Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Inflammation of the bile ducts was studied in liver biopsies from patients with chronic hepatitis C to determine whether the frequency of inflamed bile ducts changes with therapy and correlates with other histological variables and expression of class I and II MHC antigens on ductal epithelium. Twenty patients treated at UMMC between 1991 and 1994 underwent needle biopsies of the liver before and after therapy with interferon alpha 2B (IFN). A complete response to therapy was defined as a return to normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels occurring and persisting during therapy. The number of inflamed bile ducts/total ducts (%IBDs), presence of piecemeal necrosis and lymphoid aggregates, and grade of inflammation were assessed in each high-power field in all areas with bile ducts. The frequencies of these variables were compared in cirrhotics and non-cirrhotics and in patients with complete or incomplete responses to IFN. Frozen sections of biopsies from 5 patients were immunostained using antibodies to HLA-DR and B-2 microglobulin, and positive staining was noted on bile ducts. Before therapy, the %IBD was slightly greater in patients with cirrhosis. After IFN, both %IBD and serum alkaline phosphatase levels decreased in non-cirrhotics who responded to IFN. The change in frequency of IBD with IFN paralleled the changes in the other histological features. No correlation was noted between bile duct inflammation and expression of class I and II antigens. The conclusion is that inflammation of the bile ducts occurs frequently in chronic hepatitis C, correlates with other features of inflammation in the triads, and decreases in response to IFN therapy.
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PMID:Effect of interferon therapy on bile duct inflammation in hepatitis C. 876 34

The paper presents 66 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients (57 males, 9 females) with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects. In 60 cases, hepatic cirrhosis was the primary hepatic disease, in 5--chronic hepatitis, and in 1--neoplasm developed in morphologically normal liver. Forty out of 66 patients were HBsAg seropositive. In 96% of the cases, anti-HBc antibodies were detected. In 76% of the cases, the infection was subclinical. In all patients, neoplasm was diagnosed in the late, symptomatic stage of the disease. Okuda's classification was used to stage the disease. The following treatment methods were applied: surgical in 5 patients, embolization of hepatic artery with intra-arterial administration of cytostatics in 5, intravenous chemotherapy in 39, interferon alpha in lozenges in 15. In 44 patients, an objective response to treatment (according to WHO criteria) was achieved: in 5 (I and II Okuda's stage)--a complete response (CR) for the period of 0.5-4 years, in 2 (III Okuda's stage)--partial response (PR) with prolonged survival time up to 1 year, in 21--no change (NC). The average survival time of non-treated and treated patients was, respectively: in the I Okuda's stage 2.05 and 9.55 months, in stage II 1.36 and 7.36 months, in III stage 1.15 and 5.05 months. The differences in the average values are statistically significant. Only combined therapy, including both surgical and devascularization methods, applied to HCC patients results in achieving a long-lasting complete remission of the disease. Interferon alpha oral therapy improves the effects of the treatment.
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PMID:Primary hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. 901 46

The prevalence of different genotypes of Hepatitis C virus may vary between geographic areas and it is possible that various genotypes have different pathogenic characteristics. Therefore, 90 consecutive Italian patients anti-Hepatitis C Virus positive with a broad spectrum of chronic liver disease, have been analysed to observe prevalence of various genotypes of Hepatitis C Virus. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction with a set of nested biotinylated primers, located in 5'UTR region. Genotype 1b and genotype 2a were the most commonly encountered (respectively, 50% and 37%) whereas other genotypes were rare. The unexpected high prevalence of genotype 2a allowed direct comparison of clinical characteristics and response to therapy between patients with genotype 2a and those with 1b. Genotype 1b was more prevalent than 2a in patients over 60 years (29 vs 12) and in those with more severe liver disease (34 vs 16). In a univariate analysis, genotype 2a was associated with less severe liver disease (p = 0.02) and younger age (p = 0.018), in comparison with genotype 1b. Patients with genotype 2a responded to interferon alpha therapy better than those with 1b (p = 0.007). In a multivariate analysis, only younger age was associated with genotype 2a. Genotype 2a (in comparison with 1b) and absence of cirrhosis were independent predictors of response to interferon alpha. In conclusion, genotype 2a is playing an emerging role in younger Italian patients and seems more sensitive than 1b to interferon alpha therapy.
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PMID:High prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 in Italian patients with chronic liver disease. 903 88

Viral hepatitis C is a serious public health problem in France by the number of infected patients, the evolutive profile and by the lack of fully efficient therapeutics. However, the risk of developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma may not be so high as it has been stated until now. Interferon alpha is at the present time, the only approved drug for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Its efficiency on criteria such as normalization of aminotransferases values or negativation of viremia is obtained in less than 25% of patients. The present recommendation is to use 3 MU of interferon alpha, 3 times per week during 12 months. While interferon leads to improvement of histologic lesions, it is not yet proved that a treatment by interferon can reduce, years after, the incidence of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. No therapeutic strategy has been defined yet for the frequent situations of "no response", relapses or presence of factors that reduce the efficacy of treatment (high initial viremia level, genotype 1b, cirrhosis). It is possible that the course of patients having low or no elevation of aminotransferases and/or minimal histologic lesions, is good without any treatment. The efficacy of interferon alone appears insufficient. Thus trials in progress concern associations of antiviral drugs such as vidarabine. In lack of vaccine, preventive treatment is essential and depends upon knowledge of conditions of transmission of the virus. Transmission through blood and intravenous drug addiction represent 60 to 70% of cases of hepatitis C.
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PMID:[Treatment of viral hepatitis C]. 903 17

