In recent years, serious concerns about the dangers of kava and the effects on the liver have resulted in regulatory agencies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, banning or restricting the sale of kava and kava products.

Liver transplant is a life saving treatment option for people with end-stage liver disease. Unfortunately, the need for donor livers far exceeds the supply. Each year only about one-third of people who need a donor liver will receive one, and some patients die while waiting.

Much less widely known than the dangerous consequences of iron deficiencies is the fact that too much iron can also cause problems. The exact origin of the genetic iron overload disorder hereditary hemochromatosis [HH] has remained elusive. In a joint effort, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] and the University of Heidelberg, Germany, have now discovered that HH is a liver disease.

Two new studies examine non-invasive ways to determine liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. An enhanced version of the Original European Liver Fibrosis panel was found to have good diagnostic accuracy for fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

In a survey of patients with chronic hepatitis C who participated in a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-sponsored long-term treatment trial for patients who had failed to respond previously to antiviral therapy, approximately 40% acknowledged to interviewers at the time of enrollment that they were currently using or had in the recent past used herbal products for health purposes.

A new retrospective study on the effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on children with acute liver failure not caused by acetaminophen poisoning has found that the treatment was associated with a shorter hospital stay, higher incidence of liver recovery, and better survival after transplantation.

A particular gene variation appears to significantly increase the risk that individuals with cirrhosis of the liver will go on to develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver tumor that is the third leading cause of cancer death.

People with severe mental illnesses are far more likely to be infected with Hepatitis C virus compared to the general population, however, they often do not get treatment for their liver disease because current antiviral therapies have known psychiatric side effects.

A new cohort study of adolescent offenders in Australia has identified an upper limit for ALT that is more sensitive for the diagnosis of liver disease. The findings could facilitate targeted interventions for the youths in this group, who are at high risk for HCV infection and obesity-related liver disease.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Prognosis of patients with HCC complicating cirrhosis mainly depends on the tumor growth, progression of the underlying liver disease and the effectiveness of antitumoral treatment.

Interferon does not slow or halt the progression of chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease in patients who haven’t responded to previous attempts to eradicate the disease, a national study in which the Saint Louis University School of Medicine participated has found.

Patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who did not respond to previous standard therapy experienced significant decreases in their liver enzymes, viral levels, and liver inflammation following treatment with long-term pegylated interferon.