Immunology: Three percent of the world’s population is currently infected by hepatitis C. The virus hides in the liver and can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer, and it’s the most frequent cause of liver transplants in Denmark. Since the virus mutate…
GOLDEN, Colo. (November 17, 2010) — HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a…
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, both in Ann Arbor, have identified geographic variation as a key factor accounting for disparities in access to liver transplantation among racial and ethnic grou…
A discovery published in the current issue of The Lancet may lead to new treatments for a deadly liver disease of infancy — dramatically reducing the number of liver transplants in children. A team of researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have revealed a genetic underpinning to biliary atresia, the most common reason for liver transplant in children. Biliary atresia occurs in infants and usually becomes evident two to eight weeks after birth. Its cause has been unknown. Symptoms include unexplained jaundice, dark urine, clay-colored stools and weight loss. The disease destroys bile ducts in the liver, trapping bile, rapidly causing damage to liver cells and severe scarring.