Browsing by Author "Arnold Álvarez, Jorge Ignacio"

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    Emerging Drug Therapies for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Glimpse into the Horizon
    (2024) Arnold Álvarez, Jorge Ignacio; Idalsoaga Ferrer, Francisco Javier; Diaz Piga, Luis Antonio; Cabrera García, Daniel Alejandro; Barrera Álvarez, Francisco Benjamín; Arab Verdugo, Juan Pablo; Arrese Jiménez, Marco Antonio
    Purpose of Review Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and its aggressive form, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), are highly prevalent and can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure. Currently, there is no approved pharmacological treatment for MASLD. In this review, we aim to summarize recent data on therapeutic agents under study in phase 2 and 3 trials.Recent FindingsBuilding on a better understanding of MASLD/MASH pathophysiology, a myriad of drugs has been developed. Recent results from clinical trials show promise, with some candidates demonstrating positive outcomes in phase 3 trials that are predictably expected to be approved in the near future. Notably, resmetirom, a thyroid receptor β agonist, is likely to be approved in 2024.SummaryIn the coming years, results from several landmark trials will be available and will likely provide options to prevent progression to cirrhosis and adverse liver outcomes in patients with MASLD/MASH.
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    MELD 3.0 adequately predicts mortality and renal replacement therapy requirements in patients with alcohol-associated hepatitis
    (Elsevier B.V., 2023) Diaz Piga, Luis Antonio; Fuentes Lopez, Eduardo; Ayares Campos, Gustavo Ignacio; Idalsoaga Ferrer, Francisco Javier; Arnold Álvarez, Jorge Ignacio; Valverde, María Ayala; Perez, Diego; Gómez, Jaime; Escarate, Rodrigo; Villalon Friedrich, Alejandro Andrés; Ramírez, Carolina A.; Hernández-Tejero, María; Zhang, Wei; Qian, Steve; Simonetto, Douglas; Ahn, Joseph C.; Buryska, Seth; Dunn, Winston; Mehta, Heer; Agrawal, Rohit; Cabezas, Joaquín; Garcia Carrera, Inés; Cuyas, Berta; Poca, Maria; Soriano, German; Sarin, Shiv K.; Maiwall, Rakhi; Jalal, Prasun K.; Abdulsada, Saba; Higuera de la Tijera, Fátima; Kulkarni, Anand V.; Rao, P. Nagaraja; Guerra Salazar, Patricia; Skladany, Lubomir; Bystrianska, Natália; Clemente Sánchez, Ana; Villaseca Gómez, Clara; Haider, Tehseen; Chacko, Kristina R.; Romero, Gustavo A.; Pollarsky Florencia D.; Restrepo, Juan Carlos; Castro Sánchez, Susan; Toro, Luis G.; Yaquich, Pamela; Mendizabal, Manuel; Garrido, María Laura; Marciano, Sebastián; Dirchwolf, Melisa; Vargas, Víctor; Jimenez, César; Louvet, Alexandre; Garcia Tsao, Guadalupe; Roblero, Juan Pablo; Abraldes, Juan G.; Shah, Vijay H.; Kamath, Patrick S.; Arrese Jimenez, Marco Antonio; Singal, Ashwani K.; Bataller, Ramón; Arab Verdugo, Juan Pablo
    © 2023 The Author(s)Background & Aims: Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score better predicts mortality in alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) but could underestimate severity in women and malnourished patients. Using a global cohort, we assessed the ability of the MELD 3.0 score to predict short-term mortality in AH. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to hospital with AH from 2009 to 2019. The main outcome was all-cause 30-day mortality. We compared the AUC using DeLong's method and also performed a time-dependent AUC with competing risks analysis. Results: A total of 2,124 patients were included from 28 centres from 10 countries on three continents (median age 47.2 ± 11.2 years, 29.9% women, 71.3% with underlying cirrhosis). The median MELD 3.0 score at admission was 25 (20–33), with an estimated survival of 73.7% at 30 days. The MELD 3.0 score had a better performance in predicting 30-day mortality (AUC:0.761, 95%CI:0.732–0.791) compared with MELD sodium (MELD-Na; AUC: 0.744, 95% CI: 0.713–0.775; p = 0.042) and Maddrey's discriminant function (mDF) (AUC: 0.724, 95% CI: 0.691–0.757; p = 0.013). However, MELD 3.0 did not perform better than traditional MELD (AUC: 0.753, 95% CI: 0.723–0.783; p = 0.300) and Age-Bilirubin-International Normalised Ratio-Creatinine (ABIC) (AUC:0.757, 95% CI: 0.727–0.788; p = 0.765). These results were consistent in competing-risk analysis, where MELD 3.0 (AUC: 0.757, 95% CI: 0.724–0.790) predicted better 30-day mortality compared with MELD-Na (AUC: 0.739, 95% CI: 0.708–0.770; p = 0.028) and mDF (AUC:0.717, 95% CI: 0.687–0.748; p = 0.042). The MELD 3.0 score was significantly better in predicting renal replacement therapy