Background : The hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is defined as the triad of liver disease, arterial deoxygenation, and pulmonary vascular dilatation. The reported prevalence of HPS in cirrhotic patients varies between 5% -17.5%.Objective : To estimate the prevalence of hepatopulmonary syndrome among patients with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension and to study the correlation between HPS and the severity of liver disease.Patients and methods : Thirty patients were studied for the presence of HPS using transthoracic contrast echocardiography for detection of pulmonary vasodilatation. Arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) was determined in erect and supine position using a pulse oximeter , (SaO2 ≤ 92 % in supine position and/or a decrease of ≥ 4% after change from supine to upright position) to detect hypoxia and ortheodeoxia.Result : Eleven of thirty patients (36.6%) with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension were found to have contrast echocardiographic evidence of intrapulmonary right-to-left shunting. Arterial oxygen desaturation was present in 3 patients (27.3%) of those with intra-pulmonary right-to-left shunting ,they were considered as clinically significant HPS ,the remaining 8 patients were considered as subclinical HPS. Dyspnoea was more often present in patients with clinically significant HPS (100%) compared with subclinical HPS (25%), and patients without HPS (9%). HPS correlated significantly with severity of liver disease according to the Child-Pugh score.Conclusion: hepatopulmonary syndrome is not uncommon , the prevalence of clinically significant hepatopulmonary syndrome (in this study) was 10% of patients with chronic liver disease and it correlated with disease severity according to the Child-Pugh score
Background: Periodontitis and Atherosclerosis Cardiovascular disease are chronic inflammatory diseases which are highly prevalent. During the last two decades, there has been an increasing interest in the impact of oral health on atherosclerosis and subsequent cardiovascular disease.Aims of the study wereto evaluate the periodontal health status in study groups (Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease patients with chronic periodontitis and patients having chronic periodontitis),to estimate the serum levels of Matrixmetalloproteinase-8(MMP-8) and high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs CRP) in study and control groups and compare between them. Also,test the correlation between the serum levels of MMP-8 and hs CRP with clinical periodontal par
... Show MoreBackground: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder globally. The prevalence is 25% worldwide, distributed widely in different populations and regions. The highest rates are reported for the Middle East (32%). Due to modern lifestyles and diet, there has been a persistent increase in the number of NAFLD patients. This increase occurred at the same time where there were also increases in the number of people considered being obese all over the world. By analyzing fatty liver risk factors, studies found that body mass index, one of the most classical epidemiological indexes assessing obesity, was associated with the risk of fatty liver. Objectives: To assess age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) as
... Show MoreBackground: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder globally. The prevalence is 25% worldwide, distributed widely in different populations and regions. The highest rates are reported for the Middle East (32%). Due to modern lifestyles and diet, there has been a persistent increase in the number of NAFLD patients. This increase occurred at the same time where there were also increases in the number of people considered being obese all over the world. By analyzing fatty liver risk factors, studies found that body mass index, one of the most classical epidemiological indexes assessing obesity, was associated with the risk of fatty liver.
Objectives: To assess age, sex, and body
... Show MoreBackground: Obesity is an evolving major health problem in both developed and developing countries. Traditional obesity indices as body mass index, waist circumference, waist-hip-ratio are well known measures to identify obese subjects, however, neck circumference as an index of upper-body obesity was found to be a simple and time-saving screening measure that can be used to identify obesity and the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetic patients.
Aim: to investigate the relationship of neck circumference (NC) to obesity and metabolic syndrome in Iraqi subjects with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: The study group included 90 type 2 diabetic subjects (48 men and 42 women) aged 30-68 years. The subjects were those w
Hypertension is identified as one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). There is growing evidence showing that oxidative stress plays a major role in hypertension. Increased production of reactive oxygen species and decrease bioavailability of antioxidant have been demonstrated in experimental and human hypertension. The present study was directed to determine the beneficial effect of the antioxidant vitamin C in patients with essential hypertension treated with the calcium channel blocker (amlodipine) or with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (enalapril). Ninety six patients (50 females and 46 males) with essential hyp
... Show MorePrevious studies in Euro-American countries have shown that patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection have increased levels of neuropsychiatric symptoms. While chronic hepatitis C virus infection has been reported in Arab countries such as Iraq, there is little studies about the neuropsychological burden associated with chronic hepatitis C among patients in the Arab region. The aim of the current study was to measure the prevalence and level of severity of depression, anxiety and stress among a sample of chronic hepatitis C patients in AL-Najaf province /Iraq. The current study was cross-sectional study carried out on (110) already diagnosed chronic viral hepatitis C patients who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepatology
... Show More4 Blood Res 2018;53:314-319. Received on August 11, 2018 Revised on August 30, 2018 Accepted on August 30, 2018 Background Iron overload is a risk factor affecting all patients with thalassemia intermedia (TI). We aimed to determine whether there is a relationship of serum ferritin (SF) and alanine ami- notransferase (ALT) with liver iron concentration (LIC) determined by R2 magnetic reso- nance imaging (R2-MRI), to estimate the most relevant degree of iron overload and best time to chelate in patients with TI. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 119 patients with TI (mean age years) were randomly se- lected and compared with 120 patients who had a diagnosis of thalassemia major (TM). Correlations of LIC, as determined by R2-MRI, with SF
... Show MoreBackground: The liver is one of the most common organs
injured after blunt abdominal trauma. The control of severe
hemorrhage remains a problem.
Methods: One-hundred thirty-eight patients diagnosed as
liver injury between 09/2003 and 08/2006 had been evaluated
prospectively in Al- Kindy Teaching Hospital.
A distinction was made between hemodynamically stable and
unstable patients. Different modalities of surgical procedures
were done concentrating on perihepatic gauze packing.
Results: (60 out of 138) patients included in the study were
clinically evaluated as hemodynamically stable. The average
abbreviated injury severity score (ISS) was 25. Twenty
patients underwent abdominal surgery. In 12 of them
Anaemia is a common extra-articular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) where anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) are the two most frequent types. The distinction between these two types of anaemia has always been challenging requiring sophisticated techniques. Serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) a truncated soluble form of the transferrin receptor is one of the parameters that is influenced by the Iron content and supply to the erythrons and is not affected by inflammatory status and therefore the use of the sTfR/log ferritin (sTfR-F) index can be a reliable indicator of functional iron deficiency.