Chronic viral hepatitides B, C and D and their long-term consequences--cirrhosis, primary hepatic cancer--have become a worrisome public health problem. Although results with interferon alpha have been encouraging they remain modest. Many uncertainties remain concerning optimal dosage, length of treatment, the interest of repeated treatment and what might be gained by association with other antiviral molecules, particularly nucleoside analogues. These uncertainties explain the abundance of clinical studies, sometimes yielding contradictory results. Thus, further multicentric trials are required, and further fundamental research which may lead to new classes of molecules needs to be supported.
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PMID:[Drugs active against hepatitis viruses]. 918 38

The article consists in a brief review of pre-treatment evaluation and antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Patients with viraemia (i.e. HCV RNA seropositive with the PCR technique) should be evaluated historically if they lack contraindications for interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) treatment. Patients with depression, autoimmune and thyroid disorders, decompensated cirrhosis, or solid organ transplants, are ineligible for-IFN-alpha treatment. If the histological evaluation shows moderate to severe chronic hepatitis, and the HCV RNA level is < 3 million Eq/mL serum as measured by bDNA, naive (i.e. formerly untreated) patients should be given an initial 12-week course of IFN-alpha to evaluate treatment response. Those who become HCV-negative should continue the treatment for 48 weeks to increase the likelihood of sustained virological response after treatment cessation. Treatment should be discontinued in the case of patients still HCV-positive at 12 weeks, as the chances of obtaining sustained response are remote. Patients with higher pre-treatment HCV RNA levels (> or = 3 million Eq/mL) and patients manifesting unsustained response to earlier IFN treatment should receive combination treatment with ribavirin and IFN-alpha, as treatment with IFN alone is associated with poor chances of sustained response. This treatment approach is associated with an estimated sustained response rate in naive patients of 40-50 per cent.
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PMID:[Treatment response in chronic hepatitis C. Content of virus in serum is decisive for the outcome]. 945 44

A 69-item questionnaire measuring generic functioning and well-being and disease-specific health outcomes was developed and tested using the pre-treatment data from patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) participating in two randomized trials of interferon alpha-2b (n = 157). The questionnaire included all eight scales from the SF-36 and measures of nine other generic and disease-specific health concepts. Psychometric tests confirmed the assumptions underlying the construction and scoring of all generic and disease-specific scales. Cross-sectional tests of 'known groups' validity showed that CHC patients scored worse on the generic scales than patients with other chronic conditions and worse than a healthy general population. The generic and disease-specific scale scores were lower in the presence of physical findings of CHC, as hypothesized, but only the physical functioning and bodily pain scales were linked to cirrhosis or extreme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratios. This instrument will be useful in studies of health outcome among patients with CHC, a condition whose health burden appears to have been underestimated in studies to date.
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PMID:A questionnaire to assess the generic and disease-specific health outcomes of patients with chronic hepatitis C. 948 Nov 50

The therapy of viral hepatitis has great medical and socioeconomic impact. Today chronic viral hepatitis is the most important cause for chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatitis A and E cause acute courses exclusively whereas infection with the hepatitis B, C, and D virus might result in chronic hepatitis as well. The goal of therapy of chronic viral hepatitis has to be a reduction/normalisation of elevated transaminases, decrease of the serologic parameters of active viral replication, improvement of histology and prevention of complications of chronic hepatitis. The only drug with proven benefit in the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis is interferon alpha. This therapy results in a sustained response in 25 to 40% for hepatitis B and 10 to 25% for hepatitis C infection. New developments under clinical evaluation are Lamivudine and Famciclovir in the treatment of HBV-infection and Ribavirin in combination with INFa for chronic HCV-infection.
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PMID:[Therapy of viral hepatitis]. 954 47

The aim of this study was the assessment the efficacy and safety of therapy with interferon alpha (Intron A) administered s.c. 3 MU x 3/week for 12 weeks for patients with HBV related liver cirrhosis (Child's class A). Fifteen patients completed therapy and 12 months follow-up. At the end of follow-up sustained response to the therapy, defined by clearance of HBV-DNA, normalization of ALAT activity in serum and improvement in the liver histology was achieved in 46.6% of treated patients. Moreover, among few patients from group of nonresponders (patients without sustained clearance of HBV-DNA) decrease of HBV-DNA level, ALAT activity in serum and improvement in the liver histology were observed. Adverse effects of IFN alpha therapy were typical, but in any case were no necessity terminate the therapy.
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PMID:[Therapeutic efficacy of low-dose alpha interferon therapy in liver cirrhosis associated with HBV]. 1008 3

Acute and severe impairment of liver function with jaundice and ascites occurred in two out of seven patients with chronic hepatitis D during interferon alpha administration (10 MU three times a week). Both of them were young women with histological diagnoses of moderate to severe chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis with no signs of portal hypertension. Only a slow and partial recovery was observed after interferon withdrawal. Autoantibodies against basal cell layer tested positive in these two patients. In the remaining five patients with hepatitis D who did not experience liver impairment during interferon administration, basal cell layer antibodies were found only in one case. We conclude that severe decompensation of liver cirrhosis related to hepatitis D may occur during interferon administration. Positivity of basal cell layer antibodies may be associated with the risk of developing such an adverse event but our data are not sufficient to prove this association.
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PMID:Exacerbation of chronic hepatitis D during interferon alpha administration. 1009 Nov 6


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