• Korean Journal of Family Medicine
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.360-363
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• 2018

Background: Acute alcoholic intoxication patients (AAIP) are a common public health problem. The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive laboratory analysis for these patients to investigate the co-morbid medical problem. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed laboratory findings of AAIP who were transferred to the emergency department (ED) from January 2017 to June 2017. Results: A total of 160 male patients were enrolled. Sixteen patients (16/160, 10.0%) and three patients (3/160, 1.9%) had macrocytic anemia and microcytic anemia, respectively. A total of 33 patients (33/160, 20.6%) showed thrombocytopenia ($<150{\times}10^9/L$). Twelve patients (12/159, 7.5%) showed low serum albumin level (<3.5 g/dL). Three patients (3/160, 1.9%) had chronic kidney disease stages 3-4 based on estimated glomerular filtration rate. Six patients (6/27, 22.2%) had high hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level (>7.0%). Positive rates of hepatitis B surface antigen and antiHBs antibody (anti-HBs Ab) were 3.5% (5/141) and 49.0% (68/141), respectively. Conclusion: Patients with AAIP who were transferred to ED had various laboratory abnormalities (anemia, thrombocytopenia, high HbA1c). They had low positive rate of anti-HBs Ab. This might be a public health problem, suggesting the need of hepatitis B virus vaccination program for AAIP. Our data suggest the need of further nationwide studies.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.106-111
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• 2020

Objectives: Hepatitis A is a typical acute hepatitis caused by hepatovirus, and then most patients recover easily without progression to chronic condition. However, certain cases have the risk of severe symptoms or even death. This case report presented a hepatitis A accompanied with pancreatitis, which had been completely recovered in a Korean medicine hospital. Case presentation: A 38-year woman had felt the malaise, mild chilling, muscle pain and abdominal discomfort for 10 days, which led her visit doctors and took anti-pyretic analgesics and digestants. The symptoms, especially epigastric pain and fatigue, became worse, and then she hospitalized in a Korean medicine hospital. Based on the drastic elevations of hepatic enzymes (aspartate transaminase 1,604 IU/L and alanine transaminase 2,825IU/L) with an anti-HAV IgM positive, she was diagnosed with hepatitis A. After bed rest and herbal drug treatment (CGX and Innae-Tang) for 5 days, the laboratory abnormalities and subjective symptoms had been improved gradually, except the upper gastric discomfort and pain. Those symptoms had anticipated the comorbidity with HAV-induced pancreatitis, supported by the high level of serum lipase release. Another 5-day hospitalized treatment improved all subjective symptoms and then the laboratory results were completely normalized including detection of anti-HAV IgG within 15 days after discharge. Conclusion: This study presented a typical hepatitis A accompanied with pancreatitis, which should be considered in diagnosis and management of hepatitis A.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.270-277
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• 1988

Gamiinjinoryung-San is composed of eight crude drugs including Artemisiae capillaris Herba which is widely used for the treatment of acute jaundice, acute and chronic hepatitis at the Oriental hospital of Kyung-Hee Medical Center. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of water extract of Gamiinjinoryung-San on the liver function. The results obtained were as follows; the extract markedly reduced LDH and ALP activities, but slightly decreased GOT and GPT activities elevated with D-galactosamine in rat serum. The liver protective activities were shown in $CCl_4-intoxicated\;rats$. The extract prevented the prolongation of sleeping time in $CCl_4-intoxicated\;rats$. The bile flow and the biliary bile acid secretion were significantly increased in normal rats.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.251-256
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• 2001

In western medicine, there are some reports about herbal medicine induced hepatitis, but in oriental medicine, there are few reports about that. We experienced one case of drug acute cholestatic-hepatitis in the treatment of oriental medicine for HNP. We treated the patient with acupuncture, physical therapy and herb medicine. The patient's symptoms improved after two weeks of treatment. In the course of treatment, the patient intermittently complained of general weakness, nausea, yellowish urin, dyspepsia, and abdominal discomfort. We recognized that total bilirubin(7.2mg/dl), direct bilirubin(5.5mg/dl), serum transaminase(AST 360U/L, ALT 354U/L), alkaline phosphatase(16.6 K/A), urobilinogen(++) and bilirubin(++) were elevated. We diagnosed drug induced hepatitis. We stopped giving herb medicine and began giving Saeng gan gunbi-tang and Injin-oryung-san. Saeng gan gunbi-tang and Injin-oryung-san have been used to treat hepatic disease and have been known to have beneficial effects. After 3weeks on medication, the clinical symptoms and liver function improved. So, we report this case to bring more attention to the safety and toxicity of herbal medicine.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.191-198
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• 2015

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is responsible for approximately 350 million chronic infections worldwide and is a leading cause of broad-spectrum liver diseases such as hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although it has been well established that adaptive immunity plays a critical role in viral clearance, the pathogenetic mechanisms that cause liver damage during acute and chronic HBV infection remain largely known. This review describes our current knowledge of the immune-mediated pathogenesis of HBV infection and the role of immune cells in the liver injury during hepatitis B.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.123-126
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• 2010

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is a common cause of acute hepatitis, but is rarely responsible for neonatal hepatitis. HAV infection is usually transmitted by the fecal-oral route, but during the neonatal period can be transmitted by the intrauterine vertical route or postnatal horizontal route. HAV infection is usually self-limited, but it can be potentially life-threatening in adults. The clinical course and symptoms are mild and the infection can be asymptomatic in newborns. Recently, we experienced a case of symptomatic neonatal hepatitis A. To our knowledge, this is the first case of neonatal hepatitis with HAV infection in Korea.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.213-221
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• 2005

