Vitamin A toxicity: When one a day doesn't keep the doctor away

Rekha Cheruvattath, Mauricio Orrego, Manjushree Gautam, Thomas Byrne, Shayan Alam, Marina Voltchenok, Mark Edwin, James Wilkens, James W. Williams, Hugo E. Vargas – 28 November 2006 – Vitamin A toxicity has been reported to cause severe liver disease and, occasionally, liver failure. Herein we present the case of a 60‐year‐old male with symptoms of muscle soreness, alopecia, nail dystrophy, and ascites. He continued to deteriorate with the development of refractory ascites, renal insufficiency, encephalopathy, and failure to thrive.

H. pylori and platelet counts

Hays L. Arnold, Stephen A. Harrison – 28 November 2006 – Helicobacter pylori (HP) eradication therapy is a useful treatment for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Some investigators have also reported the effects of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) monotherapy on ITP. We performed a randomized study of HP eradication therapy and PPI monotherapy on ITP. Four of nine patients achieved complete remission (CR), two of nine achieved partial remission (PR) in HP eradication therapy, three of eight achieved CR, and two of eight achieved PR in PPI monotherapy.

Dynamic FDG‐PET is useful for detection of cholangiocarcinoma in patients with PSC listed for liver transplantation

Hanne Prytz, Susanne Keiding, Einar Björnsson, Ulrika Broomé, Sven Almer, Maria Castedal, Ole Lajord Munk, The Swedish Internal Medicine Liver Club – 28 November 2006 – Five to 15% of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) develop cholangiocarcinoma (CC) with a median survival of 5 to 7 months, an outcome not significantly improved by liver transplantation. However, if CC is found incidentally during the procedure or in the explanted liver, 5‐year survival rates of 35% are reported. A noninvasive method to detect CC small enough to allow for intended curative surgery is needed.

Prediction of recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after curative ablation using three tumor markers

Ryosuke Tateishi, Shuichiro Shiina, Haruhiko Yoshida, Takuma Teratani, Shuntaro Obi, Noriyo Yamashiki, Hideo Yoshida, Masatoshi Akamatsu, Takao Kawabe, Masao Omata – 28 November 2006 – Three tumor markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are available in daily practice in Japan: alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP), des‐gamma‐carboxy prothrombin (DCP), and lens culinaris agglutinin‐reactive fraction of alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP‐L3).

Alpha‐fetoprotein and prognosis in acute liver failure

Frank V. Schiødt, George Ostapowicz, Natalie Murray, Raj Satyanarana, Atif Zaman, Santiago Munoz, William M. Lee – 28 November 2006 – Serum concentrations of alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP), variably elevated during liver injury, have been suggested to be of prognostic importance in acute liver failure (ALF), higher values being associated with improved outcome. Using a nephelometric assay, we measured AFP in sera obtained on admission from 206 patients prospectively enrolled in the US ALF Study, and on day 3 in 162 of these patients.

Outcome of acute idiosyncratic drug‐induced liver injury: Long‐term follow‐up in a hepatotoxicity registry

Raúl J. Andrade, M. Isabel Lucena, Neil Kaplowitz, Beatriz García‐Muņoz, Yolanda Borraz, Ketevan Pachkoria, Miren García‐Cortés, M. Carmen Fernández, Gloria Pelaez, Luis Rodrigo, José A. Durán, Joan Costa, Ramón Planas, Anabel Barriocanal, Carlos Guarner, Manuel Romero‐Gomez, Teresa Muņoz‐Yagüe, Javier Salmerón, Ramón Hidalgo – 28 November 2006 – A chronic adverse reaction may occur in some instances of drug‐induced liver injury (DILI), even despite drug cessation.

Subscribe to