Hospital readmission rates remain high in patients with cirrhosis

A majority of patients hospitalized with cirrhosis were readmitted to the hospital due to infection and other liver-related complications within 3 months of being discharged, according to a presention at the 2015 International Liver Congress.

Researchers analyzed data collected from the North American Consortium for the Study of End-stage Liver Disease of 578 patients hospitalized with cirrhosis. Researchers followed patients who were discharged for 3 months to determine any readmissions, transplantation and mortality. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine and analyze reasoning for readmission.

During follow-up, 77 patients died or entered hospice and 20 underwent transplantation. Therefore, 481 patients were included in the final analysis.
Overall, 50% of the patients were readmitted at least once during the follow-up period; 56% had one readmission, 28% had two readmissions and 16% had three or more readmissions.

Forty percent of readmissions were due to infections, 49% due to liver-related complications and 11% for other reasons, according to the research. Readmission rates were similar for patients admitted with infection and those without.

Researchers found that in a large multicenter study of hospitalized cirrhotic patients - 50% of them were re-hospitalized within 3 months of discharge, most often due to problems related to worse liver disease severity and use of antibiotics.

The Increasing Burden of Liver Diseases

According to a July 10, 2013 medical journal report, deaths from liver disease have increased significantly over the years. 

Cirrhosis -- damaged liver tissue and the loss of liver function due to a variety of liver diseases -- has risen substantially from the 14th most frequent cause of death in 1990 to the 8th most frequent cause of death in 2010. In the same time period, liver cancer went from the 39th to the 30th most frequent cause of death in the US. The prognosis of liver cancer is particularly poor with the medical community's limited ability to treat patients with liver cancer, with death most often occurring within six months. 

The most common causes of both cirrhosis and liver cancer are viral hepatitis, alcoholism, and obesity-related fatty liver disease. However, it is hepatitis C that is the most likely cause of the emergence of liver disease as a growing threat to American lives.

In May 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services released an action plan for the prevention, care, and treatment of viral hepatitis. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended an age-based screening strategy that required a one-time test for hepatitis C for everyone born between 1945 and 1965. In June 2013, the US Preventive Services Task Force endorsed that recommendation by giving the one-time test of baby-boomers a "B" rating, which allows for payment by Medicare and private insurers for testing with no copayment by patients.

The ability of a patient to be tested and treated for hepatitis C at the earliest possible date allows him or her to get treated and avoid the hepatitis C's progression to liver cancer. Liver transplantation is expensive, the treatment for hepatitis C is both difficult and expensive, there is still a shortage of livers available for the number of patients waiting on the transplant list, and there are still too many Americans unaware of their hepatitis status -- 75 percent of the estimated 3 million US citizens with hepatitis C. However, policies and plans from the federal government linked to medical breakthroughs from the research community are creating the potential of a brighter future for patients with liver disease even as the burden of liver disease grows.

Bollywood and Kollywood superstar suffering from liver problem

Two of the greatest superstars of Bollywood and Kollywood (Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth) have been suffering from liver problem. They are great friends and admirers of each other. They are both considered demigods in India and two of the greatest entertainers that Indian movie industry has seen. The causes for the superstars suffering from liver problems are different but both of them have been fighting with in a great stride.

Amitabh Bachchan, the Shahenshah of Bollywood, suffered from liver cirrhosis as a result of the blood that he received after his near-fatal accident on the sets of Manmohan Desai's Coolie on August 2, 1982. It is believed that the Liver cirrhosis has claimed about 25% of Amitabh Bachchan's liver. In his blog Amitji admitted he needs constant medical tests "to keep checking if there is any further damage taking place in the liver". Amitji displays Great Spirit in his fight against liver ailment. Despite the ailments, Amitji displays a tremendous sense of humour in his blogs. He has also written that when the doctors start to unstrap him he feels "like Sachin Tendulkar after he has returned to the pavilion after scoring his 101st Test century".

Rajinikanth, the superstar of Tamil movies, have been suffering from liver problem for past few years. He has been treated in Chennai and Singapore and it is believed that his movie Rana has been delayed due to his health problems. In Rajini sir’s case the ailment is minor and is understood that is mostly due to his diet and drinking habit.

