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Introduction and Objectives: The most widely used staging system for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the Barcelona Liver Clinic Cancer (BCLC) system, which considers tumor burden, performance status, and liver function. Tumor burden is assessed with cross sectional imaging of the abdomen and chest, controversy surrounds the routine use of bone scintigraphy (BS) for detecting extrahepatic metastases. This study evaluated the role of BS in staging HCC in Mexican patients. Patients and Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study of all adults with HCC at a Mexican referral center from 2000 to 2018. Staging included abdominal computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging, chest CT, and BS. The main outcome was the impact of BS on staging and/or therapy plans. Results: Among 238 patients, 2 with fibrolamellar variant and 44 with incomplete data were excluded. Median age was 66 years, 84 % had cirrhosis, and the predominant etiology was hepatitis C virus (43 %). BCLC stages were distributed as follows: A (14 %), B (7 %), C (68 %), and D (11 %). Extrahepatic disease was present in 18 %; only 8 % patients had a positive BS. Among the positive cases, 4 were true positives, but they did not alter staging or therapy plans. Conclusions: Routine BS in HCC staging demonstrated low yield, with a notable rate of false positives. Considering the implications of extrahepatic disease, BS may be justified for liver transplant candidates outside conventional criteria. Our study highlights the limited role of BS in early-stage HCC and advocates for a more selective utilization.

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) represents one of the deadliest yet preventable consequences of excessive alcohol use. It represents 5.1 % of the global burden of disease, mainly involving the productive-age population (15-44 years) and leading to an increased mortality risk from traffic road injuries, suicide, violence, cardiovascular disease, neoplasms, and liver disease, among others, accounting for 5.3 % of global deaths. Daily alcohol consumption, binge drinking (BD), and heavy episodic drinking (HED) are the patterns associated with a higher risk of developing ALD. The escalating global burden of ALD, even exceeding what was predicted, is the result of a complex interaction between the lack of public policies that regulate alcohol consumption, low awareness of the scope of the disease, late referral to specialists, underuse of available medications, insufficient funds allocated to ALD research, and non-predictable events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where increases of up to 477 % in online alcohol sales were registered in the United States. Early diagnosis, referral, and treatment are pivotal to achieving the therapeutic goal in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and ALD, where complete alcohol abstinence and prevention of alcohol relapse are expected to enhance overall survival. This can be achieved through a combination of cognitive behavioral, motivational enhancement and pharmacological therapy. Furthermore, the appropriate use of available pharmacological therapy and implementation of public policies that comprehensively address this disease will make a real difference.

Abstract Background Hispanics and American Indians (AI) have high kidney cancer incidence and mortality rates in Arizona. This study assessed: (1) whether racial and ethnic minority patients and patients from neighborhoods with high social vulnerability index (SVI) experience a longer time to surgery after clinical diagnosis, and (2) whether time to surgery, race and ethnicity, and SVI are associated with upstaging to pT3/pT4, disease‐free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS). Methods Arizona Cancer Registry (2009–2018) kidney and renal pelvis cases (n = 4592) were analyzed using logistic regression models to assess longer time to surgery and upstaging. Cox‐regression hazard models were used to test DFS and OS. Results Hispanic and AI patients with T1 tumors had a longer time to surgery than non‐Hispanic White patients (median time of 56, 55, and 45 days, respectively). Living in neighborhoods with high (≥75) overall SVI increased odds of a longer time to surgery for cT1a (OR 1.54, 95% CI: 1.02–2.31) and cT2 (OR 2.32, 95% CI: 1.13–4.73). Race and ethnicity were not associated with time to surgery. Among cT1a patients, a longer time to surgery increased odds of upstaging to pT3/pT4 (OR 1.95, 95% CI: 0.99–3.84). A longer time to surgery was associated with PFS (HR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.17–1.99) and OS (HR 1.63, 95% CI: 1.26–2.11). Among patients with cT2 tumor, living in high SVI neighborhoods was associated with worse OS (HR 1.66, 95% CI: 1.07–2.57). Conclusions High social vulnerability was associated with increased time to surgery and poor survival after surgery.

