Development of Quality Measures in Cirrhosis by the Practice Metrics Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Fasiha Kanwal, Elliot B. Tapper, Chanda Ho, Sumeet K. Asrani, Nadia Ovchinsky, John Poterucha, Avegail Flores, Victor Ankoma‐Sey, Bruce Luxon, Michael Volk – 26 December 2018 – Health care delivery is increasingly evaluated according to quality measures, yet such measures are underdeveloped for cirrhosis. The Practice Metrics Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases was charged with developing explicit process‐based and outcome‐based measures for adults with cirrhosis.

Pevonedistat, a Neuronal Precursor Cell‐Expressed Developmentally Down‐Regulated Protein 8–Activating Enzyme Inhibitor, Is a Potent Inhibitor of Hepatitis B Virus

Kazuma Sekiba, Motoyuki Otsuka, Motoko Ohno, Mari Yamagami, Takahiro Kishikawa, Takahiro Seimiya, Tatsunori Suzuki, Eri Tanaka, Rei Ishibashi, Kazuyoshi Funato, Kazuhiko Koike – 26 December 2018 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health concern worldwide. To prevent HBV‐related mortality, elimination of viral proteins is considered the ultimate goal of HBV treatment; however, currently available nucleos(t)ide analogs rarely achieve this goal, as viral transcription from episomal viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is not prevented.

Development of Quality Measures in Cirrhosis by the Practice Metrics Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Fasiha Kanwal, Elliot B. Tapper, Chanda Ho, Sumeet K. Asrani, Nadia Ovchinsky, John Poterucha, Avegail Flores, Victor Ankoma‐Sey, Bruce Luxon, Michael Volk – 26 December 2018 – Health care delivery is increasingly evaluated according to quality measures, yet such measures are underdeveloped for cirrhosis. The Practice Metrics Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases was charged with developing explicit process‐based and outcome‐based measures for adults with cirrhosis.

Financial Compensation For Hepatologists in Different Practice Settings

Mitchell L. Shiffman, Norman L. Sussman, Natarajan Ravendhran, Macia Ditmyer, Kris V. Kowdley, Marcelo Kugelmas – 26 December 2018 – Several governmental agencies and private organizations monitor data on relative value units (RVUs) and salary earned by various medical specialists. There are currently no data that define the RVU production and salary earned by hepatologists. A web‐based survey that queried the number of patients that a hepatologist cares for, RVU production, and salary support was sent to 2,587 members of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

An Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital/Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus Scoring System as an Aid to Decision Making on Hepatectomy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients With Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus: A Multicenter Study

Xiu‐Ping Zhang, Yu‐Zhen Gao, Zhen‐Hua Chen, Min‐Shan Chen, Le‐Qun Li, Tian‐Fu Wen, Li Xu, Kang Wang, Zong‐Tao Chai, Wei‐Xing Guo, Jie Shi, Dong Xie, Meng‐Chao Wu, Wan Yee Lau, Shu‐Qun Cheng – 26 December 2018 – Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) is a significant poor prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Patients with PVTT limited to a first‐order branch of the main portal vein (MPV) or above could benefit from negative margin (R0) liver resection (LR).

Arid1a Loss Drives Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Mice Through Epigenetic Dysregulation of Hepatic Lipogenesis and Fatty Acid Oxidation

Austin Moore, Linwei Wu, Jen‐Chieh Chuang, Xuxu Sun, Xin Luo, Purva Gopal, Lin Li, Cemre Celen, Michael Zimmer, Hao Zhu – 25 December 2018 – Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a rapidly growing cause of chronic liver damage, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. How fatty liver pathogenesis is subject to epigenetic regulation is unknown. We hypothesized that chromatin remodeling is important for the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease.

Low Serum Hepcidin Is Associated With Reduced Short‐Term Survival in Adults With Acute Liver Failure

Igor Spivak, Jyoti Arora, Caitlyn Meinzer, Valerie Durkalski‐Mauldin, William M. Lee, Christian Trautwein, Robert J. Fontana, Pavel Strnad, for the Acute Liver Failure Study Group (ALFSG) – 24 December 2018 – The liver has an important role in iron homeostasis through the synthesis of the serum transporter transferrin and the iron hormone hepcidin. The aim of this study was to analyze parameters of iron metabolism in a multicenter cohort of adult patients with acute liver failure (ALF) and in an acetaminophen (APAP)‐induced ALF mouse model.

The Role of Three‐Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Elastography in the Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Obese Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery

Alina M. Allen, Vijay H. Shah, Terry M. Therneau, Sudhakar K. Venkatesh, Taofic Mounajjed, Joseph J. Larson, Kristin C. Mara, Phillip J. Schulte, Todd A. Kellogg, Michael L. Kendrick, Travis J. McKenzie, Suzanne M. Greiner, Jiahui Li, Kevin J. Glaser, Michael L. Wells, Jun Chen, Richard L. Ehman, Meng Yin – 24 December 2018 – The lack of reliable, noninvasive methods to diagnose early nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a major unmet need.

Frequency and Outcomes of Abnormal Imaging in Patients With Cirrhosis Enrolled in a Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Program

Monica A. Konerman, Aashesh Verma, Betty Zhao, Amit G. Singal, Anna S. Lok, Neehar D. Parikh – 24 December 2018 – There are limited data on the downstream effects of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) surveillance, including the frequency of false‐positive results. We aimed to quantify the incidence of indeterminate nodules (INs) and the follow‐up testing needed to resolve these findings among patients enrolled in a structured HCC surveillance program. We retrospectively analyzed adult patients with cirrhosis enrolled in a structured HCC surveillance program in a large tertiary care center.

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