Humans ; Liver Diseases ; drug therapy

Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; diagnosis ; therapy

Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; drug therapy

As a liver disease with the most complex clinical phenotype, drug-induced liver injury (DILI) poses great challenges in diagnosis and management in clinical practice. Although guidelines based on the latest research advances can provide clinicians with guidance on the identification, diagnosis, and management of DILI, the overall level of evidence in this field is relatively low and high-level evidence is limited. Therefore, we should interpret guidelines with caution and look forward to more clinical and translational research to address the huge unmet clinical needs in DILI.
Humans ; Translational Research, Biomedical ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury/therapy* ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Function Tests

Actinomycosis is a chronic suppurative and granulomatous disease characterized histologically by sulfur granules with extensive necrosis, fibrosis and sinus formation. Depending on the site of primary infection, actinomycosis is generally classified as cervicofacial, thoracic and abdominal type. The liver is known to be the primary site of infection in 15% with abdominal actinomycosis. The authors have experienced a case of liver abscess in a 24-year-old male. The sono-guided aspiration biopsy revealed findings of infiltration of neutrophils and characteristics sulfur granules by light microscopy. This case was thought to represent an instance of liver actinomycosis. Although there have been a lot of reports on actinomycosis of the liver in other countries, only 3 cases were reported in Korea.
Actinomycosis/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Adult ; Humans ; Liver Diseases/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Male

Dexamethasone ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; drug therapy ; Reperfusion Injury ; drug therapy

Fel Ursi is a dried product obtained from the gallbladder of Ursidae animals, such as Selenarctos thibetanus or Ursus arctos, through gallbladder surgery for bile drainage. It is one of the rare animal medicinal materials in China and is known for its therapeutic effects, including clearing heat, removing toxins, extinguishing wind, relieving spasms, clearing the liver, and improving vision. Research has also found that Fel Ursi has pharmacological effects against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and antioxidant stress properties. Recently, numerous studies have confirmed the close relationship between cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and the gut microbiota as well as gut metabolites. Fel Ursi contains bile acid components that may have bidirectional regulatory effects on the gut microbiota and gut metabolites. This aspect could represent a potential therapeutic pathway for Fel Ursi in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. This article comprehensively summarized relevant literature in China and abroad, reviewed the research progress on the pharmacological effects of Fel Ursi against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and explored the impact of Fel Ursi on gut microbiota and gut metabolites, thereby aiming to provide references for further in-depth research and clinical application of Fel Ursi.
Animals ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/drug therapy* ; Bile Acids and Salts ; Lung ; Liver ; Ursidae ; Cardiovascular Diseases/drug therapy*

China ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Hepatitis B ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; drug therapy ; Phytotherapy

Liver fibrosis is a pathological condition characterized by replacement of normal liver tissue with scar tissue, and also the leading cause of liver-related death worldwide. During the treatment of liver fibrosis, in addition to antiviral therapy or removal of inducers, there remains a lack of specific and effective treatment strategies. For thousands of years, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have been widely used to treat liver fibrosis in clinical setting. CHMs are effective for liver fibrosis, though its mechanisms of action are unclear. In recent years, many studies have attempted to determine the possible mechanisms of action of CHMs in treating liver fibrosis. There have been substantial improvements in the experimental investigation of CHMs which have greatly promoted the understanding of anti-liver fibrosis mechanisms. In this review, the role of CHMs in the treatment of liver fibrosis is described, based on studies over the past decade, which has addressed the various mechanisms and signaling pathways that mediate therapeutic efficacy. Among them, inhibition of stellate cell activation is identified as the most common mechanism. This article provides insights into the research direction of CHMs, in order to expand its clinical application range and improve its effectiveness.
Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Fibrosis ; Liver Diseases/drug therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; Liver Cirrhosis/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical effect of L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA) granules in treating chronic liver disease in patients with high-level serum gamma-glutamyltransferase (G-GT) using a 24-week treatment course.

METHODSTwo-hundred patients with chronic liver disease and above normal G-GT were given a 12-week course of LOLA granules (9 g/d) and then classified into the following three groups according to the change in serum Gamma-GT:group I:patients with Gamma-GT level returned to normal;group II:patients with serum Gamma-GT level that was reduced during the treatment; group III:patients with serum Gamma-GT level that did not decrease or that increased to a higher level than at start of treatment.After the 12-week treatment course, the patients in group I were divided into three subgroups for receipt of a control drug (compound glycyrrhizin, 50mg/d) or an additional 12-week course of Gamma-GT at a reduced dose (LOLA granules 3 g/d) or at the original dose; groups II and III were maintained on the initial dose for an additional 12 weeks.The groups were reassessed at the end of the second 12-week course (at the end of week 24 of the study's observation period).Count data were compared using the x2 test and measurement data were compared using the t-test.

RESULTSIn group I, the serum Gamma-GT level was 90.9% at the end of the first 12-week course and dropped to a mean level of 52.2% for both of the subgroups that received the reduced and original dose after the additional 12 weeks of LOLA granules treatment; the difference from week 12 to week 24 was significant (x2=8.213, P less than 0.05).The 24-week change in serum Gamma-GT levels for the group I reduced and original dose subgroups vs.the control subgroup were also significantly different from those seen in groups II and III (P less than 0.05).The percentage of patients in group I who achieved normal level serum Gamma-GT after 24 weeks of treatment (78.6%) was significantly higher than that for the control group (vs.55.0%, x2=11.452, P less than 0.05).When the patients in group 1 who had received the 12 additional weeks of LOLA granules treatment were measured again at two weeks after the treatments had been discontinued (end of week 26), the percentage of patients with normal serum Gamma-GT level was 92.7%, with only three cases showing obviously abnormal levels; in contrast, the group I patients in the control group of the second 12-week study period had on 66.7% of patients with normal-level serum Gamma-GT.The difference in change between the treated groups (both reduced and original dose) and the control group was significant (x2=14.964, P less than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPatients whose serumGamma-GT levels returned to normal after receipt of LOLA granules for 12 weeks benefitted from an additional 12 weeks of consolidation treatment, and those given the treatment at the original dose benefitted most.Compared with the compound glycyrrhizin, LOLA granules provided a better maintenance of resolved Gamma-GT level.Therefore, the effect of LOLA appears to be reliable and stable as well as safe for clinical use.