Liver Diseases – ABC CARDIOL

IJCS

Editorial

Hepatic Elastography in the Assessment of Heart Failure: Where We Came from and Where We Are Going

Conclusion

There seems to be a consensus that the greater the liver stiffness, the greater the risk of mortality (“Stone liver, heart in danger”, according to Pernot and Villemain) However, innumerous studies are necessary to determine which therapeutic interventions would be capable of decreasing that stiffness and whether such decrease would have a consistent impact on prognosis. Another relevant data is that we do not know exactly the amount of information that HE can add to clinical practice, in addition to the information already provided by echocardiography and BNP.

It is believed that a long way must be taken until this technique becomes a useful tool for cardiologists, with favorable impact on the management of a disease with high morbidity, mortality and cost for the healthcare system. Nevertheless, we can state that the interpretation of results by the clinician involved in the patient’s treatment will be undoubtedly crucial for its success.

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Viewpoint

Cardiohepatic Interactions – from Humoral Theory to Organ Transplantation

Odilson Marcos Silvestre et al. Fernando Bacal Rafael Oliveira Ximenes Flair José Carrilho … Luiz Augusto Carneiro D'Albuquerque Alberto Queiroz Farias

Introduction

Heart and liver were already put into reciprocal interaction when attempting to explain the health-disease process from the humoral theory. This suggestion attributed to Empedocles (490 BC), and later applied to medicine by Hippocrates (460 BC) and Galen (AD 129), despite being devoid of any pathophysiological basis, suggested that such organs were protagonists of illness by participating in the production of blood and yellow bile, two of the four humors whose imbalance would be closely related to the emergence of diseases. With the progress of knowledge of physiology and pathophysiology, the close relationship between heart and liver has been defined more precisely.

In this article, we will discuss the cardiohepatic interactions subdividing them didactically in the following: (1) impact of heart diseases on the liver; (2) effects of liver failure and portal hypertension on the heart; and (3) concomitant diseases affecting both the liver and the heart.

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Review Article

Echocardiography in chronic liver disease: systematic review

Vitor Gomes Mota et al. Brivaldo Markman Filho

BACKGROUND: Doppler echocardiography (Echo) is a non-invasive method of excellent accuracy to screen portopulmonary hypertension (PPH) and to assess intrapulmonary shunts (IPS) in chronic liver disease (CLD). In the past decade, Echo proved to play a fundamental role in the diagnosis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM). OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of relevant articles on the subject ‘Echo in CLD’. METHODS: In November 2011, a systematic review was performed in the PubMed, LILACS and SciELO databases, and the characteristics of the studies selected were reported. RESULTS: The search based on descriptors and free terms obtained 204 articles (179 in Pubmed, 21 in LILACS, and 1 in SciELO). Of those 204 articles, 22 were selected for systematic review. A meta-analysis could not be performed because of the heterogeneity of the articles. CONCLUSIONS: Echo should be part of CLD stratification for screening PPH, IPS and CCM, because, most of the time, such complications are diagnosed only when patients are already waiting for a liver transplant.

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Hepatic Elastography in the Assessment of Heart Failure: Where We Came from and Where We Are Going

Conclusion

Cardiohepatic Interactions – from Humoral Theory to Organ Transplantation

Introduction

Echocardiography in chronic liver disease: systematic review

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Electronic Document Format (Vancouver)

Electronic Document Format (ABNT)

Electronic Document Format (APA)

Electronic Document Format (ISO)

Electronic Document Format (Vancouver)

Electronic Document Format (ABNT)

Electronic Document Format (APA)

Electronic Document Format (ISO)