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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Causes of death in 8 of 235 drunkenness offenders each followed up for two years, have been described. The subjects followed up were a heterogenous population of alcohol abusers. The majority were alcohol dependent irregular heavy drinkers. The main causes of death were suicide, road traffic accident, domestic accident, liver cirrhosis, hypothermia (from exposure) and ischaemic heart disease. More than one cause of death was listed in all cases. Chronic alcoholism was frequently listed. Depression was another sub-ordinate cause of death. The overall observed rate of mortality was 30 times the expected rate which was many times higher than those reported by earlier workers for alcoholics generally. These findings were discussed and it was concluded that drunkenness offenders are a particular at risk sub group of alcoholics. In view of the appreciable post mortem blood alcohol levels, it was further concluded that chronic alcoholism and the actual state of being drunk were the two major causes of death in this group of alcohol abusers.
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PMID:Causes of mortality in drunkenness offenders followed-up for 2 years. 130 84

From 1987 to February 1991, we have repaired or replaced the aortic arch in ten patients using deep hypothermic systemic circulatory arrest with continuous retrograde cerebral perfusion (CRCP). CRCP can be implemented using the bypass connecting the arterial and venous lines of the extracorporeal circuit to reverse the flow into the superior vena cava cannula after induction of circulatory arrest. CRCP flow required to maintain an internal jugular vein pressure of 20 mmHg ranged from 100 to 500 ml/min. After completion of suturing of the aortic arch graft, air is evacuated retrogradely from the open arch vessels prior to reestablishing the usual arterial return. Two patients died, one from sepsis and the other from liver cirrhosis 1 month postoperatively. CRCP times ranged from 11 to 56 min, and minimal nasopharyngeal temperatures ranged from 16 degrees to 18 degrees C. The difference in oxygen content between the perfused blood and the blood draining from the arch vessels during CRCP most likely reflected the steady-state metabolism of the brain during the deep hypothermic state. This technique offers advantages including the need for dissecting and clamping the arch branches, providing sufficient metabolic support to the brain during deep hypothermia, and eliminating embolism of particulate debris from the aortic arch.
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PMID:Deep hypothermic systemic circulatory arrest and continuous retrograde cerebral perfusion for surgery of aortic arch aneurysm. 154

Total hepatic inflow occlusion is well tolerated in pigs with normothermia for as long as two hours, provided that splanchnic venous pooling is avoided by active pumping through a splenojugular bypass. Hepatic dysfunction after 60, 90 and, even, 120 minutes of hepatic ischemia is mild and transient. Complete return to normal liver function tests is rapid. Early microscopic alterations of the liver are moderate, and no late abnormalities, such as cirrhosis or vascular changes, were observed one to three months later. Conversely, interruption of hepatic blood flow for three hours is not compatible with life. In this study, a previously unsuspected resistance of the pig liver to warm ischemia is demonstrated. These findings corroborate and extend those of recent clinical studies in which a similar tolerance of the human liver to prolonged normotherthermic ischemia is reported, thus questioning the necessity for deliberate hypothermia in operations involving the liver.
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PMID:An experimental study of survival after two hours of normothermic hepatic ischemia. 737 48

To clarify the pathogenesis of the widely known but obscure syndrome of sudden death with hepatic fatty metamorphosis observed in alcohol abusers, we have scrutinized both the clinical and pathological data of 11 subjects who died under such circumstances between 1987 and 1993. Death followed several days of uninterrupted drinking often with little dietary intake. The notable clinical features on arrival at the emergency room were disturbance of consciousness (11/11), hypotension (4/6), hypothermia (3/5), hypoglycaemia (8/11), metabolic acidosis (6/6), renal dysfunction (11/11), and hyperammonaemia (5/5). The common hepatic pathology was the extensive appearance of numerous microvesicular fatty droplets in the hepatocytes together with varying degrees of macrovesicular fatty change; four subjects had an underlying cirrhosis. Death undoubtedly results from a variety of metabolic disturbances triggered by the combination of massive ethanol intake and starvation. The appearance of extensive microvesicular fatty change superimposed on macrovesicular fatty change was considered to be an associated phenomenon.
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PMID:Alcohol-related sudden death with hepatic fatty metamorphosis: a comprehensive clinicopathological inquiry into its pathogenesis. 946 29

