Clinical Features of Acute Viral Hepatitis A Complicated with Acute Renal Failure / 대한간학회지

BACKGROUND: Most patients with acute viral hepatitis A (AVHA) spontaneously recover, but a few patients experience complications. This study was carried out to examine clinical features of AVHA complicated with acute renal failure (ARF). METHOD: Medical records of 404 patients with AVHA were reviewed. Clinical features of AVHA patients with ARF (group A) were compared with those of AVHA patients without ARF (group B). RESULT: ARF complication was present in 11 patients (3%). There were no differences between group A and B in sex ratio and age. Microscopic hematuria (7 cases), proteinuria (7 cases), metabolic acidosis (4 cases), oliguria (4 cases), pulmonary edema (3 cases) and hyperkalemia (2 cases) were found in group A. The prevalence of heavy alcohol drinking (64% vs 3%, p<0.001) and diabetes mellitus (18% vs 1%, p=0.01) was higher in group A than B. The peak value of ALT (median: 4,290 IU/L vs 1,266 IU/L, p=0.006) and total bilirubin (median: 10.8 mg/dL vs 6.0 mg/dL, p=0.001) was higher in group A than B. Duration of admission was longer in group A than B (median: 14 days vs 5 days, p<0.001). Four patients of group A recovered with renal replacement therapy, while 7 patients recovered with conservative treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The AVHA patients with ARF experienced more severe hepatitis than those without ARF, but they had a good prognosis with the proper treatment.

Evaluation of Predictive Value of Okuda, TNM, CLIP and JIS Staging Systems for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients / 대한간학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aims of this study were to validate the prognostic value of the JIS score for HCC and to compare discriminatory ability and predictive power with other staging systems such as Okuda, TNM and CLIP. METHODS: We analyzed the clinical records of 210 patients who were diagnosed as HCC from 2000 to 2002. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were done to find out factors to affect survival. To validate prognostic value of those staging systems, survival curve was obtained and analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier's method, and to compare discriminatory ability and predictive power, Homogeneity LR chi-square test and AIC score were used. RESULTS: The median survival was 19.5 months (19.1+/-14.9). The number of patients and 3-year survival rate for those staging systems were Okuda 1(126, 57.7%), 2(63, 9.0%) and 3(21, 0.0%) (p<0.001); TNM I (34, 63.1%), II (71, 59.4%), III (50, 22.4%), IV-A (6, 14.3%) and IV-B (1, 6.5%) (p<0.001); CLIP 0 (79, 68.5%), 1 (39, 34.2%), 2 (36, 16.7%), 3 (25, 20.0%), 4 (18, 5.1%), 5 (9, 11.1%) and 6 (4, 0.0%) (p<0.001) and JIS 0 (26, 78.9%), 1 (65, 65.3%), 2 (43, 21.9%), 3 (40, 25, 8.0%) and 5 (11, 2.0%)(p<0.001) in univariate analysis using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Homogeneity LR chi-square test showed more stratification power in JIS (Okuda, 102.8; TNM, 128.2; CLIP, 148.4 and JIS, 185.6) and AIC score showed superior predictive power in JIS system (Okuda, 1228.5; TNM, 1130.3; CLIP, 1117.1 and JIS, 1093.6). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed JIS system is useful system to predict survival of HCC patients. The discriminate ability of the JIS score is much better than other staging systems and has better prognostic predictive power compared to other staging systems.

Modified CLIP Score as a New Prognostic Index for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma / 대한간학회지

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: The prognosis of cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) depends on both residual liver function and tumor characteristics. The aims of this study was to construct a new prognostic index for HCC patients: the modified CLIP score, and to compare its discriminatory ability and predictive power with those of the CLIP score that is currently the most commonly used integrated staging score in patients of HCC. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 237 cases of HCC diagnosed at Dong-A university hospital was performed. Prognostic analysis was performed for single variables by estimating survival distributions with the Kaplan-Meier's method, and statistically compared by the log-rank test. RESULTS: Patients had a mean age of 57.5 years and were predominantly males (79.7%). The overall median survival period was 25.7 months. It was correlated to ascites, portal vein thrombosis, AFP, tumor size, and Child-Pugh classification. The median survival period was 41.0, 25.2, 13.8, 13.4, and 6.5 months for CLIP scores 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 to 6, respectively (P<0.001), and 42.1, 34.0, 25.7, 14.0, and 6.8 months for modified CLIP scores 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 to 6, respectively (P<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier's curve showed that the modified CLIP score had additional explanatory power above that of the CLIP score. CONCLUSIONS: The modified CLIP score, compared with the CLIP score, particularly in the score 2- to 3- patient groups of HCC, had greater discriminant ability and survival predictive power, but was not able to discriminate 4- to 6- patient group.