Effect of Hypertension on Long-term Adverse Clinical Outcomes and Liver Fibrosis Progression in MASLD.

Background & Aims: Hypertension is common in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), but its impact on long-term clinical outcomes and disease progression remains unclear. This study investigated the association of hypertension and risk of adverse clinical outcomes and progression of liver stiffness/fibrosis in MASLD.

Methods: Three multicenter prospective cohorts were analyzed: the UK BioBank (UKBB) cohort to assess the risk of adverse clinical outcomes, the VCTE-Prognosis cohort to assess liver stiffness/fibrosis progression, and the Paired Liver Biopsy cohort to assess histologic liver fibrosis progression.

Longitudinal Changes in Fibrosis Markers: Monitoring Stiffness/Fibrosis Progression and Prognostic Outcomes in MASLD.

Background & Aims: Fibrosis-4 Index (FIB-4) is a noninvasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, its role of dynamic FIB-4 for assessing fibrosis progression and predicting clinical outcomes remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the association between changes in FIB-4 and changes in liver stiffness, fibrosis progression, and outcomes in MASLD.

A Novel Risk Prediction Model for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in MASLD: A Multinational, Multicenter Cohort Study.

Background And Aims: It is unclear that which cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) are significantly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). We aimed to develop and validate a novel CMRF-based HCC risk prediction model in MASLD.

Methods: This multicenter cohort study recruited 77,677 MASLD patients from 20 medical centers in Korea and other Asian and Western countries (2004-2023).

Non-invasive risk-based surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) affects over 30% of the general population and is the fastest growing cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Current guidelines recommend HCC surveillance in patients with cirrhosis when annual HCC incidence exceeds 1% without specifying the role of non-invasive tests in patient selection.

Objective: To define non-invasive test thresholds to select patients with MASLD for HCC surveillance.

Effect of Antidiabetic Drug Classes on the Risk of Liver-Related Events in Individuals With T2D and MASLD.

Background: We investigated the use of type 2 diabetes (T2D) medications, including pioglitazone, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors, in individuals with T2D and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), and explored the effect of these medications on long-term risk of liver-related events (LREs) and progression of liver stiffness in a retrospective cohort study.

Methods: We enrolled 7867 individuals with T2D and MASLD from 16 tertiary referral centers between February 2004 and January 2023. We recorded the use of pioglitazone, GLP-1RAs, and SGLT-2 inhibitors and analyzed the effects of these antihyperglycemic medications on the risk of developing incident LREs and the progression of liver stiffness over a median of 5.

From "Burnt-Out" to "Burning-Out": Capturing Liver Fat Loss in Patients With Advanced Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease From a Dynamic Perspective.

Background & Aims: The absence of hepatic fat in advanced fibrosis has been documented in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease ("burnt-out" MASLD). However, whether hepatic fat loss occurs continuously with fibrosis progression is controversial. We proposed a "burning-out" concept to describe this process and analyze the long-term outcomes of "burnt-out" and "burning-out" MASLD.

Prognostic performance of the two-step clinical care pathway in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Background & Aims: Current guidelines recommend a two-step approach for risk stratification in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) involving Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) followed by liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) or similar second-line tests. This study aimed to examine the prognostic performance of this approach.

Methods: The VCTE-Prognosis study was a longitudinal study of patients with MASLD who had undergone VCTE examinations at 16 centres from the US, Europe and Asia with subsequent follow-up for clinical events.

Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography Scores to Predict Liver-Related Events in Steatotic Liver Disease.

Importance: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is currently the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. It is important to develop noninvasive tests to assess the disease severity and prognosis.

Objective: To study the prognostic implications of baseline levels and dynamic changes of the vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE)-based scores developed for the diagnosis of advanced fibrosis (Agile 3+) and cirrhosis (Agile 4) in patients with MASLD.

Impact of catheter tip to hepatic vein ostium distance on the validity and prognostication of hepatic venous pressure gradient in cirrhosis.

Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is an accurate measure of portal hypertension in cirrhosis. However, the effect of catheter tip distance from hepatic vein ostium (HVO) on HVPG is unknown. We performed a retrospective study on 228 patients with 307 HVPGs in our institution.

Ulcerative colitis: STRIDE-ing beyond symptoms with new standards.

The landscape of ulcerative colitis has changed in the last two decades. Advancements in pharmacotherapeutics have heralded the introduction of new treatment options, with many agents in development. Better clinical outcomes are seen with tighter disease control, made possible with greater understanding of inflammatory pathways and their blockade with drugs.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in functional dyspepsia: A pilot randomized trial.

Background And Aim: Patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) often have concomitant anxiety and depression. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) combines the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness. It is a group-based therapy and has been shown to be efficacious in functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Severe Symptomatic Hypophosphataemia as a Complication of Parenteral Iron Replacement.

Unlabelled: Parental iron replacement is given to patients with severe iron deficiency or intolerance to oral iron. Hypophosphataemia has been reported to occur as a complication of parental iron replacement, and is postulated to be related to the carbohydrate moieties used in the parenteral preparations. Hypophosphataemia is under-diagnosed as symptoms such as fatigue, muscle weakness and poor effort tolerance mimic anaemia.

Masquerading Hypervascular Exophytic Liver Nodule.

Unlabelled: Patients with liver cirrhosis are at increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and are placed on routine surveillance for HCC. Diagnosis algorithms are in place to guide clinicians in the evaluation of liver lesions detected during surveillance. Radiological assessments are critical with diagnostic criteria based on identification of typical hallmarks of HCCs on multiphasic computed tomography (CT) and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Impact of enhanced personal protective equipment on colonoscopy performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using personal protective equipment (PPE) can reduce risk of disease transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, enhanced PPE (EPPE) is recommended when performing endoscopy. We aimed to evaluate the impact of EPPE on colonoscopy performance when compared to standard PPE (SPPE).