Research needed for autoimmune hepatitis patients' salvage therapy

Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic inflammatory liver disease
not readily treatable for 20% of patients

by Anne Crawford

Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic inflammatory liver disease. The condition is treatable for the large majority of patients. The 20 per cent or so of patients who don’t respond well to standard medicines are treated with “salvage therapies”, but until now these have been inadequately scrutinised for their efficiency and safety, a new paper says.

Monash University researchers in the Department of Gastroenterology at The Alfred Hospital have conducted a rare, comprehensive review of salvage therapies resulting in findings that could benefit clinicians and their patients with the disease globally.

Study highlights best use of innovative gastrointestinal device

Dr Geraldine Ooi, first author on
the EndoVAC study

by Anne Crawford

Gastric and oesophageal perforations and leaks can be very difficult to treat, particularly if   contamination and sepsis have set in, and can be fatal. Central Clinical School PhD student Dr Geraldine Ooi joined researchers in The Alfred Hospital’s Upper Gastrointestinal Surgical Unit to review a recent innovation used to treat the internal leaks. The results of their study have helped inform The Alfred Hospital’s approach to using the therapy and will potentially help clinicians elsewhere.

Hepatitis E in Australian HIV-infected patients: An under-recognised pathogen?

A CCS study has assessed the seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus in a cohort of HIV-infected patients with normal liver function and in another group with biochemical hepatitis.

According to the study. Hepatitis E virus infection has been found to cause chronic hepatitis in HIV-infected patients.