Wei-Yu Kao

• MD
• Medical Doctor at Taipei Medical University Hospital

Background Data regarding the risk of incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and prediabetes among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) achieving direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs)‐induced sustained virologic response (SVR12) remains limited. Methods A total of 1079 patients, including 589 with normoglycemia and 490 with prediabetes, who underwent biannual...

Purpose Although noninvasive tests can be used to predict liver fibrosis, their accuracy is limited for patients with severe obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We developed machine learning (ML) models to predict significant liver fibrosis in patients with severe obesity through noninvasive tests. Materials and Methods This pros...

Background and Aim The association between long‐term proton‐pump inhibitors (PPIs) use and malignancies had long been discussed, but it still lacks consensus. Our study investigated the association between PPI use and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence following curative surgery. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 6037 patients with HCC wh...

Early confirmation of sustained virologic response (SVR) or viral relapse after direct‐acting antivirals (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential based on public health perspectives, particularly for patients with high risk of nonadherence to posttreatment follow‐ups. A total of 1011 patients who achieved end‐of‐treatment virologic...

Background Gastric cancer is one of the global health concerns. A series of studies on the stomach have confirmed the role of the microbiome in shaping gastrointestinal diseases. Delineation of microbiome signatures to distinguish chronic gastritis from gastric cancer will provide a non-invasive preventative and treatment strategy. In this study, w...

Information on the dynamics of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) among hepatitis C virus patients achieving sustained virologic response (SVR12) with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) is limited. We enrolled 1512 eligible participants in this prospective study. MASLD was defined by a controlled attenuation parameter (CA...

Background: Early confirmation of sustained virologic response (SVR) or viral relapse after direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential based on public health perspectives, particularly for patients with high risk of nonadherence to posttreatment follow-ups. Methods: A total of 1011 patients who achieved end-o...

Clinical evidence suggests that a bidirectional relationship is present between sleep loss and psychiatric disorders. Both melatonin receptor agonist ramelteon (RMT) and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) exhibit antidepressant effects, while their underlying molecular mechanisms might be different. Thus, the present study aims to investig...

Abstract: This study investigated differences in lipidomic profile features in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) between mild and significant liver fibrosis cases among patients with morbid obesity. Wedge liver biopsy was performed during sleeve gastrectomy and significant liver fibrosis was defined as a fibrosis score > 2. We selected patients w...

Rationale: Colonic extranodal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma as a cause of hematochezia is rare. Here, we report a case of colonic extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALToma) with presentation of freshy bloody stool and successfully treated by endoscopic mucosal resection. Patient concerns: This c...

Background: The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase related to the lipid kinases of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) family, which has been confirmed to be closely related to the development of a variety of human cancers. Onatasertib (ATG-008) is a 2nd generation mTOR inhibitor which inactivates both mTORC1 and mTO...

Background: There is still controversy about whether tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and entecavir (ETV) have different effects on the outcomes of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the prognoses between ETV and TDF treatment among patients with HBV-related...

Background Real-world data are scarce about the effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir (SOF/VEL/VOX) for retreating East Asian patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who previously received NS5A direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). We conducted a multicenter study to assess the performance of SOF/VEL/VOX in patients wh...

Background Real-world data are scarce about the effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir (SOF/VEL/VOX) for retreating East Asian patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who previously received NS5A direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). We conducted a multicenter study to assess the performance of SOF/VEL/VOX in patients wh...

Wet etching, the most commonly used technology in the etching industry, is simple and convenient to use, and is currently the most widely used technical method of etching. However, etching solvents used in etching technology are harmful to living organisms and the environment. Another frequently used etching technique is dry etching. Dry etching is...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with dysbiosis and intestinal barrier dysfunction, as indicated by epithelial hyperpermeability and high levels of mucosal-associated bacteria. Changes in gut microbiota may be correlated with IBD pathogenesis. Additionally, microbe-based treatments could mitigate clinical IBD symptoms. Plasmon-activat...

