When rejection comes from within
A new cellular structure responsible for previously unexplained rejection of organ transplants has been identified by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM.)
Liver
Liver damage in hepatitis C patients significantly underestimated
The number of hepatitis C patients suffering from advanced liver damage may be grossly underestimated and underdiagnosed, according to a study led by researchers at Henry Ford Health System and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
News • Research
Malaria’s key to the liver uncovered
Scientists uncover a port of liver entry for malaria parasites in a report published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. If these results hold up in humans, drugs that target this entry protein might help prevent the spread of disease.
Article • Research
A recipe for long-lasting livers
People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that donor organs last and can also resuscitate organs obtained after cardiac arrest.
Big data of human biology
A multi-year study led by researchers from the Simons Center for Data Analysis (SCDA) and major universities and medical schools has broken substantial new ground, establishing how genes work together within 144 different human tissues and cell types in carrying out those tissues' functions.
Article • Computer Model
How our livers will store fat?
As part of an effort to understand how an experimental drug for atherosclerosis causes the build-up of fat in the liver, scientists have developed a computer model that can predict how the rate at which liver stores fat in response to various situations.
News • Organ Transplantation
Innovative technique for liver transplants
Surgeons at the University Hospitals Leuven have used a new technique for two recent liver transplants: in both cases the organ was preserved prior transplantation in a device that mimics the environment of that in the human body, making sure the liver stays ‘healthier’. The device can even assess and improve the quality of the liver.
News • Diabetes
Biomarker for steatohepatitis
40 percent of people in the EU suffer from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease which is becoming increasingly more frequent as a result of diabetes and excess weight in an affluent society.
Sponsored • Fast Ultrasound
Ultrasound system sharpens paediatric hepatic imaging
Ask about UltraFast ultrasound and you might expect a technical answer explaining why the ultrasound is faster. However, for Stéphanie Franchi-Abella MD, fast means just fast, an ultra-quick acquisition she can take of a squirming, agitated new-born in the blink of an eye. ‘These babies are small and breathing rapidly, the organs are moving fast in the image and it’s sometimes difficult to…
Article • Liver
Stellate cells control regeneration and fibrosis
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty in Mannheim at Heidelberg University are searching for new approaches to prevent liver fibrosis. They have identified a surface molecule on special liver cells called stellate cells as a potential target for interfering with this process. When the researchers turned off the receptor, this led to reduced liver…
News • Research
New revolutionary culturing technique for liver and pancreas
Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht successfully developed a culturing system for human liver stem cells as well as stem cells from pancreatic cancer. They describe the development of these culturing systems in two articles in this week’s edition of Cell magazine.
Article • Incidental findings
Liver lesions are most often benign
At least 60% of liver lesions can be characterised purely by ultrasound. Screening and examinations of supposedly healthy patients often result in an accidental discovery of liver lesions. According to Dr Antonius Schuster MD MBA, Head of the Department of Radiology at the LKH Bregenz, (Vorarlberg). ‘The prevalence of such changes is around 20% of patients examined’. Depending on a…
A little revolution in sonography
Until recently liver biopsies were performed to stage hepatic fibrosis in order to identify the suitable therapy. ‘Since any intervention in the human body is associated with risks – haemorrhage and infection for example – we have long been looking for an alternative method to determine liver tissue elasticity. Today shear wave elastography is exactly such a method,’ says Professor…
World first for liver transplant team
A transplant team at a Birmingham hospital has achieved a world first after resuscitating a liver that would have previously been considered unviable.
Holmium microspheres for image-guided cancer treatment
Over the next few years, the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and Quirem Medical will be working closely together to maximize the benefits of using holmium microspheres to treat liver cancer patients worldwide.
Liver tumors: 3-D MRI scans better predict survival after chemo
In a series of studies involving 140 American men and women with liver tumors, researchers at Johns Hopkins have used specialized 3-D MRI scans to precisely measure living and dying tumor tissue to quickly show whether highly toxic chemotherapy – delivered directly through a tumor’s blood supply – is working.
Of echoes, triangles and quadrants
Medicine is not immune to prejudices. In the past, the ‘fatty liver’ diagnosis was often accompanied by the hasty conclusion that the problem was surely caused by alcohol abuse.
Scientists Grow A Simple, Human Liver In A Petri Dish
Japanese scientists have cracked open a freaky new chapter in the sci-fi-meets-stem-cells era. A group in Yokohama reported it has grown a primitive liver in a petri dish using a person's skin cells.
Managing patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
The hepatocellular carcinoma is the sixth most frequent cause of cancer worldwide, explained Dr Bruno Sangro at ECR, and it is the third most frequent cause of death due to cancer.
ShearWave Elastography is relevant in diagnosis, staging, and prognosis for liver fibrosis
Across the globe, up to 400 million people carry the hepatitis B virus, and more than 180 million – approximately 400,000 in France – are infected with the hepatitis C virus.
France: Transplant surgeons perform outstanding feats
Simultaneous surgical successes open new perspectives for multiple transplants
Liver transplants hit record levels
A record number of liver transplants have been carried out by the Birmingham Liver Teams at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Imaging liver lesions
CT-ultrasound fusion optimises planning and monitoring of ablations in interventional radiology.
Liver Imaging
For his Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Honorary Lecture at ECR 2011, Professor Richard Baron MD, from the Radiology Department at the University of Chicago, USA, focused on Detecting liver tumours: the search for the Holy Grail. Why does he compare this aim with that of the medieval knights?