Purpose: Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is characterized by persistent high fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenias, hypertriglyceridemia, and/or hypofibrinogenemia. Hepatic manifestations including overt hepatic failure and fulminant hepatitis are common in HPS. Liver transplantation (LT) should be considered in a case of fulminant hepatitis by other than HPS, but LT is contraindicated and complete cure is possible by chemotherapy in HPS. Therefore, we conducted this study to define the characteristics of HPS presenting as severe acute hepatitis. Methods: Among the total of 23 patients diagnosed as HPS by bone marrow examination between 1994 and 2005 in Asan Medical Center, 11 cases presented as severe acute hepatitis were enrolled in this study. We analyzed the clinical features, laboratory findings and outcome retrospectively. Results: Seven (64%) of the 11 children with HPS and hepatitis were referred to pediatric gastroenterologist at first. The mean age of onset was 50 months. There was no case with family history of primary HPS. Epstein-Barr virus was positive in 4, and herpes Simplex virus was positive simultaneously in 1 case. As the presenting symptoms and signs, fever was present in 10, hepatosplenomagaly was noted in all and jaundice in 10. Anemia was observed in 10, thrombocytopenia in 10, leukopenia in 8, hypertriglyceridemia in 9, hypofibrinogenemia in 8 and hyperferritinemia in 7 cases, respectively. Nine children received chemotherapy including etopside. The overall mortality rate was 72% (8/11). Conclusion: HPS, which needs chemotherapy, should be considered as a cause of severe acute hepatitis especially when accompanied with prolonged high fever and cytopenias.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.356-359
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• 2018

This case report attempts to present a case of acute toxic hepatitis in fire extinguisher manufacturing workers exposed to 2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoro-ethane (HCFC-123) in August 2017 in Korea. Twenty-two-year-old male workers were exposed to HCFC-123 for 1.5 hours one day and for 2.5 hours the other day, after which one worker died, and the other recovered after treatment. The workers were diagnosed with acute toxicity of hepatitis. However, exposure levels of HCFC-123 were not known with no work environment measurement done. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the exposure concentration of HCFC-123 via a job simulation experiment. In the simulation, the HCFC-123 exposure concentration was measured with the same working practice and working time as with the workers aforementioned. As a result, the workers who infused HCFC-123 into storage tanks were estimated to be exposed to HCFC-123 at a concentration of $20.65{\pm}10.81ppm$, and a mean concentration of area samples within a working radius were estimated as $70.30{\pm}18.10ppm$. Valve assembly workers working on valves of a fire extinguisher filled with HCFC-123 were exposed to HCFC-123 at concentrations of $91.65{\pm}4.03ppm$ and $115.55{\pm}7.28ppm$, respectively, in the simulation, and area samples simulated within the working radius were also found to be high with concentrations of $122.75{\pm}91.15ppm$ and $126.80{\pm}60.25ppm$, respectively. Nitrogen gas packing workers, who did not handle HCFC-123 directly, were exposed to the agent at a concentration of $71.80{\pm}8.49ppm$. These results suggest that exposure to HCFC-123 at high concentrations for 1.5-2.5 hours caused acute toxic hepatitis in two workers.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2012

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an epidemiologically important virus with a worldwide distribution. It causes acute hepatitis in humans. HAV infection is often subclinical or asymptomatic in children; however, symptomatic acute infections become more common with age. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of anti-HAV among hospital workers in Jeonbuk province. 447 (127 males, 320 females) persons were included in the study from January to June, 2011. Anti-HAV (total and IgM) in the sample serum was measured by VIDAS Hepatitis A (bioMerieux, France), and IgM positive samples were tested in terms of their serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels by a HITACHI 7600-010 automatic analyzer (HITACHI, Japan). The overall prevalence of total anti-HAV was 45.9% (205/447), and rate for males (60.6%) was higher than that for females (40%). According to the age group, the prevalence rates of total anti-HAV were 20% (1/5) in those under 20 years old, 11.3% (18/160) in those 20-29 years, 49.7% (71/143) in those 30-39 years, 86.5% (83/96) in those 40-49 years, 92.9% (26/28) in those 50-59 years, and 40% (6/15) in those over 60 years old. The total prevalence of anti-HAV IgM was 0.8% (4/447), and rate for males (1.6%) was higher than that for females (0.6%). Through this study, we determined the prevalence of anti-HAV among hospital workers in Jeonbuk province. The prevalence of the HAV antibody overall was low in hospital workers under 40 years old and in those over 60 years old. Therefore, an improvement in sanitary conditions and hygiene and vaccinations against HAV in this population are recommended.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 2003

Of many viral causes of human cancer, few are of greater global importance than the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Over 250 million people worldwide are persistently infected with HBV. A significant minority of these develop severe pathologic consequences, including chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Earlier epidemiological evidence suggested a link between chronic HBV infection and HCC. Further, the existence of related animal viruses that induce acute and chronic infections of the liver, and eventually HCC, confirms the concept that HBV belongs to one of the few human oncogenic viruses. Although it is clear that chronic HBV infections are major risk factors, relatively little is understood about how the viral factors contribute to hepatocarcinogenesis. This review will introduce molecular aspects of the viral infection, and highlight recent findings on the viral contribution to hepatocarcinogenesis.