Ricerc@Sapienza

Recently, the MRI working group of the International PSC Study Group (IPSCSG) has published a position statement on the use of MRI regarding diagnosis and follow-up of PSC patients. These guidelines are intended for use by physicians in daily clinical routine. In addition, the group has outlined several areas of research, which need to be addressed in the near future. As PSC is a rare disease with the clinical outcome being determined by the development of end-stage liver disease and hepatobiliary malignancy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Liver diseases are a major health concern and affect a large proportion of people worldwide. There are over 100 types of liver disorders, including cirrhosis, cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), hepatocellular carcinoma, and hepatitis. Despite the relevant number of people who are affected by liver diseases, and the increased awareness with regard to these disorders, the number of deaths corresponding to liver injury is expected to increase in the foreseeable future.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Although inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) associated with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) have been well characterized in adults, there have been few pediatric studies, and these were small and produced conflicting results. We investigated features of PSC-IBD in children, compared with children with IBD without PSC. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 74 children with PSC-IBD, diagnosed from 2000 through 2018, who were each matched with 2 children with ulcerative colitis or IBD-unclassified (controls) based on sex, date of birth, and type of IBD.