Background Data on hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection in East Asian people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after treatment-induced sustained virologic response (SVR) are limited. Methods HIV/HCV-coinfected patients in Taiwan who achieved SVR12 with interferon (IFN) or direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) between 2005 and 2021 underwent...

The chromosome segregation 1‑like (CSE1L) protein, which regulates cellular mitosis and apoptosis, was previously found to be overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells harboring mutations. Therefore, regulating CSE1L expression may confer chemotherapeutic effects against CRC. The gut microflora can regulate gene expression in colonic cells. In...

Background Data are limited regarding the risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection after treatment-induced sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients on haemodialysis. Aims To assess the risk of HCV reinfection among patients on haemodialysis with treatment-induced SVR. Methods Patients on haemodialysis patients who achieved SVR12 with int...

Background and Objective Emergency physicians (EPs) frequently deal with abdominal pain, including that is caused by either gallstones or acute cholecystitis. Easy access and low cost justify point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use as a first-line test to detect these diseases; yet, the detection performance of POCUS by EPs is unreliable, causing misd...

Background: The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is increasing over time worldwide, with similar trends to those of diabetes and obesity. A liver biopsy, the gold standard of diagnosis, is not favored due to its invasiveness. Meanwhile, noninvasive evaluation methods of fatty liver are still either very expensive or demonstrate poor...

Background/Aims: Real-world studies assessing the effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) plus ribavirin (RBV) for Child-Pugh B/C hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related cirrhosis are limited. Methods: We included 107 patients with Child-Pugh B/C HCV-related cirrhosis receiving SOF/VEL plus RBV for 12 weeks in Taiwan. The sustained vir...

High surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement is generally accompanied by low signal reproducibility. Thus, various complicated technologies focusing on SERS-active substrates were developed to overcome these limitations. On the other hand, innovatively treated plasmon-activated water (PAW) with properties distinct from those of untreat...

Water is the most environmentally friendly solvent, but bulk water is conventionally considered to be a bystander in reactions performed in it. For decades, scientists have been discussing the characteristics of water that differ from bulk water in special environments. Recently, various small amounts of treated water were developed to create speci...

Background Data regarding the real-world effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) for East Asian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and compensated liver disease are limited. We evaluated the performance of SOF/VEL for 12 weeks for HCV-infected patients with compensated liver disease in a large real-world co...

Background Data regarding the real-world effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) for East Asian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and compensated liver disease are limited. We evaluated the performance of SOF/VEL for 12 weeks for HCV-infected patients with compensated liver disease in a large real-world co...

Objective Data regarding the real-world effectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL) with or without low-dose ribavirin (RBV) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and severe renal impairment (RI) are limited. We evaluated the performance of SOF/VEL with or without low-dose RBV in HCV-infected patients with chro...

Despite the steadily increasing worldwide incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC), an effective noninvasive approach for early detection of CRC is still under investigation. The guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and fecal immunochemical test (FIT) have gained popularity as noninvasive CRC screening tests owing to their convenience and relati...

Background: Two recent studies in the adult and pediatric Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-Clinical Research Network (NASH-CRN) cohorts have shown that soluble interleukin-2 receptor alpha (IL2RA) levels increased with fibrosis severity. However, no hepatic study has been conducted in Asian morbidly obese patients who underwent bariatric surgery. In t...

Data regarding the efficacy and tolerability of elbasvir/grazoprevir (EBR/GZR) for East-Asian hepatitis C virus genotype 1b (HCV GT1b) patients receiving hemodialysis were limited. We prospectively recruited 40 HCV GT1b hemodialysis patients who received EBR/GZR for 12 weeks at 6 academic centers in Taiwan. The efficacy endpoints were sustained vir...

Background The prevalence rate of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been reported in 74 to 90% of morbidly obese patients. This study aims to develop a scoring system that predicts significant liver fibrosis in morbidly obese patients.Methods This prospective cohort study involved 123 morbidly obese patients who underwent metabolic surge...

The prognostic factors of patients who undergo radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not fully elucidated. We aimed to investigate the role of liver stiffness (LS) and spleen stiffness (SS) measured by acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography in determining the prognoses of patients with HCC after RFA. We p...

