The purpose of this American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Clinical Practice Update (CPU) is to summarize the available evidence and offer expert best practice advice on the incorporation of the functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) into clinical practice, specifically its utility in the evaluation of esophageal symptoms, esophageal motor dysfunction, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and eosinophilic esophagitis.

To investigate the effectiveness of combining ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and vitamin D (VitD) in treating patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and its impact on hepatic fibrosis.

Circulating platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (PDGFRβ) has recently been found to correlate with severity of liver disease in multiple etiologies, including liver steatosis. In diabetic patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), widely used non-invasive scoring systems, particularly the fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score, showed unsatisfactory performance in predicting liver fibrosis severity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the productivity of serum PDGFRβ as a non-invasive biomarker of liver fibrosis in diabetic MAFLD patients.

In children with portal hypertension, the natural history of gastroesophageal varices remains unclear. We report our experience.

Pegylated interferon alfa (pegIFN-α) is one of the main therapeutic strategies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection. Although interferon-based treatment strategies have great potential in combating CHB, they have significant side effects, and many patients do not respond. In this study, nontargeted metabolomics was performed to investigate the effects of interferon therapy on metabolites and their correlations with clinical indicators. Each group of 20 patients received PEG-IFN alfa-2b for 0, 1, 3, or 6 months. At the end of the IFN-α treatment, patient serum samples were processed for clinical, biological, and metabolomic analyses. The results revealed that in all four groups, the most affected metabolic pathways were ABC transporter, caffeine metabolism, and protein digestion and absorption. Notably, among the top 8 differentially abundant metabolites with high ROC AUC values (≥ 0.95), three were related to pyrimidine nucleoside metabolites (cytidine, 3-methyluridine and ribothymidine), indicating the pivotal role of altered nucleoside metabolism in HBV infection and suggesting that IFN-α treatment might partially correct this dysregulation. The top 20 metabolites were strongly associated with clinical indicators, with significant differences after IFN-α treatment, and may serve as promising biomarkers for monitoring HBV progression and the therapeutic effect of IFN-α treatment for chronic HBV infection.

Cirrhosis is a major global health burden, often requiring ICU admission due to complications. Acetaminophen (APAP) is frequently used for pain and fever management in critically ill patients, but its safety in cirrhotic patients remains uncertain.

Neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis caused by citrin deficiency (NICCD) is an autosomal recessive disorder with heterogeneous clinical manifestations. This study aimed to characterize the clinical, biochemical, and genetic spectrum of NICCD and evaluate treatment outcomes.

The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score is a valuable prognostic tool for diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma, heart failure, and acute kidney injury. However, its association with the prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis and sepsis in the intensive care unit (ICU) remains unclear.

Salt restriction is a cornerstone in managing ascites in cirrhotic patients; however, its impact on nutritional status, sarcopenia, and mortality remains unclear.

This study aimed to investigate the independent and combined effects of chewing capacity and depression on the risk of constipation, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2010.

This study aimed to develop an accurate prediction model for the risk of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using the random survival forests (RSF), and to investigate the distribution of NAFLD risk with time.