Only the presence of moderate to severe MaS is associated with inferior early allograft outcomes. The impact of severe

MaS on allograft survival appears greater than other donor factors, including the calculated DRI. “
“Background and Aim:  selleck Fibrotic progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with impaired hepatic function. The 13C-caffeine breath test (CBT) is a non-invasive, quantitative test of liver function. We sought to determine the utility of the CBT in detecting hepatic fibrosis in NAFLD. Methods:  The CBT was applied to 48 patients with NAFLD. CBT results were compared to clinical, biochemical and histological data. Twenty-four healthy subjects served as controls. Results:  Patients with

simple steatosis had similar CBT values (2.28 ± 0.71 Δ‰ per 100 mg caffeine) to controls (2.31 ± 0.85, P = 1.0). However, CBT was significantly reduced in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (1.59 ± 0.65, P = 0.005) and cirrhosis (1.00 ± 0.73, P < 0.001). CBT significantly correlated with Brunt's fibrosis score (r = −0.49, P < 0.001) but not with steatosis (P = 0.23) or inflammation (P = 0.08). CBT also correlated with international normalized ratio (r = −0.61, P < 0.001), albumin (r = 0.37, P = 0.009), aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (r = −0.34, P = 0.018) and platelets Stem Cells antagonist (r = 0.31, P = 0.03). On multivariate analysis, age (odds ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval 1.042–1.203, P = 0.002) and CBT (OR 0.264, 95% CI 0.084–0.822, P = 0.02) were independent predictors of significant fibrosis (F ≥ 2). CBT yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic

curve of 0.86 for the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Conclusions:  The CBT reflects the extent of hepatic fibrosis in NAFLD and represents a non-invasive predictor Adenosine of fibrosis severity in this condition. “
“Incidence rates of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) have increased in the United States. Metabolic syndrome is recognized as a risk factor for HCC and a postulated one for ICC. The magnitude of risk, however, has not been investigated on a population level in the United States. We therefore examined the association between metabolic syndrome and the development of these cancers. All persons diagnosed with HCC and ICC between 1993 and 2005 were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. For comparison, a 5% sample of individuals residing in the same regions as the SEER registries of the cases was selected. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome as defined by the U.S.