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)

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have an increased risk for venous thromboembolism, mainly portal venous thrombosis (PVT). The aim of this study was to assess the role of acquired and hereditary thrombotic risk factors in HCC patients. Thirty-one patients with HCC, 30 patients with cirrhosis but without HCC or PVT, and 48 matched healthy controls were studied. Mean levels of plasma protein C, protein S, antithrombin, and serum lipoprotein (a) were significantly lower in patients with HCC and in the cirrhotic group compared to the healthy controls. Mean serum homocysteine levels were significantly higher in patients with HCC compared to cirrhotics and healthy controls. The prevalence of activated protein C resistance, factor V Leiden mutation, prothrombin gene mutation G20210GA, and C677T methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism was not significantly different among the three groups. In conclusion, thrombophilic defects are common in HCC patients and they might contribute to the observed thrombotic complications in this malignancy.
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PMID:Hypercoagulable states in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. 1525 9

The role played by coagulation defects in the occurrence of bleeding in cirrhosis is still unclear. This is partly due to the lack of tests that truly reflect the balance of procoagulant and anticoagulant factors in vivo. Conventional coagulation tests such as prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time are inadequate to explore the physiological mechanism regulating thrombin, because they do not allow full activation of the main anticoagulant factor, protein C, whose levels are considerably reduced in cirrhosis. We used a thrombin generation test to investigate the coagulation function in patients with cirrhosis. Thrombin generation measured without thrombomodulin was impaired, which is consistent with the reduced levels of procoagulant factors typically found in cirrhosis. However, when the test was modified by adding thrombomodulin (i.e., the protein C activator operating in vivo), patients generated as much thrombin as controls. Hence, the reduction of procoagulant factors in patients with cirrhosis is compensated by the reduction of anticoagulant factors, thus leaving the coagulation balance unaltered. These findings help clarify the pathophysiology of hemostasis in cirrhosis, suggesting that bleeding is mainly due to the presence of hemodynamic alterations and that conventional coagulation tests are unlikely to reflect the coagulation status of these patients. In conclusion, generation of thrombin is normal in cirrhosis. For a clinical validation of these findings, a prospective clinical trial is warranted where the results of thrombin generation in the presence of thrombomodulin are related to the occurrence of bleeding.
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PMID:Evidence of normal thrombin generation in cirrhosis despite abnormal conventional coagulation tests. 1572 21

Thrombotic occlusion of the hepatic veins leads to liver dysfunction and liver failure requiring liver transplantation in advanced cases. The cause for the occlusion of the hepatic veins is not completely understood. However, several underlying conditions such as polycytemia, factor V Leiden mutation, and protein C and S deficiency are found in these patients. We here report our single-center experience with 18 consecutive patients with Budd-Chiari Syndrome (BCS) who were treated at our institution between August 1992 and June 2003. Twelve patients underwent liver transplantation, three patients received stents into the hepatic veins or vena cava, another patient was treated with TIPSS (transjugular intrahepatic postosystemic stent shunt), and one patient underwent surgical mesocaval shunting. Three patients, among those the patient with TIPSS, were put on anticoagulant therapy and are scheduled for liver transplantation. We outline the indication for an approach tailored to the stage of the disease and the adaption of the procedures with the deterioration of clinical conditions. Surgical aspects and postoperative management with a focus on liver transplantation are outlined. We conclude from our observations that the management of BCS requires an approach that exhausts conservative approaches until clinical conditions deteriorate with respect to portal hypertension or liver function. Conservative management, i.e., interventional and supportive medical therapy, has been used up to 8 years in our series, until the time for liver transplantation is reached. Liver transplantation for BCS had more complications than transplantation for other liver diseases in our series. Therefore, we propose to keep liver function stable using interventional techniques to maintain venous outflow. If venous outflow cannot be interventionally restored and liver function deteriorates or cirrhosis develops during this time course, liver transplantation is the therapy of choice.
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PMID:Management of Budd-Chiari syndrome. 1581 Jun 39

