Combined human growth hormone and lactulose for prevention and treatment of multiple organ dysfunction in patients with severe chronic hepatitis B

AIM: To evaluate the efficiency and safety of combined recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) and lactulose for treatment and/or prevention of multiple organ dysfunction in patients with chronic severe hepatitis B. METHODS: Forty-eight inpatients with chronic severe hepatitis B were randomly divided into rhGH group (n = 28)and control group (n = 20). In rhGH group, 4-4.5 IU of rhGH was injected intramuscularly once daily for 2-4 wk,and 100 mL of enema containing 30 mL of lactulose, 2 g of metronidazole and 0.9% saline was administered every 2 d for 2-4 wk. Their symptoms and complications were noted. Liver and kidney functions were analyzed by an Olympus analyzer. Serum GH, IGF-1, IGFBP1 and IGFBP3 were measured by ELISA.RESULTS: Clinical symptoms of 90% of these patients in rhGH group were obviously improved. The total effectiveness in rhGH group was better than that in control group (75% vs40%, P＜0.05). After 2- and 4-wk treatment of rhGH respectively, serum albumin (26.1±4.1 vs 30.2±5.3,31.9±5.1 g/L), prealbumin (79.6±28.0 vs 106.6±54.4,108.4±55.0 g/L), cholesterol (76.3±16.7 vs 85.6±32.3,96.1±38.7 mg/dL), and IGFBP1 (56.8±47.2 vs 89.7±50.3ng/mL after 2 wk) were significantly increased compared to control group (P＜0.05). However, serum GH was decreased. The increase of serum IGF1 and IGFBP3 after rhGH treatment was also observed.CONCLUSION: rhGH in combination with lactulose may be beneficial to the prevention and treatment of multiple organ dysfunction in patients with chronic severe hepatitis.

Portalsystemic hemodynamic changes in chronic severe hepatitis B: An ultrasonographic study

AIM： To evaluate portalsystemic hemodynamic changes in chronic severe hepatitis B. METHODS： Hemodynamic parameters included portal vein diameter （PVD）, portal vein peak velocity （PVPV）, portal vein volume （PW）, spleen length （SPL）, spleen vein diameter （SPVD）, spleen vein volume （SPW） and umbilical vein recanalization. They were measured by Color Doppler ultrasonography in 36 patients with chronic severe hepatitis B, compared with 51 normal controls, 61 patients with chronic hepatitis B, 46 patients with compensable cirrhosis, and 36 patients with decompensable cirrhosis. RESULTS： In the group of chronic severe hepatitis B, PVD （12.38 ± 1.23 mm） was significantly different from the normal control, compensable cirrhosis and decompensable cirrhosis groups （P = 0.000-0.026）, but not significantly different from the chronic hepatitis group. PVPV （16.15 ± 3.82 cm/s） dropped more significantly in the chronic severe hepatitis B group than the normal control, chronic hepatitis B and compensable cirrhosis groups （P = 0.000-0.011）. PW （667.53 ± 192.83 mL/min） dropped significantly as compared with the four comparison groups （P = 0.000-0.004）. SPL （120.42 ± 18.36 mm） and SPVD （7.52 ± 1.52 mm） were longer in the normal control and chronic hepatitis B groups （P = 0.000-0.009）, yet they were significantly shorter than those in the decompensable cirrhosis group （P = 0.000）. SPW （242.51 ± 137.70 mL/min） was also lower than the decompensable cirrhosis group （P = 0.000）. The umbilical vein recanalization rate （75%） was higher than the chronic hepatitis B and compensable cirrhosis groups. In the course of progression from chronic hepatitis to decompensable cirrhosis, PVD, SPL and SPVD gradually increased and showed significant differences between every two groups （P = 0.000-0.002）. CONCLUSION： Patients with chronic severe hepatitis B have a tendency to develop acute portal hypertension, resulting in significantly reduced portal vein perfusion, Observation of the portalsystemic hemodynamic changes may be contributed to the disease progression of chronic liver disease.

Antiviral therapy with nucleos(t)ide analogues for severe chronic hepatitis B

To the Editor:I read the paper by Chen et al[1]with great interest.The authors performed a retrospective study to evaluate the short-term efficacy of antiviral therapy with

Model for end-stage liver disease-sodium predicts prognosis in patients with chronic severe hepatitis B

Background Serum sodium predicts prognosis in chronic severe hepatitis B and may improve the prognostic accuracy of the model for end-stage liver disease （MELD） score, but the available information is limited. The present study was undertaken to study the clinical use of the serum sodium incorporated MELD （MELD-Na） and assess its validity by the concordance （c）-statistics in predicting the prognosis of the patient with chronic severe hepatitis B.Methods A total of 426 adult patients with a diagnosis of chronic severe hepatitis B between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2007 at a single center were studied. The scores of serum sodium, MELD, MELD-Na, and ΔMELD-Na （ΔMELD-Na=MELD-Na at 14 days after medical treatment -MELD-Na score on admission） of the patients with chronic severe hepatitis B were calculated. The 3-month mortality in the patients was measured, and the validity of the models was determined by means of the concordance （c） statistics.Results The average MELD, MELD-Na scores of survival group were 25.70±5.08 and 26.60±6.90, and those of dead group were 35.60±6.78 and 42.80±9.57 on admission. There was a significant difference in MELD and MELD-Na between the survival and dead groups （P 〈0.01）. The average △MELD-Na score of the survival group was -0.97±3.51, and that of the dead group was 3.45±2.38 at 2 weeks after the treatment. There was a significant difference in △MELD-Na between the survival and dead groups （P 〈0.01）. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves of Na, MELD and MELD-Na for the occurrence of death in 3 months were 0.742, 0.875 and 0.922. The 3-month mortality of the MELD-Na scores group 〈25, 25-30, 31-34, 35-40 and 〉40 were 2.0%, 5.4%, 35.4%, 53.8 % and 86.9%, respectively. There was a significant difference in the 3-month mortality between the five groups （P 〈0.05）. The 3-month mortality of the △MELD-Na〉0 group was 65.9%, and that of the △MELD-Na ≤0 group was 15.8%; there was a significant difference in the 3-month mortality between the two groups （P 〈0.05）.Conclusions MELD-Na score is a valid model to predict the 3-month mortality in patients with chronic severe hepatitis B. △MELD-Na is a clinically useful parameter for predicting the therapeutic effect of chronic severe hepatitis B.