Reversibility of fibrosis in Wilson disease

In contrast with the traditional view that liver fibrosis should be considered an irreversible process, recent evidence indicates that even advanced hepatic fibrosis could be regarded as a dynamic and reversible process, overturning the longstanding dogma that liver fibrosis could never regress. This study was undertaken to evaluate fibrosis evolution in patients affected by Wilson’s disease, in order to answer two main questions: 1) can liver fibrosis reduce after anticopper treatment? and, 2) Is there any correlation between regression of fibrosis and a specifi ctherapy? Our study shows that liver fibrosis, even in its advanced stage, should be regarded as a partially reversible process. This underscores the dynamic nature of liver fibrosis in Wilson`s disease and offers hope for blocking progression of chronic liver disease even in the more advanced stages

PRAVASTATIN VS GEMFIBROZIL IN THE TREATMENT OF PRIMARY HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA RID A-6707-2012

An increase in total and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations is related to the incidence of cardiovascular heart disease. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of pravastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, versus gemfibrozil, a fibrate, in the treatment of primary hypercholesterolaemia. 855 subjects (males and females, aged between 18 and 70 years) with total cholesterol (TC) concentrations > 240 mg/dl and triglyceride (TG) concentrations < 250 mg/dl were enrolled. After a pretreatment diet period, patients received either pravastatin 20 mg/day (659 patients) or gemfibrozil 1200 mg/day (196 patients). At the end of the 12-week treatment period, reductions in TC (-23%) and LDL-C (-31%) were noted in the pravastatin group. Gemfibrozil reduced TC by 16% and LDL by 20%. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations increased in a similar way in the two groups: pravastatin +10%, gemfibrozil +11%. Triglycerides decreased by 14% with pravastatin and by 22% with gemfibrozil. Pravastatin and gemfibrozil were both well tolerated. No significant adverse events or variations in laboratory parameters occurred during this study