Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor with the second highest mortality rate in China, and annual deaths account for 51% of all deaths in the world.HCC brings heavy burdens to the society and medical care in China.Early diagnosis is one of the most important methods for preventing HCC and improving survival rate of HCC patients, and the development of simple, convenient, and quick diagnostic methods is a direction for current research.Methods for the early diagnosis of HCC mainly include imaging diagnosis and measurements of protein markers and molecular markers.Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has an important value in the early diagnosis of HCC.OneStep AFP test helps the patients to measure AFP at home by themselves and realize the regular monitoring of AFP level, which supports the early diagnosis of HCC and creates a new approach for early screening and diagnosis of HCC.

Cholestasis ; Humans ; Liver Diseases

Acid-related disorders are commonly seen diseases of upper digestive tract which are closely related to acid attack.Antacids and acid inhibitors are the main drugs in the therapy of acid-related disorders.There are complex interrelationships between antacids and acid inhibitors and other drugs.This article reviewed the application and evaluation of antacids and acid inhibitors in acid-related disorders.

Biomarkers ; blood ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; diagnosis ; Models, Biological

Recent studies have shown that complications of cirrhotic portal hypertension often involve multiple organs,which is called multiple organ dysfunction syndrome by some scholars.When muhiple organ failure occurs,there is a significant increase in patients'short-term death rate,and death rate is associated with the number of organs involved.This article briefly describes the physiopothologic mechanisms of portal hypertension and visceral vasodilation and summarizes the pathological changes of vital organs including the heart,lung,kidney,brain,and liver and related pathogenesis.At present,liver transplantation remains the most effective therapy,but it still has some shortcomings.It is pointed out that further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms of action of each link in disease development,and more targets are needed in the future to prevent and treat multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Recently,the relationship between intestinal dysbacteriosis and chronic liver disease has received much attention. The imbalance of intestinal flora microecology,such as overgrowth of gram negative bacteria,leads to intestinal endotoxemia,and endotoxemia plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic liver disease. This article reviewed the advances in study on relationship between enterohepatic circulation and chronic liver disease.

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of various chronic liver diseases.Early diagnosis and staging of liver cirrhosis,as well as effective disease assessment,are of great clinical significance.The application of liver biopsy,serological testing,and radiological examination in the clinical diagnosis of liver cirrhosis and the research advances in evaluation of liver reserve function,complications,and prognosis are re-viewed.It is pointed out that with the development of molecular biological and imaging techniques,the accuracy and specificity of noninva-sive diagnosis will be increased,and the disease assessment system will be improved.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)is a clinical syndrome characterized by hepatic fat deposition, and not caused by chronic heavy drinking and other liver damage factors. The pathogenesis of NAFLD is associated with environmental,genetic,immune and other various factors. Early diagnosis is helpful not only for distinguishing between simple non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL)and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH),but also for grading the extent of NAFLD lesion and delaying its further development. This article reviewed the clinical research progress of non-invasive diagnosis and evaluation of NAFLD.

The liver has a strong regenerative capacity,and in case of acute injury,the proliferation of mature hepatocytes helps to complete liver regeneration.However,in case of chronic injury,the proliferative capacity of mature hepatocytes is damaged or exhausted,and the activation,proliferation,and differentiation of hepatic progenitor cells are involved in liver regeneration.This article summarizes the characteristics and origins of hepatic progenitor cells,their role in tissue repair after liver injury and development of liver cancer,and potentials and problems of cell transplantation in the treatment of liver diseases.It is pointed out that an understanding of the biological characteristics of hepatic progenitor cells,their role in liver injury and liver cancer,and related pathogenesis helps with the treatment of liver diseases.

Objective To compare and analyze the kinetics changes of lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and esophageal body of achalasia after treated by simple dilation, dilation with botulinum toxin injection and stenting under endoscope. Methods The 99 clinical diagnosed achalasia cases were divide into simple dilation group, dilation with botulinum toxin injection group and stenting group, which were treated with simple dilation, dilation with botulinum toxin injection and stenting respectively. The resting pressure of LES, relaxing ratio, the percentage of concordant and discordant contraction of esophageal body and the contraction range at 10 cm above LES were tested. The variation of each indicator was compared and analyzed before and after the operation. Results Before treatment, the value of the resting pressure of LES, the percentage of discordant contraction,contracting amplitude of esophageal body was higher than normal, while the relaxing ratio of LES and percentage of concordant contraction of esophageal body was lower. There was no significant difference between 3 groups. One week after the treatment, there was no statistic difference in the variation of each indicator compared with pre-operation in 3 groutps. Six months after the treatment, theimprovement of LES resting pressure, relaxing rate and contracting amplitude of esophageal body in dilation with injection group and stenting group were better than those of dilation group (P was 0.041,0.006,0.037and 0. 029,0.004,0.033 respectively). However there was no statistic difference between dilation with injection group and stenting group. Twelve months after treatment, the improvement of LES resting pressure, relaxing ratio, the percentage of concordant contraction and contracting amplitude of esophageal body in stenting group were better than those of dilation group (P was 0.035,0.028, 0. 008, and 0. 007 respectively). However there was no statistic difference between dilation with injection group and simple dilation group. Conclusion Simple dilation, dilation with botulinum toxin injection and stenting are effective methods of achalasia treatment. The effect in near future is significant, while the long-term recurrence is in rising trend as time extension. The effect of stenting is better than the other two methods in the long-term.