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to the presence of infection, mediated via the production of many cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor (TNF-), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1, which cause changes in the circulation and in the coagulation cascade. There is stagnation of blood flow and poor oxygenation, subclinical coagulopathy with elevated D-dimers, and increased production of superoxide from nitric oxide synthase. All of these changes favour endothelial apoptosis and necrosis as well as increased oxidant stress. Reduced levels of activated protein C, which is normally anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic, can lead to further tissue injury. Cirrhotic patients are particularly susceptible to bacterial infections because of increased bacterial translocation, possibly related to liver dysfunction and reduced reticuloendothelial function. Sepsis ensues when there is overactivation of pathways involved in the development of the sepsis syndrome, associated with complications such as renal failure, encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleed, and shock with decreased survival. Thus the treating physician needs to be vigilant in diagnosing and treating bacterial infections in cirrhosis early, in order to prevent the development and downward spiral of the sepsis syndrome. Recent advances in management strategies of infections in cirrhosis have helped to improve the prognosis of these patients. These include the use of prophylactic antibiotics in patients with gastrointestinal bleed to prevent infection and the use of albumin in patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis to reduce the incidence of renal impairment. The use of antibiotics has to be judicious, as their indiscriminate use can lead to antibiotic resistance with potentially disastrous consequences.
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PMID:Sepsis in cirrhosis: report on the 7th meeting of the International Ascites Club. 1583 23

The liver plays a central role in haemostasis, being the site of synthesis of most of the clotting factors, coagulation inhibitors and fibrinolytic parameters, in addition to its clearance of activated clotting and fibrinolytic factors. Nonetheless, no haemostatic test(s) is included among the routine liver function tests and this study aims to probe this possibility. The liver disease group (n=258) included acute hepatitis (n=25), chronic viral hepatitis (n=128), hepatitis B (HB) carriers (n=25), liver cirrhosis (n=67), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (n=13). The prothrombin time was significantly prolonged in acute hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and HCC. However, the reptilase time was prolonged in all the groups except in HB carriers, while the thrombin time was prolonged only in the HCC group. Antithrombin III and protein C levels exhibited significant reduction in acute hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and HCC. On the other hand, protein S levels (total and free) were reduced significantly in all the patients groups, including HB carriers when compared with healthy controls. Derangement of haemostatic tests is a common feature in liver disease, being most significant in acute hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The most sensitive markers of hepatocyte malfunction are protein S (total and free) and the reptilase time as they were abnormal, in the mildest liver affections, when other biochemical tests as well as other haemostatic tests were normal. Further studies are needed to see whether these two tests qualify for inclusion among the routine liver function tests.
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PMID:Haemostatic abnormalities in liver disease: could some haemostatic tests be useful as liver function tests? 1597 Jul 16

Calciphylaxis is a rare condition of induced systemic hypersensitivity in which tissues respond to appropriate challenging agents with a sudden local calcification. It is characterized by acute calcium deposition in the medial layer of small and intermediate dermal vasculature that can lead to epidermal ischemia, ulceration, and necrosis. Calciphylaxis typically occurs in patients with end-stage renal disease who are undergoing dialysis and who have secondary hyperparathyroidism. Even in this population the incidence is less than 1%. The cause of calciphylaxis is unknown. However, it has been suggested that deficiencies of protein C and protein S may play a role in the pathophysiology of this disorder. Our patient is the fourth with cirrhosis to be reported to have developed calciphylaxis and adds further evidence that low levels of these anticoagulant factors may be an important etiologic factor for development of calciphylaxis. This report should alert the clinician that calciphylaxis occurs in patients with cirrhosis and should stimulate further research concerning the possible role of protein C and protein S deficiency in calciphylaxis.
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PMID:Calciphylaxis: a rare association with alcoholic cirrhosis. Are deficiencies in protein C and S the cause? 1610 46