Background Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) can deliver tumoricidal doses and achieve long-term control in early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, limited studies have investigated the safety and effectiveness of SABR in patients with advanced diseases that is unsuitable for transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods In this o...

Objective: The use of nonselective beta blockers in cirrhotic patients experiencing complications is controversial. We aimed to investigate the association between propranolol treatment and outcomes for cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy. Methods: Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 4...

Background/purpose: Whether esophagogastric varices (EGV) can determine the outcome of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) remains unknown. This study aimed to assess the impact of EGV on the prognosis of HCC patients after TACE. Methods: From 2007 to 2012, we retrospectively enrolled 251 tre...

We appreciate the comments by Lai on our study. We completely agree that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use is not associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with chronic hepatitis B or C. However, another recent nested case‐control study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) database showed...

Background/purpose: The impact of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) on the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not fully elucidated. We aimed to assess the correlation between NAFLD and CKD in a large population study. Methods: We included consecutive subjects who had received health check-up service at Taipei Veterans General...

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) reduces survival in cirrhotic patients and correlates with systemic inflammation and gut-liver disequilibrium. We investigated the association between propranolol treatment and outcomes for cirrhotic patients with HE. Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 4,754 cirrhotic pa...

Background Several studies have reported the accuracy of transient elastography (TE), a noninvasive, reproducible, and reliable method for predicting liver fibrosis. This study evaluated the predictive factors associated with significant liver fibrosis assessed through TE. Methods This study enrolled 1799 consecutive patients who underwent TE at T...

Researchers have hypothesized that the long‐term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) can increase the risk of developing cancer. However, the association between PPI use and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk is unclear. Using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database for the period between 2003 and 2013, we identified 35,3...

Red blood cell (RBC) aggregation and iron status are interrelated and strongly influenced by dietary factors, and their alterations pose a great risk of dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Currently, RBC aggregation-related dietary patterns remain unclear. This study investigated the dietary patterns that were associated with RBC aggregatio...

Objective: The predictive value of esophageal varices (EV) in determining the patient outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unresolved. We aimed to assess the impact of EV on the prognosis of HCC patients after surgical resection. Materials and methods: We consecutively enrolled 446 treatment-naive HCC patients who underwent surgical...

en Linked content This article is linked to Mettke et al and Mettke and Wedemeyer papers. To view these articles visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14427 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14582.

Background/aims: Whether single large hepatocellular carcinoma (SLHCC) is classified as Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A or B is still controversial. We aimed to compare the clinical manifestations, treatment modalities, and prognoses among patients with SLHCC and those in BCLC stage A and B. Methods: We enrolled 2,285 treatment-naiv...

Background: s & Aims: There is no consensus for screening high-risk esophageal varices (HRV) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of HRV in HCC patients and to assess the combination of albumin-bilirubin grade and platelet count (ALBI-PLT score) for predicting compensated pa...

Background and aims Entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) are effective as two first‐line anti‐viral therapies for chronic hepatitis B (CHB); however, data are limited on directly comparing the safety and effectiveness of these two antivirals. Hence, we compared the efficacy and safety of TDF and ETV on treatment‐naïve patients wi...

This 73‐year‐old female had undergone right middle lobe lobectomy for adenocarcinoma of lung (pT2N0M0) and got cured without recurrence. However, two years later, she was diagnosed as another cancer, uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma (the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IIB), and received a series of concurrent ch...

Purpose To construct a nomogram with the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade to assess the long-term outcomes of patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Materials and Methods This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was waived. We studied 622 treat...

Whether or not esophagogastric varices (EGV) could determine the outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. A total of 990 treatment-naive HCC patients who received an esophagogastroduodenoscopy at the time of HCC diagnosis were retrospectively enrolled. The factors in terms of prognosis were analyzed by Cox proporti...

Background . Fatty liver index (FLI) and lipid accumulation product (LAP) are indexes originally designed to assess the risk of fatty liver and cardiovascular disease, respectively. Both indexes have been proven to be reliable markers of subsequent metabolic syndrome; however, their ability to predict metabolic syndrome in subjects without fatty li...

