Liver fibrosis occurs in the setting of chronic injury caused by different etiologies constituting a serious worldwide public health problem. In addition to schistosomiasis, hepatopathies due to alcohol, viral hepatitis, drugs, metabolic and autoimmune diseases, and congenital abnormalities are important causes of liver fibrosis.

Taurine is a potent antioxidant with hepatoprotective effects. Organelle based changes in hepatocytes after taurine treatment in experimental liver fibrosis were searched systematically and organelle injury scores decreased were found to decrease significantly. Moreover, ultrastructural and histopathological scores in both groups were in strong correlation.

A prospective study of patients with advanced chronic hepatitis C (CHC) revealed that a 3-variable model of serum fibrosis markers, including serum HA, TIMP-1 and platelet count, could identify cirrhosis with better accuracy than other published models.

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.

MRI imagery is emerging as a non-invasive way to determine the existence and extent of hepatic fibrosis. It could eventually help the development of pharmacologic strategies to combat the condition.

Permanent kidney failure due to any cause is almost always accompanied by significant scarring, a disease state termed renal fibrosis. Protein accumulation in the kidney is responsible for fibrosis, including the deposition of the protein collagen by specialized cells named fibroblasts.

Moderate to severe chronic liver disease can be predicted with the use of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), according to a recent study conducted by researchers at New York University Medical Center in New York, NY.

The outcome of hepatitis is either self recovery or its development into liver fibrosis or, further, liver cirrhosis. Liver fibrosis is the early pathological process of cirrhosis, which is considered a reversible, wound-healing response.

Magnetic resonance CAD is useful in diagnosing fibrosis of the liver, according to a recent study conducted by radiologists at Gifu University School of Medicine in Gifu, Japan.