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Background and Study Aims: Close monitoring of disease activity in IBD patients is essential to avoid long term complications. Although endoscopic assessment is the ideal monitoring tool, the usage of noninvasive biomarkers is more practical and patient friendly. We aimed to study the performance of Interleukin-6(IL-6) and Serum Amyloid A(SAA) as serum biomarkers in assessment of the disease activity of IBD patients in correlation to C-reactive protein (CRP), Fecal Calprotectin (FC) and endoscopic indices., Methods: 83 IBD (26 CD and 57 UC) patients on stable treatment regimen were recruited. Serum markers included CRP, CBC, IL-6, SAA were analyzed, together with FC. These markers were compared with the endoscopic and clinical disease parameters. Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI) and the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) were used to assess clinical activity in CD and UC patients, respectively. Endoscopic activity was recorded using the Simple Endoscopic Score (SES) for Crohn's disease or the Mayo Endoscopic Score (MES) for ulcerative colitis., Results: In prediction of disease activity, IL-6, SAA and CRP demonstrated good area under receiver operating characteristics (AUC) (>0.7), with FC being the best (0.94) for endoscopically active disease (P < 0.01). Combining FC and IL-6 or SAA improved its discriminative accuracy with an AUC (∼0.96)., Conclusions: FC most accurately predicts endoscopic disease activity in IBD patients, in comparison to other studied serological biomarkers. The serum IL-6 and SAA are potential predictors of endoscopic disease activity, and they might be valuable for assessment of disease activity. Finally, a composite score of FC and SAA or IL-6 can increased its diagnostic accuracy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Study Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) impairs glucose homoestasis, thus influences its clinical picture and prognosis. This study aimed at evaluating Diabetes mellitus (DM) on Egyptian patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and its impact on their virologic response when treated with directly acting antiviral (DAA) medications., Patients and Methods: Adult patients with CHC were divided into 2 groups; Diabetic patients, and Non diabetic patients serving as control group. All patients were subjected to thorough clinical evaluation, basic biochemical laboratory tests including fasting blood glucose/glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C), and virologic assay. They were treated with various combined DAAs, and were monitored during, at and after end of treatment., Results: Diabetic patients constituted 9.85 % of CHC, and had generally worse laboratory tests (significantly higher transaminases, platelet count, Fib4 and hepatic steatosis) than non diabetic patients, and a less sustained virologic response (SVR) (significantly in Sofosbuvir (SOF) + pegylated interferon (PegIFN) + ribavirin (RBV), SOF + RBV, SOF + daclatasvir (DAC)). Although DM did not play a significant influence on SVR, yet Fib4 and SOF + RBV + PEG-IFN were significant factors affecting SVR among diabetics, while female gender and viraemia were significant factors affecting SVR among non diabetics. Hepatic fibrosis and SOF/RBV significantly influenced SVR in both groups., Conclusions: Diabetic patients with CHC have worse liver biochemical profile, yet DM per se did not influence the virologic response to DAAs, however, some factors played roles in affecting SVR among them., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background and Study Aims: Prediction of prognosis and treatment outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is complex for most patients. Machine learning predictive analysis can be used to explore the rich information in electronic health records to discover hidden patterns and relationships. We aimed to develop a noninvasive algorithm for predicting outcome treatment options for patients with HCC., Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1298 patients with Hepatitis C virus-related HCC attending an HCC multidisciplinary clinic, Kasr Al-Aini Hospital, Cairo University, between 2009 and 2016. Using machine learning analysis, we constructed Reduced Error Pruning (REP) decision tree algorithms and applied Auto-WEKA to select the best classifier out of 39 algorithms., Results: The REP-tree algorithm predicted HCC management outcomes with a recall (sensitivity) of 0.658 and a precision (specificity) of 0.653 using only routine data. 854 (65.8%) instances were correctly identified, and 444 (34.2%) instances were incorrectly classified. Out of 31 attributes, liver decompensation was selected by REP-tree as the best predictor of HCC outcome (root node). With Auto-WEKA, the random subspace classifier was chosen as the best predictive algorithm with a recall (sensitivity) of 0.750 and a precision (specificity) of 0.75. There were 974 (75%) correctly classified instances and 324 (25%) incorrectly classified instances, which was better than REP-tree., Conclusion: Machine learning analysis explores data to discover hidden patterns and trends and enables