Objectives: To assess the impact of clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 280 treatment-naïve early-stage HCC patients who had Child-Pugh grade A or B and received upper gastrointestinal endo...

The prognostic implication of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) substages in Asian patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still obscure. The aim to this study is to compare the prognoses among HCC patients in different substages of the BCLC stage 0 and A. We enrolled 1265 treatment-naive HCC patients with BCLC stage 0 or A from 2007 to...

Although many studies have attempted to clarify the association between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and fatty liver disease, no prior studies have emphasized the relationship of HBV and fatty liver regarding different demographics of age and body mass index (BMI). To investigate the correlation of HBV and fatty liver in the different demograp...

AimOral antifungal agent-induced liver injury is a common safety concern that may lead to patients' hesitation in treating fungal infections such as onychomycosis. This study evaluated risk of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) caused by oral antifungal agents in Taiwanese populations. MethodsA population-based study was conducted by analyzing who us...

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND; Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been performed as a first line curative treatment modality for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within the Milan criteria currently. However, prognosis of hepatitis B- and hepatitis C-related HCC after RFA remains debatable. This study aimed to assess the impact of viral etiolog...

Background: There has been no large-scale population-based study on the incidence and clinical manifestations of second primary cancer (SPC) after diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and the risk factors of SPC following HCC diagnosis. Method: This study used data from the National Heal...

Aims: This study aims to evaluate the risk factors for tumor recurrence beyond the Milan criteria (MC) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after surgical resection (SR) in which salvage liver transplantation is relatively contraindicated. Methods: A total of 447 patients who underwent SR for HCC were enrolled consecutively. Among th...

Background: Epidemiologic studies have identified cholecystectomy as a possible risk factor for cancers in Western countries. The aim of this study was to estimate the risk of hepato-biliary cancer after cholecystectomy in Taiwan. Methods: Based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 2,590 cholecystectomized patients without...

Goals: To evaluate the clinical implication of splenic volume measured by computed tomography (CT) scan in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Background: Splenomegaly is an important sign of portal hypertension and poor liver function in patients with advanced liver disease. But whether...

The sensitivity of current upper limit of normal (ULN) of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels for detecting chronic liver disease has been challenged recently. To identify modulating factors for serum ALT levels and to refine its ULN threshold. We enrolled 34 346 consecutive subjects who completed the health check-up at Taipei Veterans Gene...

There has been no large-scale population-based study on the relationship between pyogenic liver abscesses (PLA) and subsequent cancer risk. To estimate all cancer risk following a diagnosis of PLA. Based on Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, 1257 patients with PLA without prior cancers in the period 1996-2008 were identified and...

Indications for resection of non-early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain controversial. This study aimed to identify factors that affect outcome of patients with Barcelona Clinical Liver Cancer Classification (BCLC) stage B or stage C HCC after hepatic resection. From 1991 to 2006, 478 patients with HCC (BCLC stage B, n = 318 and BCLC sta...

To evaluate the clinical inference of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Three hundred and thirteen previously untreated HCC patients were enrolled in the study. The optimal AFP response was defined as >20% decrease from baseline after 1 month of R...

To evaluate the impact of age on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Whether age plays an important role in the outcomes of HCC after RFA remains controversial. Two hundred fifty-eight consecutive treatment naive HCC patients who underwent RFA were enrolled. Patients a...

Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one of the first-line curative therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but factors affecting the prognosis remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic factors associated with the prognosis in patients with HCC undergoing RFA. The study enrolled 190 treatment-naïve patients with HCC...

The impact of viral factors on the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial because of heterogeneous populations included in previous reports. This study aims to compare clinicopathologic features and prognoses between patients with hepatitis B- and hepatitis C-related HCC who underwent resection surgery. We enrolled 609 pa...

Differences in efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and surgical resection (SR) are not clear for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). From 2002 to 2007, 419 patients with HCCs ≤5 cm were enrolled consecutively in the study. Among these patients, 190 and 229 patients received RFA and SR, respectively, as their first treatment. Factors...