requirements during admission compared with the other scores (AUC: 0.844, 95% CI: 0.805–0.883). Conclusions: MELD 3.0 demonstrated better performance compared with MELD-Na and mDF in predicting 30-day and 90-day mortality, and was the best predictor of renal replacement therapy requirements during admission for AH. However, further prospective studies are needed to validate its extensive use in AH. Impact and implications: Severe AH has high short-term mortality. The establishment of treatments and liver transplantation depends on mortality prediction. We evaluated the performance of the new MELD 3.0 score to predict short-term mortality in AH in a large global cohort. MELD 3.0 performed better in predicting 30- and 90-day mortality compared with MELD-Na and mDF, but was similar to MELD and ABIC scores. MELD 3.0 was the best predictor of renal replacement therapy requirements. Thus, further prospective studies are needed to support the wide use of MELD 3.0 in AH.
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    Nutrition in Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
    (2022) Ayala-Valverde, María; Arnold Álvarez, Jorge Ignacio; Diaz Piga, Luis Antonio; Idalsoaga Ferrer, Francisco Javier; Arrese Jiménez, Marco Antonio; Arab Verdugo, Juan Pablo
    Purpose of Review Alcohol use represents one of the five major causes of morbimortality globally, and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of cirrhosis worldwide. Malnutrition is one of the most frequent complications in ALD and is associated with decreased survival. Additionally, protein-energy malnutrition causes sarcopenia, frailty, and immunosuppression. This review summarizes the diverse mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of malnutrition in ALD and its management.Recent FindingsMechanisms regarding malnutrition in ALD have been recently described. There is also an important area of interest in patients with overnutrition and sarcopenic obesity. Early assessment of malnutrition is needed so the management and prognosis improve in ALD patients.SummaryMalnutrition worsens disease progression and increases infections and mortality risk, especially in decompensated patients. It is important to have early recognition and management of this ALD complication. It is also essential to stratify a patient’s risk for refeeding syndrome once the supplementation is given since this syndrome can increase morbimortality.
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    Public Health Measures and Prevention of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease
    (2022) Ayares Campos, Gustavo Ignacio; Idalsoaga Ferrer, Francisco Javier; Arnold Álvarez, Jorge Ignacio; Fuentes López, Eduardo; Arab Verdugo, Juan Pablo; Diaz Piga, Luis Antonio
    Hazardous alcohol consumption causes approximately 4% of deaths globally, constituting one of the leading risk factors for the burden of the disease worldwide. Alcohol has several health consequences, such as alcohol-associated liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, nonliver neoplasms, physical injury, cardiac disease, and psychiatric disorders. Alcohol misuse significantly affects workforce productivity, with elevated direct and indirect economic costs. Due to the high impact of alcohol consumption on the population, public health has led to the development of a range of strategies to reduce its harmful effects. Regulatory public health policies (PHP) for alcohol can exist at the global, regional, international, national, or subnational levels. Effective strategies incorporate a multilevel, multicomponent approach, targeting multiple determinants of drinking and alcohol-related harms. The World Health Organization categorizes the PHP into eight categories: national plan to fight the harmful consequences of alcohol, national license and production and selling control, taxes control and pricing policies, limiting drinking age, restrictions on alcohol access, driving-related alcohol policies, control over advertising and promotion, and government monitoring systems. These policies are supported by evidence from different populations, demonstrating that determinants of alcohol use depend on several factors such as socioeconomic level, age, sex, ethnicity, production, availability, marketing, and others. Although most policies have a significant individual effect, a higher number of PHP are associated with a lower burden of disease due to alcohol. The excessive consequences of alcohol constitute a call for action, and clinicians should advocate for developing and implementing a new PHP on alcohol consumption.