BACKGROUND Although chronic alcohol intake and chronic hepatitis C may progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), few data are available about survival and probability of developing HCC in decompensated cirrhosis of both aetiologies. METHODS This study identified factors related with probability of developing HCC and survival in a cohort of 377 consecutive patients with decompe...

BACKGROUND Decompensated cirrhosis is a common precipitant for hospitalization, and there is limited information concerning factors that influence the delivery of quality care in cirrhotic inpatients. We sought to determine the relation between physician specialty and inpatient quality care for decompensated cirrhosis. DESIGN We reviewed 247 hospital admissions for decompensated cirrhosis, ma...

Hepatic encephalopathy is one of the major complications in decompensated liver cirrhosis. The current study was conducted to clarify the mechanisms of zinc deficiency in liver cirrhosis and its involvement in hepatic encephalopathy via ammonia metabolism. Ten patients each with compensated or decompensated liver cirrhosis and 11 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Serum zinc levels ...

Patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis have significantly impaired synthetic function. Many proteins involved in the coagulation process are synthesized in the liver. Routinely performed tests of the coagulation are abnormal in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. This has led to the widespread belief that decompensated liver cirrhosis is prototype of acquired hemorrhagic coagulopa...

BACKGROUND Intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction in liver cirrhosis and its implicated mechanisms is of great clinical importance because it is associated with the development of serious complications from diverse organs through promotion of systemic endotoxemia. AIM The present study was designed to investigate whether enterocytes' proliferation, apoptosis and intestinal oxidative stress ar...

Chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection is a burden on global healthcare and is associated with a higher risk of serious sequelae, including cirrhosis and hepatocel‐ lular carcinoma. The clinical application of entecavir as a treatment for CHB has produced positive outcomes, and so is an attractive form of pharmacological therapy. However, little data exists comparing the safety and efficacy ...

Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Department of Pathology, Taipei Medical University Hospital; and Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Taipei Medical University Wan-Fang Hospital, Taipei. Received: 20 August 2001. Revised: 20 September 2001. Accepted: 9 October 2001. Reprint requests and correspondence to: Professor Shiann Pan, Departme...

OBJECTIVE Skeletal muscle is said to compensate for the decreased ammonia metabolism in patients with cirrhosis. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are being used as a treatment for hyperammonemia, and are believed to decrease blood ammonia by consumption of BCAA in skeletal muscles. We examined ammonia metabolism of the skeletal muscles in patients with liver cirrhosis after administration of B...

Introduction Cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for almost 30 thousand deaths per year (Starr 2011). !e leading causes of cirrhosis include chronic alcohol abuse and viral hepatitis; however cirrhosis is the common end pathway of several types of liver injury, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), autoimmune hepatic or biliary disease, a...