Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics
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Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. · Jul 2012
Correlation between liver histology and novel magnetic resonance imaging in adult patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - MRI accurately quantifies hepatic steatosis in NAFLD.
Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that measure hepatic steatosis are limited by T1 bias, T(2)* decay and multi-frequency signal-interference effects of protons in fat. Newer MR techniques such as the proton density-fat fraction (PDFF) that correct for these factors have not been specifically compared to liver biopsy in adult patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). ⋯ MRI-determined proton density-fat fraction correlates with histology-determined steatosis grade in adults with NAFLD. Steatosis is non-linearly related to fibrosis progression. In patients with NAFLD, a low amount of hepatic steatosis on imaging does not necessarily indicate mild disease.
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Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. · Jul 2012
Case ReportsThe safety and efficacy of antitumour necrosis factor-alpha therapy for inflammatory bowel disease in patients post liver transplantation: a case series.
The role of antitumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF) therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) among liver transplant recipients is largely unknown given the rarity of this population and the paucity of literature on the subject. ⋯ Based on this case series, anti-TNF therapy appears to be safe and effective for treating refractory IBD in patients post liver transplantation. These patients respond to anti-TNF therapy similar to those who have not been previously transplanted.