the development of models to predict HCC treatment outcomes utilizing simple laboratory data. The random subspace classifier predicted the outcome more accurately than REP-tree., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background and Study Aims: The clinical value of the cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) integrity index as a diagnostic biomarker of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was investigated and correlated with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)., Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 160 patients with HCV genotype 4-related liver cirrhosis. Group 1 consisted of 80 patients with HCC, including 40 patients naïve to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) and 40 patients who received DAAs and achieved sustained virological response. Group 2 comprised 80 patients with cirrhosis without HCC. Plasma cf-DNA integrity index using ALU 115 and ALU 247 sequences was assessed using SYBR Green-based real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The cf-DNA integrity index was calculated as the ratio of Q247/Q115 where Q115 and Q247 are the ALU-qPCR results obtained using ALU 115 and ALU 247, respectively., Results: Patients with HCC had significantly lower plasma cf-DNA integrity index than those with liver cirrhosis. No significant difference in the cf-DNA integrity index was observed between patients with HCC who received DAAs and those who did not. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed an area under the ROC curve of 0.965 and 0.886 for detecting HCC using the cf-DNA integrity index and AFP, respectively. The combination of the cf-DNA integrity index and AFP improved the sensitivity from 81.6% to 94.7%, positive predictive value from 93.4% to 94.7%, negative predictive value from 84.4% to 94.9%, and accuracy from 88.4% to 94.8%., Conclusion: The cf-DNA integrity index can predict the occurrence of HCV genotype 4-related HCC. No significant difference in the cf-DNA integrity index was observed between patients with HCC who received DAAs and those without previous DAAs. The combination of the cf-DNA integrity index and AFP provides better HCC prediction accuracy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Study Aims: To investigate whether the measurement of liver stiffness (LSM) using fibroscan and the serum Cancer Stem Cells (CSC): Ep-CAM and cytokeratin-19, could predict the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their impact on clinical outcome and overall survival., Patients and Methods: This is a prospective study, including 179 HCV-related HCC patients. All patients were treated following the BCLC guidelines. All HCC patients had transient elastography, measurements of Ep-CAM and cytokeratin-19 before and six months post-treatment. We looked for predictors of recurrence and performed a survival analysis using Kaplan-Meier estimates., Results: TACE was the most common procedure (77.1%), followed by microwave ablation (15.6%). Complete ablation was achieved in 97 patients; 55 of them developed HCC recurrence. After treatment, LSM increased significantly with a significant reduction in CSCs levels in complete and partial response groups. The median time to observe any recurrence was 14 months. LSM increased significantly post-treatment in patients with recurrence versus no recurrence. Higher levels of CSCs were recorded at baseline and post-treatment in patients with recurrence but without statistical significance. We used univariate analysis to predict the time of recurrence by determining baseline CK-19 and platelet levels as the key factors, while the multivariate analysis determined platelet count as a single factor. The univariate analysis for prediction of overall survival included several factors, LSM and EpCAM (baseline and post-ablation) among them, while multivariate analysis included factors such as Child score B and incomplete ablation., Conclusion: Dynamic changes were observed in LSM and CSCs levels in response to HCC treatment and tumour recurrence. Child score and complete ablation are factors that significantly affect survival., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Study Aims: The risk of hepatocarcinogenesis depends on background liver factors, of which fibrosis is a major determinant. Serum markers and scores are of increasing importance in non-invasive diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis. Our aim was to predict the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a non-invasive fibrosis score calculated using routine patient data., Patients and Mthods: Our retrospective study included 1,291 hepatitis C related-HCC Egyptian patients (Group 1) recruited from the multidisciplinary HCC clinic, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University in the period between February 2009 and June 2016 and 1072 chronic hepatitis C-naïve patients (Group 2) with advanced fibrosis (≥F3) and cirrhosis (F4). King score, Fibro Q score, Aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), AST to ALT ratio (AAR), LOK score, Göteborg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI), Fibro-α and Biotechnology Research Center (BRC) scores were