One of the coolest things about the liver is that it is the only major organ capable of regenerating itself. In fact, during a living donor liver transplant, as little as 1/3 of the living donor’s liver is transplanted and grows back to full size in the recipient within only a few weeks time. When you think about it, this makes perfect sense. The liver’s job is to detoxify our bodies, which means that they are constantly processing toxins that would otherwise kill us. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, or simple byproducts of food that we ingest, the liver has to be able to handle removing them from our bloodstream to keep us healthy. Continue reading “New treatment restarts liver regeneration”
Author: David Frank
David Frank is the author of Impact Event and the founder of nashaware.com, a blog dedicated to raising awareness of the deadly liver disease NASH. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation. He has worked in financial markets and Fintech for over 20 years while biding his time to pursue his lifelong passion of writing. He's also a tech geek, gamer, advocate, tinkerer, husband, and father. He lives at the Jersey Shore with his wife and three children.
The devastating effect of NASH on young kids
Earlier this year I wrote about the sobering fact that up to 10% of children in the USA are estimated to be living with NAFLD, with nearly a quarter of them having progressed to NASH. It’s bad enough that millions of children are having to face this disease so early in life but the evidence is actually getting worse for pre-teen children, as research has shown that fatty liver disease progression through NASH to fibrosis and eventual liver failure is significantly accelerated versus the teen or adult population.
Continue reading “The devastating effect of NASH on young kids”
The most effective treatment for serious NASH – Surgery
Ever since my Mom passed away suddenly after being diagnosed with late-stage NASH, I’ve been following the efforts of the medical community and many bio-pharma companies to develop effective treatments for the disease. Mostly, I’ve followed the efforts to develop medicine that can slow or reverse the effects of NASH, as there is a lot of attention being paid to this and some recent successful trials.
I recently attended an event with a distinguished panel of liver experts and one of the discussion points that surprised me was how effective weight-loss surgery is at treating NASH. I shouldn’t have been surprised, I suppose, because I already knew that losing a small amount of weight can lead to big improvements in NASH patients. Surgery just seemed “extreme” to me, but in fact it is by far the most effective way to achieve sustained weight loss, and has even been called one of the most effective interventions in all of health care. Continue reading “The most effective treatment for serious NASH – Surgery”
Deaths from Liver Cancer rise 43% since 2000 amidst decline in all other cancer rates
The impact of NASH is only starting to be realized. One sobering figure just released by the CDC highlights yet another trend going in the wrong direction. From 2000 to 2016, the mortality rate for liver cancer rose 43%, even while the rates for all other cancers declined.
The missed opportunities of the “Body Positivity” movement
Let’s get something out of the way up front. Dealing with weight issues is an incredibly emotional and sensitive subject, and as a society we should not focus on shaming, shunning, or victimizing the nearly half of the country that is overweight or obese. By creating a societal image of beauty and attractiveness that ostracizes over a hundred million people in the USA alone, we have done ourselves a terrible disservice.
At the same time, we cannot ignore the medical realities that are strongly correlated to being overweight. The amount of diseases and medical conditions with direct causal relationships to weight are staggering, and the evidence is strong and tested. NASH is emerging as perhaps the single largest affliction in terms of both prevalence and incidence, with estimates of over 30 million people currently living in the US with the disease, and the vast majority of them unaware that they have it until it is too late. Continue reading “The missed opportunities of the “Body Positivity” movement”
Dazed and Confused – when severe NASH leads to Hepatic Encephalopathy
NASH is undoubtedly a complex disease, with a wide spectrum of progression and diagnosis. The good news is that if you intervene early you can stop and even reverse the serious liver damage that NASH causes. The bad news is that if it goes undetected it can cause sudden liver failure and death. Continue reading “Dazed and Confused – when severe NASH leads to Hepatic Encephalopathy”
Another promising NASH trial result from Galmed
On the heels of competitor Madrigal’s excellent trial results another small BioPharma company has released phase 2 results that sent their company stock skyrocketing. Galmed Pharmaceuticals, a small Israeli biopharmaceutical company, produced statistically significant results with a drug called Aramchol in the lowering of fat in the liver at 52 weeks. The analysis of the results was embraced by the markets, which sent the stock soaring 250%.
In one endpoint, more patients treated with 600 mg of Aramchol versus placebo achieved NASH resolution without worsening of fibrosis, at 16.7% versus 5.0% (p=0.0514), respectively, as well as NASH resolution more generally, at 19.2% compared to 7.5% (p=0.0462). In addition, the second biopsy endpoint showed a higher proportion of patients with at least a one-point improvement in fibrosis score without worsening of NASH.
We are at an exciting time for NASH treatment options with multiple companies pursuing promising candidates. People suffering from NASH will still require significant lifestyle changes but hearing about more successful trial results is a very positive step towards getting a grip on the pandemic.
Coffee Once Again Linked to Healthier Livers
“Coffee drinkers may be at lower risk for liver disease”.
There have been many studies released in recent years linking the consumption of coffee with healthier livers. Now another large study has been released from the American Society for Nutrition, as summarized on WebMD. 3 cups or more of Joe per day was tied to a 21% reduction in liver risk, even after accounting for all sorts of variables. Continue reading “Coffee Once Again Linked to Healthier Livers”
My speech for International NASH Day
Today I had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic group of medical professionals that are all working hard on solving the NASH pandemic as part of International NASH Day’s worldwide efforts to fight the disease. I’ll be blogging much more about what I learned and hopefully will be able to follow up with some interesting pieces from some of the great people I met today.
Below are the prepared remarks for this speech…you can also click here to view the livestream.
NASH AWARE will be at the 1st International NASH Day Conference in the Bronx!
I’m proud to announce that I’ll be joining a very distinguished list of individuals speaking at the 1st International NASH Day Conference for Providers at the Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx next Tuesday!
The terrific folks at The NASH Education Program have worked with providers and advocates across the industry to organize this worldwide day of action to raise awareness for NASH. They have asked me to tell my personal story to help provide the perspective of someone who has dealt with loss due to NASH.
I’m truly honored to be a part of this fantastic event. For full information see the PDF here.
