Anna S. F. Lok, Ching‐Lung Lai – 1 January 1989 – Two hundred ninety patients (203 men, 87 women), age 7 to 74 years (mean: 39.1 years), with chronic hepatitis B virus infection, were prospectively followed for a period of 1 to 4 years to determine the value of α‐fetoprotein monitoring in the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. At presentation, 66% of the patients were asymptomatic, 19% had chronic hepatitis and 15% had established cirrhosis.

1 November 1988

Toru Nakano, Jiro Yanagisawa, Fumio Nakayama – 1 November 1988 – To investigate the importance of bacterial infection in the formation of free fatty acids found in brown pigment gallstones, free fatty acids and phospholipase activity in hepatic bile, with or without the presence of bacterial infection, were compared. The concentration of free fatty acids in bile with bacterial infection [0.467 ± 0.447 mg per ml (mean ± S.D.)] was significantly higher than when bacterial infection was absent (0.073 ± 0.041 mg per ml; p < 0.01).

David H. Adams, David Burnett, Robert A. Stockley, Stefan G. Hubscher, Paul McMaster, Elwyn Elias – 1 November 1988 – β2‐Microglobulin, which is associated with HLA class 1 antigens, was assayed in bile and serum from 19 patients following 22 liver transplants. Serum levels were elevated in all posttransplant patients irrespective of the presence of rejection. In contrast, biliary levels were significantly higher during episodes of acute rejection compared with posttransplant cholangitis (p < 0.01), stable graft function (p < 0.0001) and nontrans‐plant samples (p < 0.0001).

Harry A. Cynamon, Karyl Norcross, J. Nevin Isenberg – 1 November 1988 – To assess the effect of chronic cholestasis and vitamin E deficiency on nervous system function, we did multimodality evoked potential testing of 17 children (mean age = 47 months) who had chronic liver disease. Evoked potential testing was repeated periodically in 11 patients 1 to 33 months after the initial study.

John M. Porter, Marc S. Sussman, Gerald M. Rosen – 1 November 1988 – A patient with hepatonecrosis associated with cocaine use is presented. Postmortem examination of the liver showed marked periportal inflammation and necrosis, and mild diffuse fatty infiltration. These pathologic findings are identical to those previously reported in a mouse model of cocaine hepatotoxicity.

Peter Van Eyken, Raf Sciot, Francesco Callea, Kris Van Der Steen, Philip Moerman, Valeer J. Desmet – 1 November 1988 – The development of the intrahepatic bile ducts in man was studied using an immunohistochemical technique on 56 liver specimens ranging in age from 6 weeks of gestation to 8 months after birth. On paraffin sections, two monoclonal anticytokeratin antibodies (CAM 5.2 and KL‐1) that normally stain both hepatocytes and bile duct cells and two polyclonal anticytokeratin antisera that in normal adult liver stain bile ducts only were applied.

Henry C. Bodenheimer, Ronald A. Faris, Colette Charland, Douglas C. Hixson – 1 November 1988 – We have characterized the cell and tissue binding specificity of a newly generated monoclonal antibody, Mab Ku‐1, which shows selective reactivity with rat macrophages and Kupffer cells. The hybridoma secreting Mab Ku‐1 was constructed by fusion of 8653 myeloma cells with spleen cells isolated from a mouse immunized with nonparenchymal liver cells coated with antihepatocyte antibodies.

Katsunori Wada, Fukuo Kondo, Yoichiro Kondo – 1 November 1988 – In order to reveal the precursor lesion of hepatocellular carcinoma, a histopathologic study was performed on 141 cases of liver cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma. Exclusive of primary or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma nodules, 94 nodular lesions (>5 mm) were detected in 53 cirrhotic livers. They consisted of 83 large regenerative nodules and 11 dysplastic nodules.

Richard J. Havel, Robert L. Hamilton – 1 November 1988