Gastroenterology Commons^™

Impact Of Compensated Cirrhosis On Survival In Patients With Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure, Kessarin Thanapirom, Tongluk Teerasarntipan, Sombat Treeprasertsuk, Ashok Choudhury, Manoj K. Sahu, Rakhi Maiwall, Viniyendra Pamecha, Richard Moreau, Saeed Hamid, Amna Subhan Butt

Section of Gastroenterology

Background and aims: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is considered a main prognostic event in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). We analyzed the 28-day and 90-day mortality in ACLF patients with or without underlying cirrhosis enrolled in the ACLF Research Consortium (AARC) database.
Methods: A total of 1,621 patients were prospectively enrolled and 637 (39.3%) of these patients had cirrhosis. Baseline characteristics, complications and mortality were compared between patients with and without cirrhosis.
Results: Alcohol consumption was more common in cirrhosis than non-cirrhosis (66.4% vs. 44.2%, p < 0.0001), while non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/cryptogenic CLD (10.9% vs 5.8%, p < 0.0001) and chronic HBV reactivation (18.8% vs 11.8%, p < 0.0001) were more common in non-cirrhosis. Only 0.8% of patients underwent liver transplantation. Overall, 28-day and 90-day mortality rates were 39.3% and 49.9%, respectively. Patients with cirrhosis had a greater chance of survival compared to those without cirrhosis both at 28-day (HR = 0.48; 95% CI 0.36-0.63, p < 0.0001) and 90-day (HR = 0.56; 95% CI 0.43-0.72, p < 0.0001), respectively. In alcohol CLD, non-cirrhosis patients had a higher 28-day (49.9% vs. 23.6%, p < 0.001) and 90-day (58.4% vs. 35.2%, p < 0.001) mortality rate than cirrhosis patients. ACLF patients with cirrhosis had longer mean survival than non-cirrhosis patients (25.5 vs. 18.8 days at 28-day and 65.2 vs. 41.2 days at 90-day). Exaggerated systemic inflammation might be the reason why non-cirrhosis patients had a poorer prognosis than those with cirrhosis after ACLF had occurred.
Conclusions: The 28-day and 90-day mortality rates of ACLF patients without cirrhosis were …

Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure: Consensus Recommendations Of The Asian Pacific Association For The Study Of The Liver (Apasl): An Update, Shiv Kumar Sarin, Ashok Choudhury, Manoj K. Sharma, Rakhi Maiwall, Mamun Al Mahtab, Salimur Rahman, Saeed Hamid, Amna S. Butt, Wasim Jafri, Zaigham Abbas

Section of Gastroenterology

The first consensus report of the working party of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) set up in 2004 on acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) was published in 2009. With international groups volunteering to join, the "APASL ACLF Research Consortium (AARC)" was formed in 2012, which continued to collect prospective ACLF patient data. Based on the prospective data analysis of nearly 1400 patients, the AARC consensus was published in 2014. In the past nearly four-and-a-half years, the AARC database has been enriched to about 5200 cases by major hepatology centers across Asia. The data published during …

Impact Of Sepsis And Non-Communicable Diseases On Prognostic Models To Predict The Outcome Of Hospitalized Chronic Liver Disease Patients, Fakhar Qazi, Shahab Abid, Preet Ayoub Shaikh, Safia Awan

Section of Gastroenterology

AIM: To evaluate the impact of sepsis and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the outcome of decompensated chronic liver disease(CLD) patients.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, medical records of patients with CLD admitted to the Gastroenterology unit at the Aga Khan University Hospital were reviewed. Patients older than 18 years with decompensation of CLD (i.e., jaundice, ascites, encephalopathy, and/or upper gastrointestinal bleed) as the primary reason for admission were included, while those who were admitted for reasons other than decompensation of CLD were excluded. Each patient was followed for 6 wk after index admission to assess mortality, prolonged hospital …

Next Big Threat For Pakistan Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Hcc), Om Parkash, Saeed Hamid

Section of Gastroenterology

In our country, world hepatitis day (28th May 2013) was observed as a liver cancer day to draw global attention on the global health menace caused by Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is the right time to write a review article to apprise the nation of this growing burden of HCC caused most commonly by viruses in our country. Pakistan is also recognized as one of the countries of the world where hepatitis C virus (HCV) is endemic. Recent large national surveys suggest an overall HCV prevalence of 4.8% and that of HBV as 2.5%. There are however communities where the …

Is It Time To Replace Propranolol With Carvedilol For Portal Hypertension?, Shahab Abid, Saadat Ali, Muhammad Asif Baig, Anam Akbar Waheed

Section of Gastroenterology

Beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists (beta-blockers) have been well established for use in portal hypertension for more than three decades. Different Non-selective beta-blockers like propranolol, nadolol, timolol, atenolol, metoprolol and carvedilol have been in clinical practice in patients with cirrhosis. Carvedilol has proven 2-4 times more potent than propranolol as a beta-receptor blocker in trials conducted testing its efficacy for heart failure. Whether the same effect extends to its potency in the reduction of portal venous pressures is a topic of on-going debate. The aim of this review is to compare the hemodynamic and clinical effects of carvedilol with propranolol, and attempt …

Nutritional Status In Patients With Hepatitis C, Faisal Wasim Ismail, Rustam A. Khan, Lubna Kamani, Ashfaq A. Wadalawala, Hasnain Ali Shah, Saeed Hamid, Wasim Jafri

Section of Gastroenterology

OBJECTIVE: To assess the nutritional status via the SGA (subjective global assessment) screening tool of patients at all stages of hepatitis C virus (HCV) liver disease.

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Out-patient Clinics of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, conducted from October 2009 to January 2011.

METHODOLOGY: Patients with hepatitis C virus infection and their HCV-negative attendants were enrolled from the outpatient clinics, and categorized into 4 groups of 100 patients each: healthy controls (HC), those with chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC), compensated cirrhotics (CC) and decompensated cirrhotics (DC). The validated subjective global assessment (SGA) …