Background and aimsCOVID-19 vaccination has proved to be effective to prevent symptomatic infection and severe disease even in immunocompromised patients including liver transplant patients. We aim to assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the mortality and development of severe and critical disease in our center.MethodsA retrospective cohort study of LT patients in a reference center between March 2020 and February 2022. Demographic data, cirrhosis etiology, time on liver transplantation, immunosuppressive therapies, and vaccination status were recorded at the time of diagnosis. Primary outcome was death due to COVID-19, and secondary outcomes included the development of severe COVID-19 and intensive care unit (ICU) requirement.Results153 of 324 LT recipients developed COVID-19, in whom the main causes of cirrhosis were HCV infection and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. The vaccines used were BNT162b2 (48.6%), ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (21.6%), mRNA-1273 vaccine (1.4%), Sputnik V (14.9%), Ad5-nCoV-S (4.1%) and CoronaVac (9.5%). Case fatality and ICU requirement risk were similar among vaccinated and unvaccinated LT patients (adjusted relative case fatality for vaccinated versus unvaccinated of 0.68, 95% CI 0.14-3.24, p = 0.62; adjusted relative risk [aRR] for ICU requirement of 0.45, 95% CI 0.11-1.88, p = 0.27). Nonetheless, vaccination was associated with a lower risk of severe disease (aRR for severe disease of 0.32, 95% CI 0.14-0.71, p = 0.005).ConclusionsVaccination reduces the risk of severe COVID-19 in LT patients, regardless of the scheme used. Vaccination should be encouraged for all.

Portal hypertension may have major consequences on the pulmonary vasculature due to the complex pathophysiological interactions between the liver and lungs. Portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH), a subset of group 1 pulmonary hypertension (PH), is a serious pulmonary vascular disease secondary to portal hypertension, and is the fourth most common subtype of pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is most commonly observed in cirrhotic patients; however, patients with noncirrhotic portal hypertension can also develop it. On suspicion of PoPH, the initial evaluation is by a transthoracic echocardiogram in which, if elevated pulmonary pressures are shown, patients should undergo right heart catheterization to confirm the diagnosis. The prognosis is extremely poor in untreated patients; therefore, management includes pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies with the aim of improving pulmonary hemodynamics and moving patients to orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). In this article, we review in detail the epidemiology, pathophysiology, process for diagnosis, and most current treatments including OLT and prognosis in patients with PoPH. In addition, we present a diagnostic algorithm that includes the current criteria to properly select patients with PoPH who are candidates for OLT.

Background and Aims: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease. Nowadays, the prevalence of MAFLD in Mexico is unknown with no screening point-of-care tools. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of MAFLD in Mexico and to develop a score for MAFLD screening. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 5 Mexican states, including adult subjects evaluated in checkup campaigns. Subjects underwent a liver ultrasound to look for hepatic steatosis. Based on the most clinically relevant variables associated with MAFLD, we developed the MAFLD-screening score (MAFLD-S). Discrimination and calibration of the score were evaluated using the area under the ROC curve and observed vs predicted plots, respectively. Results: We included 3357 participants (60% female, mean age 47 ± 12 years). Fifty-two percent had hepatic steatosis, and 47% met MAFLD criteria. Subjects with MAFLD were older (48 ± 11 vs 45 ± 13 years, P < .001), were more frequently males (43% vs 36%, P < .001), and had a higher body mass index (31.6 + 4.9 vs 25.6 + 3.8 kg/m2, P < .001) than subjects without MAFLD. The MAFLD-S includes age, body mass index, gender, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia and has an area under the curve of 0.852, 95% CI = 0.828–0.877, with a sensitivity of 78.8% and a specificity of 82.8% for the optimal cutoff. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2018–2019, we predicted a MAFLD national prevalence of 49.6%. Conclusion: Nearly half of the Mexican population has MAFLD, representing a present and future challenge. With external validation, the MAFLD-S could be a valuable and practical screening tool.

Current treatment for prostate cancer is dependent on the stages of the cancer, recurrence, and genetic factors. Treatment varies from active surveillance or watchful waiting to prostatectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy in combination or alone. Although radical prostate cancer therapy reduces the advancement of the disease and its mortality, the increased disease treatment associated morbidity, erectile dysfunction, and incontinence affect the quality of life of cancer survivors. To overcome these problems, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has previously been investigated using PhotofrinTM as a photosensitizer (PS). However, Photofrin-PDT has shown limitations in treating prostate cancer due to its limited tumor-specificity and the depth of light penetration at 630 nm (the longest wavelength absorption of PhotofrinTM). The results presented herein show that this limitation can be solved by using a near infrared (NIR) compound as a photosensitizer (PS) for PDT and the same agent also acts as a sonosensitizer for SDT (using ultrasound to activate the compound). Compared to light, ultrasound has a stronger penetration ability in biological tissues. Exposing the PS (or sonosensitizer) to ultrasound (US) initiates an electron-transfer process with a biological substrate to form radicals and radical ions (type I reaction). In contrast, exposure of the PS to light (PDT) generates singlet oxygen (type II reaction). Therefore, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by SDT and PDT follow two distinct pathways, i.e., type I (oxygen independent) and type II (oxygen dependent), respectively, and results in significantly enhanced destruction of tumor cells. The preliminary in vitro and in vivo results in a PC3 cell line and tumor model indicate that the tumor specificality of the therapeutic agent(s) can be increased by targeting galectin-1 and galectin-3, known for their overexpression in prostate cancer.

