Advanced research center in gastroenterology and hepatology (CCA-GASTROHEP)

The Center for Advanced Research in Gastroenterology and Hepatology includes 10 full members, 8 associate members (PhD students) and 1 external collaborator  . Our research topics include the following.

One of the main topics is the evaluation of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), this pathology becoming very common in current clinical practice. The aim of this study is to identify an algorithm for early identification of patients with liver fibrosis by non-invasive elastographic methods. A multidisciplinary approach between the departments of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Diabetes Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Biochemistry, Genetics and Cardiology will be needed in order to identify patients with type 2 diabetes and those with metabolic syndrome with severe fibrosis. Patients will be evaluated clinically, by biologic, elastography, genetic and metabolomic tests.

A second proposed topic is the identification of biomarkers for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in clinical practice. It is well known that imaging methods are an essential component in the diagnosis and staging of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Published data show that certain biomarkers (AFP, AFP-L3, DCP) are suboptimal for routine surveillance of patients at risk for HCC. Thus, this prospective study aims to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of five biomarkers: AFP, AFP-L3, DCP, GPC3, CK19 for HCC detection. For this study, our Center will collaborate with the Department of Biochemistry.

The third research topic is the complex assessment of the nutritional status of patients with chronic liver disease. As there is currently no “gold standard” for the nutritional assessment of those patients, we aim to identify easily applicable, non-invasive methods that can be routinely performed. The project objectives include to establish a nutritional status assessment protocol for patients with chronic liver disease that can be easily applied by medical staff and identification of the most sensitive, easily applicable and cost effective nutritional assessment methods. We intend to perform comparative studies between various anthropometric and imaging methods. A collaboration with the Imaging department has already been started to evaluate sarcopenia in cirrhotic patients by CT.

The fourth research topic is metabolomics in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis. The aim is to identify independent metabolic factors that influence the evolution of acute pancreatitis to severe forms with local or systemic complications and the identification of prognostic metabolic factors of severe forms. In this study, metabolomics determinations are desired.

Another research topic will be to evaluate the prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori and the response to treatment among patients with dyspeptic syndrome. This prospective study will evaluate the efficacy of 2 regimens used to eradicate H. Pylori infection, to determine H. Pylori resistance to Clarithromycin, Levofloxacin and Metronidazole in our geographic area, and to evaluate the existence of H. Pylori 23S rRNA gene mutations. For this study, we will collaborate with the Departments of Microbiology and Medical Genetics.