[Effect of L-ornithine L-aspartate granules in treating chronic liver disease in patients with high-level serum gamma-glutamyltransferase].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effect of L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA) granules in treating chronic liver disease in patients with high-level serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (G-GT) using a 24-week treatment course. METHODS: Two-hundred patients with chronic liver disease and above normal G-GT were given a 12-week course of LOLA granules (9 g/d) and then classified into the following three groups according to the change in serum Gamma-GT:group I:patients with Gamma-GT level returned to normal;group II:patients with serum Gamma-GT level that was reduced during the treatment; group III:patients with serum Gamma-GT level that did not decrease or that increased to a higher level than at start of treatment.After the 12-week treatment course, the patients in group I were divided into three subgroups for receipt of a control drug (compound glycyrrhizin, 50mg/d) or an additional 12-week course of Gamma-GT at a reduced dose (LOLA granules 3 g/d) or at the original dose; groups II and III were maintained on the initial dose for an additional 12 weeks.The groups were reassessed at the end of the second 12-week course (at the end of week 24 of the study's observation period).Count data were compared using the x2 test and measurement data were compared using the t-test. RESULTS: In group I, the serum Gamma-GT level was 90.9% at the end of the first 12-week course and dropped to a mean level of 52.2% for both of the subgroups that received the reduced and original dose after the additional 12 weeks of LOLA granules treatment; the difference from week 12 to week 24 was significant (x2=8.213, P less than 0.05).The 24-week change in serum Gamma-GT levels for the group I reduced and original dose subgroups vs.the control subgroup were also significantly different from those seen in groups II and III (P less than 0.05).The percentage of patients in group I who achieved normal level serum Gamma-GT after 24 weeks of treatment (78.6%) was significantly higher than that for the control group (vs.55.0%, x2=11.452, P less than 0.05).When the patients in group 1 who had received the 12 additional weeks of LOLA granules treatment were measured again at two weeks after the treatments had been discontinued (end of week 26), the percentage of patients with normal serum Gamma-GT level was 92.7%, with only three cases showing obviously abnormal levels; in contrast, the group I patients in the control group of the second 12-week study period had on 66.7% of patients with normal-level serum Gamma-GT.The difference in change between the treated groups (both reduced and original dose) and the control group was significant (x2=14.964, P less than 0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients whose serumGamma-GT levels returned to normal after receipt of LOLA granules for 12 weeks benefitted from an additional 12 weeks of consolidation treatment, and those given the treatment at the original dose benefitted most.Compared with the compound glycyrrhizin, LOLA granules provided a better maintenance of resolved Gamma-GT level.Therefore, the effect of LOLA appears to be reliable and stable as well as safe for clinical use.

[The clinical study of percutaneous transhepatic radiofrequency ablation combined with tumor edge of percutaneous absolute ethanol injection on liver cancer adjacent to major blood vessels].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of percutaneous transhepatic radiofrequency ablation (PRFA) combined with tumor edge of percutaneous absolute ethanol injection (PEI) on liver cancer adjacent to major blood vessels. METHODS: Seventy five patients with liver cancer adjacent to major blood vessels were randomly divided into two groups: PRFA+PEI therapy group (38 cases) and PRFA control group (37 cases). Tumor necrosis rate, AFP levels, local recurrence rate, median for survival time and cum survival were used as the evaluation index to evaluate the efficacies of the two methods. RESULTS: Tumor necrosis rates of the therapy group and the control group were 84.2% and 54.1% (P < 0.01), respectively; AFP levels of therapy group and control group at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after treatment were (105.0 ± 35.5) µg/L, (28.4 ± 4.3) µg/L, (58.6 ± 6.7) µg/L, (89.5 ± 12.5) µg/L and (137.2 ± 34.6) µg/L, (84.2 ± 18.4) µg/L, (106.6 ± 20.3) µg/L, (173.7 ± 32.0) µg/L, respectively. The rates of therapy group was significantly lower than of control group. Local recurrence rates of the therapy group and control group were 2.6%, 7.9%, 13.2% and 31.6% vs 10.8%, 21.6% , 40.5% and 62.1% (P < 0.05) at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after treatment, respectively. Median for survival time of the therapy group and control group were 28.0 ± 2.8 months and 19.0 ± 3.6 months, respectively. Cum survival of the therapy group and control group were 84.2%, 78.9%, 60.5% and 31.6% vs 78.4%, 67.6%, 37.8% and 8.1% (P < 0.05) at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after treatment, respectively. CONCLUSION: PEI as a supplementary treatment of PRFA can effectively improve the treatment of liver cancer adjacent to major blood vessels and significantly reduce the local recurrence rate and improve long-term survival rates.