CHICAGO — Alcohol-related cirrhosis carries a twofold higher mortality risk than cirrhosis stemming from metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, even when disease severity is matched, noted a presenter at Digestive Disease Week.
Compounding mortality risk, alcohol-related cirrhosis also exhibited significantly higher portal vein thrombosis than MASH-related cirrhosis despite similar rates of liver cancer and no immediate difference in transplant rates after matching for severity.
“Alcohol-related cirrhosis and MASH-related cirrhosis are often discussed within the broad framework of

CHICAGO — Sharp differences in mortality rates and costs related to alcohol-associated hepatitis before and after the COVID-19 pandemic highlight persistent demographic and socioeconomic disparities, according to a study.
Results of the retrospective cohort study showed disproportionate increases in mortality rates among Native American and Hispanic individuals, and higher hospital charges for women and patients admitted to urban teaching hospitals.
The findings were presented at Digestive Disease Week.
“Alcohol-induced hepatitis is now one of the leading causes of liver-related hospitalization,

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily restored a rule the FDA lifted in 2023 that requires mifepristone to be dispensed in person, blocking mail-order access, court documents show.
The ruling halts mail-order telehealth access even in states without restrictions on abortions, according to reporting by The Associated Press. It will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The case was filed against the FDA by the state of Louisiana and “a woman who said she was coerced into taking abortion pills,” The AP reported. The judges sided with the plaintiffs that mail-order

DESTIN, Fla. — Until biomarkers that can predict treatment response emerge, early and aggressive treatment is recommended in lupus nephritis, according to a presenter at Congress of Clinical Rheumatology East.
“We have to be aggressive in lupus nephritis right off the bat because most patients have had untreated disease,” Alfred H.J. Kim, MD, PhD, director of the Washington University Lupus Center, told attendees, here.
Patients may have waited as long as 5 years between initial presentation and an actual diagnosis of lupus nephritis, according to Kim. It is critical to gain

CHICAGO —The AI-assisted colonoscopy era was associated with a 47% reduction in interval colorectal cancer incidence and higher adenoma detection rates AI-free procedures, according to a study presented at Digestive Disease Week.
“AI-assisted colonoscopy has been rolling out across health systems for a few years now and the randomized trial data looked promising, but those trials tend to be conducted at academic centers under fairly controlled conditions,” Muhammad Ali Butt, MD, gastroenterology fellow at the University of Minnesota, told Healio. “What we kept wondering was whether any of that

WASHINGTON — AI highlighted evidence-based research when asked about the safety of acetaminophen use during pregnancy, according to data shown at the ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting.
“I was unexpectedly relieved by the information that ChatGPT provided to our pregnant test subject,” Erik Holder, MD, MPH, an OB/GYN specialist at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, told Healio. “I feared that AI would immediately provide a click-bait answer, or at least inform the user of the conflict of information in order to continue engagement

DENVER — In this video, Aaron M. Drucker, MD, ScM, FRCPC, FAAD, discusses some of the new molecules coming for atopic dermatitis that target OX40, IL-4 and IL-13 pathways, at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.
According to Drucker, these molecules seem to have longer-acting effects, wider dosing intervals and efficacy that continues to improve past 16 weeks, beyond what current molecules provide.
“I’m excited to see how those stack up when we’re able to put them all into the same network meta-analysis in the next year or so, and we will continue to follow the field as things