Summary: Background: Cirrhosis is a public health threat associated with high mortality. Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) is the leading cause in Latin America and Metabolic Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) in western countries. In Mexico, ALD and chronic Hepatitis C Virus infection (HCV) were the most frequent aetiologies during the past decades. We aimed to describe the trends in the aetiologies of cirrhosis in a middle-income country. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study including patients diagnosed with cirrhosis between 2000 and 2019 from six different tertiary care hospitals in central Mexico. We collected information regarding cirrhosis etiology, year of diagnosis, hepatocellular carcinoma development, liver transplantation, and death. We illustrated the change in the tendencies of cirrhosis aetiologies by displaying the proportional incidence of each etiology over time stratified by age and gender, and we compared these proportions over time using chi square tests. Findings: Overall, 4,584 patients were included. In 2019, MAFLD was the most frequent cirrhosis etiology (30%), followed by ALD (24%) and HCV (23%). During the study period, MAFLD became the leading etiology, ALD remained second, and HCV passed from first to fourth. When analysed by gender, ALD was the leading etiology for men and MAFLD for women. The annual incidence of HCC was 3·84 cases/100 persons-year, the median survival after diagnosis was 12·1 years, and seven percent underwent LT. Interpretation: Increased alcohol consumption and the obesity epidemic have caused a transition in the aetiologies of cirrhosis in Mexico. Public health policies must be tailored accordingly to mitigate the burden of alcohol and metabolic conditions in developing countries. Funding: None.

Abstract Cigarette smoking has been consistently associated with increased risk of overall mortality, but the importance of smoking for patients with prostate cancer (CaP) who are candidates for curative radical prostatectomy (RP) has received less attention. This retrospectively designed cohort study investigated the association of smoking history at RP with subsequent CaP treatment outcomes and overall mortality. A total of 1981 patients who underwent RP at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) between 1993 and 2014 were studied. Smoking history was considered as a risk factor for overall mortality as well as for currently accepted CaP treatment outcomes (biochemical failure, treatment failure, distant metastasis, and disease‐specific mortality). The associations of smoking status with these outcomes were tested by Cox proportional hazard analyses. A total of 153 (8%) patients died during follow‐up. Current smoking at diagnosis was a statistically significant predictor of overall mortality after RP (current smokers vs. former and never smokers, hazards ratio 2.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.36–3.14). This association persisted for overall mortality at 3, 5, and 10 years (odds ratios 2.07 [95% CI: 1.36–3.15], 2.05 [95% CI: 1.35–3.12], and 1.8 [95% CI: 1.18–2.74], respectively). Smoking was not associated with biochemical failure, treatment failure, distant metastasis, or CaP‐specific mortality, and the association of smoking with overall mortality did not appear to be functionally related to treatment or biochemical failure, or to distant metastasis. Smoking is a non‐negligible risk factor for death among CaP patients who undergo RP; patients who smoke are far more likely to die of causes other than CaP.

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) represents one of the deadliest yet preventable consequences of excessive alcohol use. It represents 5.1 % of the global burden of disease, mainly involving the productive-age population (15-44 years) and leading to an increased mortality risk from traffic road injuries, suicide, violence, cardiovascular disease, neoplasms, and liver disease, among others, accounting for 5.3 % of global deaths. Daily alcohol consumption, binge drinking (BD), and heavy episodic drinking (HED) are the patterns associated with a higher risk of developing ALD. The escalating global burden of ALD, even exceeding what was predicted, is the result of a complex interaction between the lack of public policies that regulate alcohol consumption, low awareness of the scope of the disease, late referral to specialists, underuse of available medications, insufficient funds allocated to ALD research, and non-predictable events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where increases of up to 477 % in online alcohol sales were registered in the United States. Early diagnosis, referral, and treatment are pivotal to achieving the therapeutic goal in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and ALD, where complete alcohol abstinence and prevention of alcohol relapse are expected to enhance overall survival. This can be achieved through a combination of cognitive behavioral, motivational enhancement and pharmacological therapy. Furthermore, the appropriate use of available pharmacological therapy and implementation of public policies that comprehensively address this disease will make a real difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]