Niereninsuffizienz bei Patienten mit Leberinsuffizienz

Liver cirrhosis: current status and treatment options using western or traditional Chinese medicine

Liver cirrhosis arises from liver fibrosis and necroinflammation caused by various mechanisms of hepatic injury. It is a prevalent condition in clinical practice characterized by hepatocellular dysfunction, portal hypertension, and associated complications. Despite its common occurrence, the etiology and pathogenesis of liver cirrhosis remain incompletely understood, posing a significant health threat. Effective prevention of its onset and progression is paramount in medical research. Symptoms often include discomfort in the liver area, while complications such as sarcopenia, hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and infection can arise. While the efficacy of Western medicine in treating liver cirrhosis is uncertain, Chinese medicine offers distinct advantages. This review explores advancements in liver cirrhosis treatment encompassing non-pharmacological and pharmacological modalities. Chinese medicine interventions, including Chinese medicine decoctions, Chinese patent medicines, and acupuncture, exhibit notable efficacy in cirrhosis reversal and offer improved prognoses. Nowadays, the combination of Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of liver cirrhosis also has considerable advantages, which is worthy of further research and clinical promotion. Standardized treatment protocols based on these findings hold significant clinical implications.

[Hepatorenal syndrome in decompensated cirrhosis : A special form of acute renal failure]

Renal failure is a serious complication in patients with advanced cirrhosis. It occurs in about 20 % of patients hospitalized with cirrhosis. In about 70 % it is caused by prerenal failure, and in 30 % it is due to intrarenal causes. In about 70 % of patients with rperenal failure, renal function can be restored with fluid replacement, but the remaining 30 % are unresponsive to volume expansion. Minor increase in serum creatinine have been shown to be clinically relevant and can adversely affect survival. Therefore early efforts should be made to avoid precipitation of renal failure.Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a  fully reversible impairment of renal function in patients with cirrhosis unresponsive to volume expansion characterized by an acute progressive decrease in kidney function (serumcreatinin > 1,5 mg/dl) - type 1 HRS, whereas type 2 HRS features a decrease in kidney function over a long time, mostly in patients with refractory ascites. Therapy with vasoconstrictors like terlipressin to reverse splanchnic vasodilation, together with albumin is effective in 30-50 % of patients with HRS 1 and improves survival. The only effective longterm therapy is livertransplantation. An improvement of kidney fuction before transplantation is associated with a better outcome and posttransplant kidney function.

Review of anesthesia in liver transplantation

Liver transplantation (LT) is a well-accepted treatment modality of many end-stage liver diseases. The main issue in LT is the shortage of deceased donors to accommodate the needs of patients waiting for such transplants. Live donors have tremendously increased the pool of available liver grafts, especially in countries where deceased donors are not common. The main ethical concern of this procedure is the safety of healthy donors, who undergo a major abdominal surgery not for their own health, but to help cure others. The first part of the review concentrates on live donor selection, preanesthetic evaluation, and intraoperative anesthetic care for living liver donors. The second part reviews patient evaluation, intraoperative anesthesia monitoring, and fluid management of the recipient. This review provides up-to-date information to help improve the quality of anesthesia, and contribute to the success of LT and increase the long-term survival of the recipients.