Browsing by Author "Marković, Aleksandra Pavlović (24438035400)"

Background: According to recent epidemiological data, annual deaths due to liver disease have increased dramatically, while predictions show that trends will continue to rise in the upcoming years. Summary: Abnormal liver blood tests are one of the most common challenges encountered in the primary care setting. The prevalence of mildly elevated transaminase levels is around 10-20% in the general population. The most common causes for the rising burden of liver disease are nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD), and viral hepatitis. With improvements in the management of viral hepatitis over the last decades, the causes for the rising burden of liver disease are shifting toward ARLD and NAFLD. It is well-known that liver disease usually progresses silently for years or decades until the complications of cirrhosis occur. The majority of patients will not require referral to a specialist but will need further assessment in primary care. They should be evaluated for the etiology of liver disease irrespective of the duration of abnormal liver blood tests or unmarked clinical presentation. The evaluation should include a history of alcohol use, a history of medicines or herbal supplements, testing for viral hepatitis, and assessment for NAFLD, especially in obese patients and patients with type 2 diabetes. Abdominal ultrasound should be performed. Key Messages: The general practitioner may contribute significantly by identifying and screening patients at risk for chronic liver disease, as well as prioritize individuals with symptoms or signs of advanced liver disease to the specialist clinic. © 2021 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Available literature states that the incidence of colorectal adenomas and cancer is more common in men, however, lately has been observed increasing number of patients among women. to analyze the frequency and clinical characteristics of colorectal adenomas and cancer in women. We performed a retrospective study in which data of 695 patients with colorectal adenomas and carcinomas have been analyzed from a total of 10,659 patients who underwent colonoscopy. Colonoscopy and colorectal neoplasms were more frequently diagnosed in man (71.88%/67.4%) than women (28.12%/32.65%), so the results must be interpreted with caution. The increase in the number of women who suffer from colorectal adenoma and carcinoma can be explained by balancing lifestyle and increasing the number of women who are examined, given up the initial resistance that women had to colonoscopy, which is a potentially painful and embarrassing.

Elaboration of carotid atherosclerosis in the setting of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection should emphasize the significance of extrahepatic manifestations of the infection pathogenesis. Diverse processes comprise the pathoevolution of HBV infection, rendering it a multi-systemic disease in its essence. Our work not only exemplified atherosclerosis as an often-underestimated contributor to the severity of HBV infection but has also highlighted the bidirectional relationship between the two. Therefore, it is suggested that HBV-induced inflammation is one of the root causes of atherosclerosis, which in turn has a consequent effect on the severity of the chronic infection disease state, creating a vicious cycle. Additionally, we coupled prior data with the current concepts of HBV infection to postulate intriguing perspectives and theories. © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Backgrund/Aim. In recent decades noninvasive methods for the assessment and monitoring of liver fibrosis have been developed and evaluated in numerous chronic liver diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of noninvasive markers for fibrosis assessment transient elastography (TE) and biochemical markers using liver biopsy as reference in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Methods. One hundred and twenty-two patients underwent both liver biopsy and blood tests on the same day and TE in a month following the biopsy and the tests. Liver biopsies were reviewed by a single pathologist using the METAVIR scoring system for assessment of liver fibrosis. Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), platelet ratio index (APRI), Forns scores, AST and alanine transaminase (ALT) ratio and TE were compared with liver fibrosis stage in order to determine the best noninvasive marker of liver fibrosis. Results. There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) for the APRI score, Forns index and TE according to stages of liver fibrosis. TE showed superior diagnostic performance when compared to other surrogate markers of liver fibrosis that were investigated. Optimal cut-off for TE were 4.25 and 5.9 kPa for diagnosing the presence of fibrosis and distinguishing mild/moderate and advanced stages of fibrosis respectively. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of TE were 0.963 and 0.865, respectively. Conclusion. Based on our investigation the APRI score, Forns index and TE adequately predict fibrosis stage in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, but the most sensitive and specific parameter appears to be TE. Using noninvasive markers and methods in the evaluation of patients in daily clinical practice may reduce, but not eliminate, the need for invasive diagnostic procedures. © 2018, Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved.