Liver biopsy is still considered the gold standard for grading, staging and "stad-ging" the chronic liver disease. In addition, it remains a primary source for acquiring new knowledge on the liver pathology.

Researchers from the University of Tennessee in Memphis measured the vitamin D levels of 118 chronic liver disease patients. Researchers found 92.4 percent of chronic liver patients had some degree of vitamin D deficiency and at least one third were severely deficient. Severe vitamin D deficiency was more common among cirrhotics.

A fundamental difference in the way males and females respond to chronic liver disease at the genetic level helps explain why men are more prone to liver cancer, according to MIT researchers.