Hepatology

Higher ultra-processed food intake ups risk of NAFLD, severe liver disease

Yesterday

People who consume a lot of ultra-processed food (UPF) have a greater risk of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), liver fibrosis, and cirrhosis, as well as severe liver disease and adverse levels of several clinical biomarkers, reveals a study.

Antivirals underutilized after curative resection of HBV- or HCV-related HCC

Christina Lau, Yesterday

Antiviral therapy is associated with substantial improvements long-term survival overall (OS) but severely underutilized after curative hepatic resection in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)– or hepatitis C virus (HCV)–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a real-world study involving predominantly Asian patients has shown.

$Patients with autoimmune hepatitis at higher risk of osteoporotic fracture$

Patients with autoimmune hepatitis at higher risk of osteoporotic fracture

4 days ago

The risk of osteoporotic fracture seems greater in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), reveals a recent study. In addition, those with cirrhosis and long-term use of glucocorticoids appear to be at much greater risk.

Aspirin reduces liver fat, improves markers of inflammation, fibrosis

Elvira Manzano, 04 Jan 2024

Patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) – previously called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) – but without cirrhosis, who were treated with daily low-dose aspirin, had significant reductions in liver fat for 6 months in a new trial.

HCV pangenotypic DAA therapy in a patient with concomitant antipsychotic treatment

Dr. Ting-Ting Chan, 27 Oct 2023

A 43-year-old male former intravenous drug user presented with incidental findings of elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) levels in December 2021. The patient had depression and drug-induced psychosis associated with previous heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine use. He was on quetiapine 300 mg daily for his psychotic symptoms, pantoprazole 40 mg daily as needed for occasional acid reflux, and simvastatin 10 mg daily for hyperlipidaemia. He did not have hepatitis B virus (HBV) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection.

Early use of a BTK inhibitor in an elderly patient with high-risk CLL and multiple comorbidities

Dr. Keith Ka-Wai Wong, 10 Oct 2023

A 77-year-old male presented with an incidental finding of lymphocytosis (absolute lymphocyte count [ALc], 9 x 10⁹/L) in November 2018.

TOPAZ-1: First-line durvalumab plus GemCis improves survival in advanced BTC

Dr. Thomas Yau, 10 Aug 2023

In the phase III TOPAZ-1 trial, adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), durvalumab, to standard-of-care (SoC) chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GemCis) resulted in improved survival and response rates in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). In an interview with MIMS Oncology, Dr Thomas Yau, Specialist in Medical Oncology in Hong Kong, who is one of the investigators of TOPAZ-1, discussed the trial’s key findings and how adding first-line immunotherapy may improve the limited survival gained from upfront chemotherapy alone in patients with advanced BTC.

Hepatitis C: SOF/VEL effective, well tolerated in Chinese PWID and CKD populations

23 May 2023

Sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) treatment is effective and well tolerated in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients who inject drugs or have chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to two studies in China presented at the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) 2023 Annual Meeting.

TAF may reduce liver inflammation and fibrosis in CHB patients

27 Apr 2023

Results of small study in Taiwan suggest that tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) may reduce liver inflammation and fibrosis in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with mildly elevated alanine transaminase (ALT) and significantly liver injury.

Taiwan HCV registry: Pangenotypic DAAs effective, well tolerated

24 Apr 2023

Pangenotypic direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens, including sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL), are generally effective and well tolerated in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who fulfil guideline-recommended criteria for simplified treatment, according to data from Taiwan’s nationwide HCV registry presented at the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) 2023 Annual Meeting.

TAF effective in CHB patients with advanced fibrosis and partial response to NUCs

13 Apr 2023

Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) effectively suppresses hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and prevents progression of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with advanced fibrosis and partial response to other oral nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs), according to a study reported at the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) 2023 Annual Meeting.

Aspirin reduces liver fat, improves markers of inflammation, fibrosis

Elvira Manzano, 04 Jan 2024

Resmetirom reduces bad cholesterol, restores thyroid hormones in NASH

Elaine Soliven, 12 Dec 2023

Treatment with resmetirom significantly reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and other atherogenic lipids, as well as restored thyroid hormone (TH) levels in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), according to two subgroup analyses of the MAESTRO-NASH trial presented at The Liver Meeting 2023.

Seladelpar improves markers of cholestasis, reduces pruritus in patients with PBC

Elaine Soliven, 01 Dec 2023

Treatment with seladelpar significantly improves serum markers of cholestasis, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (TB), and reduces pruritus in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) who are at risk for disease progression, according to the RESPONSE trial presented at The Liver Meeting 2023.

Novel tri-agonist confers significant gains for MASLD patients

Audrey Abella, 24 Nov 2023

In a substudy of a phase II obesity trial, individuals with MASLD* and obesity benefited significantly from retatrutide, a once-weekly, injectable, novel synthetic molecule that has shown potent agonist action at GIP**, GLP-1***, and glucagon receptors.

HBV vaccine improves survival of patients with chronic liver disease

Stephen Padilla, 22 Nov 2023

Vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) results in meaningful improvements in survival among patients with different kinds of chronic liver diseases, suggests a study presented at AASLD 2023.

Can elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor cause liver damage in adults with cystic fibrosis?

Stephen Padilla, 21 Nov 2023

Treatment with elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI) rarely results in severe drug-induced liver injury among adults with cystic fibrosis, as shown in a study presented at AASLD 2023. Moreover, serum markers of fibrosis have increased but remain within normal range.

Bulevirtide-PegIFNα combo yields benefits for CHD patients

Audrey Abella, 21 Nov 2023

A combination regimen comprising bulevirtide 10 mg (BLV10) and pegylated interferon alpha-2a (PegIFNα) improved multiple liver parameters in patients with chronic hepatitis delta (CHD), findings from the phase IIb MYR204 study have shown.