Primary liver cancers are a significant cause of both morbidity and mortality. Although surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for these tumors, only 10 to 20 per cent of the primary liver tumors are found to be resectable. Presently, the options for these patients include liver transplantation, cryosurgery, or nonsurgical therapy, such as transarterial chemoembolization. Techniques such as alcohol injection, interstitial radiotherapy, laser hypothermia, and radiofrequency electrodissection have all been attempted with limited success. We present a case of a 68-year-old woman with a 10-year history of liver cirrhosis secondary to chronic active hepatitis C. A lateral segmentectomy was recommended but could not be done due to severe underlying cirrhosis. Cryosurgery aided by intraoperative ultrasonography was performed successfully. The patient developed recurrent disease at 58 months and died with disease at 62 months. Advances in instrumentation and intraoperative ultrasonography are making cryosurgery a viable surgical therapeutic alternative in the management of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. The procedure can be performed safely with low morbidity.
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PMID:Cryosurgery for unresectable primary hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report and review of literature. 1023 Dec 4

Accidental hypothermia has been described in the forensic literature but reports of occurrence in hospitalized patients are rare. Associated anatomic lesions include acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis and characteristic acute gastric ulcers termed Wischnewski ulcers. We report here two patients with cirrhosis and ascites; one also had hepatocellular carcinoma. Portal vein thrombosis, acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis and Wischnewski ulcers were present in both. The clinical records documented hypothermia that progressed over several days. Temperature nadirs of 31.0 degrees C (87.8 degrees F) and 32.2 degrees C (90.0 degrees F) were recorded in each patient, respectively, one day before death, although each transiently reached temperatures that did not register on standard monitoring devices. This is the first report that chronicles antemortem body temperatures in hypothermic patients with Wischnewski ulcers and pancreatitis at autopsy. Also, the association of these findings with portal vein thrombosis and cirrhosis has not been previously described. We discuss this constellation of findings with regard to possible mechanistic interrelations.
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PMID:Wischnewski ulcers and acute pancreatitis in two hospitalized patients with cirrhosis, portal vein thrombosis, and hypothermia. 1048 64

We have investigated the clinical characteristics of renal damage and associated complications of 79 patients with accidental hypothermia whom we encountered over the last 5 years. All patients were male, with an average age of 58.9 +/- 9.2 years. Most of these patients were homeless. Body temperature on admission was 29.3 +/- 3.0 degrees C. The most common clinical manifestations on admission were consciousness disturbance and severe hypotension. Complications, including increase in serum transaminase, alcoholism, pneumonia, liver cirrhosis, sepsis, diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia, acidosis, and an increased level of serum CPK and amylase were found frequently on admission. Death within 48 hours after admission occurred in 23 cases (the death rate; 23/79 = 29%). Renal damage was found in 36 cases (36/79 = 46%), consisting of acute renal failure (ARF) in 27, and acute on chronic in 6. Urinary diagnostic indices suggested that the etiological factor for ARF was pre-renal, which responded well to passive rewarming and an appropriate fluid replacement therapy, resulting in full recovery in most of the cases (the recovery rate; 25/27 = 93%). Among patients with renal damage, there were no cases requiring dialysis. The present data suggest that accidental hypothermia is a fatal condition with an extremely high death rate. It also is associated with multiple complications including ARF. The main cause for ARF is pre-renal, possibly caused by cold diuresis or dehydration superimposed on the underlying diseases such as alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis. Such complications, independent of renal damage, determine the patient's prognosis.
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PMID:[Clinical characteristics of renal damage in patients with accidental hypothermia]. 1050 43