Portal vein thrombosis is one of the main prehepatic causes of portal hypertension. The most frequent causes of thrombosis in this localization, apart from hepatic cirrhosis, are the following: acute inflammatory diseases and abdominal cancers, traumas, proliferative diseases of the hematopoietic system. In recent years attention was given to disorders in hemostasis, such as thrombophilia, in the course of which thrombosis development is particularly common. The authors present 10 patients after an incident of portal vein thrombosis, in which primary hepatic pathology was excluded and tests directed at thrombophilia were performed. In seven patients abnormalities in the examined parameters were found, and what is more, in two cases they had a complex character and involved more than one parameter. In five patients hyperhomocysteinemia was found. Among them, in two patients there was also a decreased protein S activity and in one of them there was also APC-resistance. In the next two patients there were abnormalities in one of the examined parameters - APC-resistance. Hyperhomocysteinemia was found in all patients with idiopathic thrombosis, and in one of them there were concurrent changes in protein S activity and APC-resistance. In patients with the history of portal vein thrombosis diagnostics of thrombophilia should be performed.
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PMID:[Portal vein thrombosis in patients with thrombophilia--own observations]. 1620 49

It was the aim of the present study to investigate factor II levels in liver cirrhosis (LC) patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) carrying the heterozygous G20210A prothrombin (PT) mutation. Plasma concentrations of factor II, VII, X, V, protein C (PC) total protein S (tPS) antithrombin (AT) and D-dimers (DD) were measured in 13 LC patients with PVT heterozygous for PT G20210A, in 13 LC patients with PVT without PT G20210A and in 13 LC controls matched by age, sex and Child-Pugh score. Crude factor II and factor II/DD ratio were highest in LC patients with PVT heterozygous for PT G20210A (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02 respectively). The factor II/PC ratio, expression of a procoagulant/anticoagulant imbalance was highest in the same group (p = 0.0008). Plasma factor II levels are elevated in LC patients heterozygous for PT G20210A and may favour PVT.
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PMID:Increased plasma prothrombin concentration in cirrhotic patients with portal vein thrombosis and prothrombin G20210A mutation. 1649 81

Calciphylaxis is an uncommon disease characterized by calcification of dermal vessels that determines skin necrosis. Calciphylaxis has been almost exclusively reported in association with renal failure and altered phosphor-calcium metabolism. Only a few cases have been described in hyperparathyroidism, malignancies, and, recently, cirrhosis. We report a patient that developed calciphylaxis related to end-stage alcoholic cirrhosis, without any alteration in the phosphocalcic and parathyroid hormone metabolisms. Possible contributing factors were repeated albumin infusions and low levels of protein C and S.
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PMID:Calciphylaxis associated with alcoholic cirrhosis. 1668 92

Coagulation factor defects, thrombocytopenia, and thrombocytopathy are associated with cirrhosis. However, bleeding in patients who have cirrhosis does not entirely correlate with abnormal coagulation tests. Recently, it was shown that because of the concomitant abnormalities of the procoagulant and anticoagulant drives, thrombin generation in plasma patients with cirrhosis is normal when assessed with assays that include thrombomodulin (the main protein C activator). However, thrombin is also generated in vivo as a function of platelets, suggesting that thrombocytopenia and thrombocytopathy might affect thrombin generation in patients with cirrhosis. We addressed this issue using an assay that accounts for the contribution of plasma and platelets. The study showed that platelet-rich plasma with platelets adjusted by dilution of autologous platelet-rich into autologous platelet-poor plasma to a standard count (100 x 10(9)/L) generates as much thrombin in patients with cirrhosis as in controls (1,063 nmol/L vs. 1,167 nmol/L; P value not significant). When platelets were adjusted to correspond to whole-blood counts, patients with cirrhosis generated significantly less thrombin than controls (949 nmol/L vs. 1,239 nmol/L; P < .001). Furthermore, thrombin generation correlated with platelet numbers (rho = 0.50; P < .001). In addition, the amount of thrombin generated as a function of the whole-blood patients' platelet counts increased significantly when the numbers were adjusted to 100 x 10(9)/L (953 nmol/L vs.1,063 nmol/L; P < .001). In conclusion, severe thrombocytopenia may limit thrombin generation in patients with cirrhosis. These findings might justify platelet transfusion in patients with low platelet counts when they bleed spontaneously or before undergoing surgery or liver biopsy. Controlled clinical trials supporting this indication are warranted.
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PMID:Thrombin generation in patients with cirrhosis: the role of platelets. 1687 42


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