calculated for all patients. Regression analysis and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values for significant scores with the best cut-off for predicting HCC. A regression equation was used to calculate predicted probabilities of HCC using the following variables; age, gender, haemoglobin, international normalised ratio (INR), albumin and alpha fetoprotein. The appropriate score cut-off points yielding optimal sensitivity and specificity were determined by ROC curve analysis., Results: There was a highly significant difference between the two groups for all calculated scores (P = 0.0001). Our new score, the Hepatocellular Carcinoma Multidisciplinary Clinic-Cairo University (HMC-CU) score (Logit probability of HCC =  - 2.524 + 0.152*age - 0.121*Hb - 0.696*INR - 1.059*Alb + 0.022*AFP + 0.976*Sex. Male = 1, Female = 0), with a cut-off of 0.559 was superior to other scores for predicting HCC, having a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 80.6%., Conclusion: The HMC-CU score is a promising, easily calculated, accurate, cost-effective score for HCC prediction in chronic HCV patients with advanced liver fibrosis., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests None declared., (Copyright © 2020 Pan-Arab Association of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background & Aims: Although treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HCV-genotype-4 (GT4) has become very effective, it remains very expensive, and affordable options are needed, especially in limited resource countries. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of the combination of ravidasvir (an NS5A inhibitor) and sofosbuvir to treat patients with chronic HCV-GT4 infection., Methods: A total of 300 patients with HCV-GT4 infection were recruited in three groups: treatment-naïve patients with or without compensated Child-A cirrhosis (Group 1); interferon-experienced patients without cirrhosis (Group 2); and interferon-experienced patients with cirrhosis (Group 3). Groups 1 and 2 received ravidasvir 200 mg QD plus sofosbuvir 400 mg QD for 12 weeks and were randomized 1:1 to treatment with or without weight-based ribavirin. Group 3 patients received ravidasvir plus sofosbuvir with ribavirin and were randomized 1:1 to a treatment duration of 12 weeks or 16 weeks. The primary endpoint was sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR12)., Results: A total of 298 patients were enrolled: 149 in Group 1, 79 in Group 2 and 70 in Group 3. SVR12 was achieved in 95.3% of all patients who started the study, including 98% of patients without cirrhosis and 91% of patients with cirrhosis, whether treatment-naïve or interferon-experienced. Ribavirin intake and history of previous interferon therapy did not affect SVR12 rates. No virologic breakthroughs were observed and the study treatment was well tolerated., Conclusions: Treatment with ravidasvir plus sofosbuvir, with or without ribavirin, was well tolerated and associated with high sustained virologic response rate for HCV-GT4 infected patients with and without cirrhosis, regardless of previous interferon-based treatments., Trial Registration Number: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02371408., Lay Summary: This study evaluated efficacy and safety of the new oral hepatitis C drug ravidasvir in combination with the approved oral drug sofosbuvir in 298 patients infected with hepatitis C type 4. Our results showed that treatment with ravidasvir plus sofosbuvir, with or without ribavirin, was well tolerated and associated with high response rate in patients with and without cirrhosis., (Copyright © 2017 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background and Study Aims: Living-related liver transplantation has helped to solve the problem of shortage of deceased organ donors. However, studies showed significant donor complications occurring with adult living liver donation. This study aims at assessing different causes of exclusion of potent living donor transplantation in Egypt., Patients and Methods: The data of 158 living donors (corresponding to 50 consecutive transplanted cases) were retrospectively studied., Results: Only 50 donors were found to meet all the preoperative assessment criteria while 108 potential donors were excluded at various assessment steps. Majority of the excluded potential donors were due to anatomical variations (52/108) followed by hepatic steatosis (19/108) and positive hepatitis B or C virus serology (11/108). Regarding the anatomic variations, biliary anomalies were ranked as the first cause to exclude donors with the majority of them having the type C biliary variant. Portal vein variations were the second most common cause of exclusion due to portal vein trifurcation. Hepatic artery variations were detected in a lesser number of excluded donors. No donors were excluded for hepatic vein anomalies., Conclusion: Anatomical variations are the most common causes to exempt living liver donors. Preoperative evaluation of anatomical variations, viral serology and hepatic steatosis plays the major role to accept or exclude the potential donors., (Copyright © 2013 Arab Journal of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)