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Background and Aims: Patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and insufficient response to ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), currently assessed after 1 year, are candidates for second-line therapy. The aims of this study are to assess biochemical response pattern and determine the utility of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at six months as a predictor of insufficient response. Methods: UDCA-treated patients in the GLOBAL PBC database with available liver biochemistries at one year were included. POISE criteria were used to assess response to treatment, defined as ALP 1.9 × ULN at six months, 89% did not achieve POISE criteria (NPV) after one year of UDCA. Of those with insufficient response by POISE criteria at one year, 210 (67%) had an ALP >1.9 × ULN at six months and thus would have been identified early. Conclusions: We can identify patients for second-line therapy at six months using an ALP threshold of 1.9 × ULN, given that approximately 90% of these patients are non-responders according to POISE criteria.

Summary Background Guidelines recommend liver biopsy to rule out significant inflammatory activity in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with elevated hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA but without other indications for treatment. Aim To study rates and determinants of clinically significant liver inflammation. Methods We selected patients with HBV DNA > 2000 IU/mL from the SONIC‐B database. The presence of significant inflammation (METAVIR ≥ A2 or HAI ≥ 9) was assessed by liver biopsy and correlated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (according to AASLD upper limits of normal [ULN]) and stratified by the presence of significant liver fibrosis (Ishak ≥ 3 or METAVIR ≥ F2). Results The cohort included 2991 patients; 1672 were HBeAg‐positive. ALT was 2 times ULN in 1869 (63%). Significant fibrosis was found in 1419 (47%) and significant inflammatory activity in 630 (21%). Significant inflammatory activity was found in 34% of patients with liver fibrosis, compared to 9.5% of those without (P 2 times ULN (P

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide; populations that migrate to the US and Canada might be disproportionately affected. The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is a cooperative network of investigators from the United States and Canada, created to facilitate clinical, therapeutic, and translational research in adults and children with hepatitis B. We describe the structure of the network and baseline characteristics of adults with hepatitis B enrolled in the network.

In three patients, two men aged 57 and 53 years, and a 43-year-old woman, idiopathic portal hypertension, also called non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH), was diagnosed. The first two patients presented with haematemesis. They were treated by endoscopic rubber band ligation of oesophageal varices. In the second patient, placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) was necessary due to failure of the ligation treatment. The third patient was treated for HIV infection and had a gastroscopy because of nausea and vomiting, which revealed oesophageal varicosis. None of the patients had liver function impairment. Two of the patients had been treated with medication known to be associated with NCPH (azathioprine for Crohn's disease (second patient) and didanosine for HIV infection (third patient)). These medications were discontinued. The histological features of the patients were heterogeneous (nodular regenerative hyperplasia, periportal fibrosis and periportal dilated structures), but consistent with NCPH. Portal hypertension in the Western world is mostly associated with liver cirrhosis. When portal hypertension occurs in association with patent portal and hepatic veins, and in the absence of liver cirrhosis, NCPH must be considered. The prognosis of this disease is much better than that of cirrhosis.