate renal function in patients with liver disease in clinical practice include estimated glomerular filtration rate, increase in serum creatinine within unit time, and serum cystatin C level, and urinary microalbumin level also plays an important role in the early diagnosis of nephropathy. Causes of liver disease, severity, complications including infection, nutritional status, therapeutic drugs, and underlying nephropathy may be associated with renal injury and renal insufficiency in patients with liver disease and should be differentiated.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the etiology, clinical features and prognosis of liver injuries caused by different drugs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The types of suspected drugs related to liver injury, clinical manifestations, liver biochemical parameters, clinical outcomes and other associated data were retrospectively assessed for 140 patients with drug-induced liver injury (DILI). The Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method (RUCAM) was used to assess the causality between drugs and liver injury.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The most prevalent agents inducing DILI were Chinese traditional drugs (62.1%), followed by antipyretic analgesic drugs (10%) and antibiotics (5%). The ratio of male to female patients in the study cohort was 1:1.69, with 71 of the total patients (50.7%) being between the ages of 40 and 60 years-old. The RUCAM scale was not less than 3 points for any of the patients.In general, the clinical manifestations and biochemical results were not specific. The percentages of hepatocellular injury type, cholestatic injury type and mixed injury type were 51.4%, 30.7% and 17.9% respectively. The median age of patients with cholestatic liver injury was 55.6 years, which was older than that of patients with hepatocellular injury (47.1 years) or mixed injury (49.9 years).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Although antipyretic analgesics and antibiotics are considered as common drugs that can induce DILI, Chinese traditional drugs have emerged as another important group of liver injurious agents. Cholestatic DILI was found to occur more often in elderly patients than in younger patients.</p>
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Anti-Bacterial Agents , Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury , Cholestasis , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Prevalence , Prognosis , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Objective To analyze clinical characteristics of gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) in aged patients for improvement of diagnosis and treatemcnt. Methods The reflux disease questionnaire was performed in patients diagnosed as GERD based on Montreal definition and classification as well as Rome Ⅲ criteria.All patients were divided into elderly group (≥65 years) and control group(＜65 years). The incidence of hita[ hernia (HH), the frequencies of esophagitis (based on Los Angeles classification), clinical features, and quality of life were compared between two groups. Results There was no difference between two groups in male/female ratio and morbidity of HH(P＞0.05). In comparison with control group, the frequency of esophagitis graded as LC or LD increased and extra-esophageal symptoms were higher in elderly group (P＜ 0.05), but the lower typical symptoms (heartburn and regurgitation) were seen in the elderly group(P＜0.05). The scores of role physical, bodily pain and role emotional were higher in elderly group than those in control group (P＜0.05). There was no significant differences between two groups in physical function, vitality,social functioning, mental health, and general health. Conclusion The elderly GERD patients often have lower score of typical reflux symptoms (heartburn and regurgitation) and high incidence of severer esophagitis, but their quality of life is not significantly influenced.