OBJECTIVE: To assess the anaesthetic aspects of liver transplantation. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University teaching hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS: The first 55 patients who received liver transplantations between 5 October 1991 and 14 June 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The anaesthetic technique used; indications for liver transplantation and type of graft transplanted; survival rate; duration of anaesthesia and surgical starting time; intra-operative changes associated with major transfusion; frequency of hypothermia, coagulopathy, and reperfusion; frequency of use of cell saver devices, veno-venous bypass, and a rapid infusion system; and associated complications. RESULTS: All patients received general anaesthesia with rapid sequence induction. Most adult recipients had cirrhosis from various causes, whereas biliary atresia was the most common condition in the paediatric population. Both cadaveric and living-related liver transplantations were performed, and the overall 1-year survival rate of patients who received a transplantation before June 1996 was 85%. Veno-venous bypass was used in 84% of adults, but in none of the paediatric patients; a cell saver device was used for all adult patients and 92% of paediatric patients. All transplant recipients had acidosis, hypothermia, and hypotension during the operation. CONCLUSIONS: Liver transplantation is no longer experimental. It is the therapeutic option for patients with chronic liver failure. Good anaesthetic support is an essential element of a liver transplantation service.
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PMID:Anaesthesia for liver transplantation: experience at a teaching hospital. 1182 64

In patients with severe liver failure, brain edema is a frequent and serious complication that may result in high intracranial pressure and brain damage. This short article focuses on basic physiologic principles that determine water flux across the blood-brain barrier. Using the Starling equation, it is evident that both the osmotic and hydrostatic pressure gradients are imbalanced across the blood-brain barrier in patients with acute liver failure. This combination will tend to favor cerebral capillary water influx to the brain. In contrast, the disequilibration of the Starling forces seems to be less pronounced in patients with cirrhosis because the regulation of cerebral blood flow is preserved and the arterial ammonia concentration is lower compared with that of patients with acute liver failure. Treatments that are known to reverse high intracranial pressure tend to decrease the osmotic pressure gradients across the blood-brain barrier. Recent studies indicate that interventions that restrict cerebral blood flow, such as hyperventilation, hypothermia, and indomethacin, are also efficient in preventing edema and high intracranial pressure, probably by decreasing the transcapillary hydrostatic pressure gradient. In our opinion, it is important to recall that rational fluid therapy, adequate ventilation, and temperature control are of direct importance to controlling cerebral capillary water flux in patients with acute liver failure. These simple interventions should be secured before more advanced experimental technologies are instituted to treat these patients.
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PMID:Brain edema in liver failure: basic physiologic principles and management. 1242 10

Ethanol concentrations were measured in femoral venous blood in deaths attributed to acute alcohol poisoning (N = 693) or chronic alcoholism (N = 825), according to the forensic pathology report. Among acute alcohol poisonings were 529 men (76%) with mean age 53 years and 164 women (24%) with mean age 53 years. In the chronic alcoholism deaths were 705 men (85%) with mean age 55 years and 120 women (15%) with mean age 57 years. The blood-ethanol concentrations were not related to the person's age (r = -0.17 in acute poisonings and r = -0.09 in chronic alcoholism). The distribution of blood-ethanol concentrations in acute poisoning cases agreed with a normal or Gaussian curve with mean, median, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and spread of 0.36 g/100 mL, 0.36 g/100 mL, 0.086 g/100 mL, 24% and 0.074 to 0.68 g/100 mL, respectively. The corresponding concentrations of ethanol in chronic alcoholism deaths were not normally distributed and showed a mode between 0.01 and 0.05 g/100 mL and mean, median, and spread of 0.172 g/100 mL, 0.150 g/100 mL, and 0.01 to 0.56 g/100 mL, respectively. The 5th and 95th percentiles for blood-ethanol concentration in acute poisoning deaths were 0.22 and 0.50 g/100 mL, respectively. However, these values are probably conservative estimates of the highest blood-ethanol concentrations before death owing to metabolism of ethanol until the time of death. In 98 chronic alcoholism deaths (12%) there was an elevated concentration of acetone in the blood (>0.01 g/100 mL), and 50 of these (6%) also had elevated isopropanol (>0.01 g/100 mL). This compares with 28 cases (4%) with elevated blood-acetone in the acute poisoning deaths and 22 (3%) with elevated blood-isopropanol. We offer various explanations for the differences in blood-ethanol and blood-acetone in acute poisoning and alcoholism deaths such as chronic tolerance, alcohol-related organ and tissue damage (cirrhosis, pancreatitis), positional asphyxia or suffocation by inhalation of vomit, exposure to cold coupled with alcohol-induced hypothermia, as well as various metabolic disturbances such as hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis.
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PMID:Comparison of blood-ethanol concentration in deaths attributed to acute alcohol poisoning and chronic alcoholism. 1287 10


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