Every year millions of people suffer from liver problem and even after decades of research the western medicine has not been able to identify a cure for liver problems such as hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver and ascites. One of the biggest hopes for the patients suffering from hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver and ascites is ayurvedic or alternative medicine. There are numerous ayurvedic products which are quite effective in liver disorder treatment. One such product is Kamalahar.

Start of Blue Ocean Strategy Journey Of Kamalahar

It was one of the regular trips to Noamundi TISCO club. The club is located in a very nice and serene environment of the mining belt of Singhbhum district of India. Many a big honchos of TATA group have met there and created their own blue oceans in iron and steel industry.

During the course of conversation both Mr. Vijay and I started discussing about how to take Kamalahar to the new market place. Based on the visual exploration that Khatore Pharmaceutical executives had done, it was clear that there was a great untapped market in the curative area of liver treatment. The liver problem was growing among urban middle class and there was no product positioned to cure the liver problem especially hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver, Ascites, jaundice.
That discussion led us to Jaipur, the pink city of India. That was just before deepawali, the festival of light and also the day when many Indian businessmen worship goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. The beginning was almost like a line from the book Alchemist. When you are following your destiny the whole world will conspire to make it happen. When we had our first face to face meeting with the partners in Jaipur who were going to play a key role in the successful execution of blue ocean strategy, things started falling in place quickly and led to where we are today.

Genting highland retreat for Kamalahar

Genting highland is a wonderful and beautiful place in Malaysia. It is in the state of Pahang. The journey started with a bus ride from Kuala lumpur to the cable car station of genting. It was quite smooth as there was not much traffic due to ID celebration.

Once we reached cable car station we had to go through a pain of 1 and half hour of standing in the line. But once we got into the cable car, it was awesome as the ride was quite cool. We went through the mountains and deep forest full of mist. It took us another 15 minutes to reach Genting.

Once we reached Genting and settled down, we started the discussion on how to take Kamalahar to numerous sufferers of Hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver and Ascites. We discussed our blue ocean strategy of expanding the customer base to reach as many noncustomers as possible in quick time.
We are quite excited about the prospects and soon see some interesting results.

Kamalahar on the verge of tipping point

Kamalahar, Ayurvedic liver medicine, is on the verge of tipping point. The word of mouth has started to spread fast and is growing every month. It started in a small way but slowly it is starting to pick up. Word of mouth is the cheapest marketing that can help the company reach a large audience at low cost.
Khatore Pharma online strategy is a blue ocean in the medicine world. It provides high value to the customers at a very low cost. The cost of 1 course of 6 month treatment for hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver, ascites is less than 100 dollars. The alternative for the patients is to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive western medicine.
The company is a pioneer in the developing world as far as pharma industry is concerned. Now only thing that we have to see is if the strategy takes the company into full blue ocean or not.

Fatty liver may be the next major health woe for urban people

Fatty liver is expected to be a major health problem in urban areas due to the increasing affluent lifestyle and poor dietary habits.

Liver Foundations have said these two factors were leading to many obese and overweight people in urban areas.

Fatty liver is quite harmlful. In fact it has been shown to progress to liver scarring, hardening and also liver cancer.

Lifestyle modifications like exercise and a healthy diet are effective in preventing fatty liver in most individuals.

Most patients are asymptomatic and usually discovered the condition incidentally because of abnormal liver function tests or enlarged liver discovered when they saw the doctor for something unrelated.

Elevated liver enzymes are found in 50% of patients with simple steatosis (fatty change). Some patients developed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (Nash).

It is thought that about 80% of individuals with fatty liver will not develop significant liver disease. The other 20% will develop Nash. From this, between 20% and 30% will go on to develop cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease, where the only real treatment is a liver transplant.

Ayurvedic medicine Kamalahar is highly effective treatment for fatty liver. It has ayurvedic ingredients which is every effective for the treatment of liver disorders including treatment of hepaitits, treatment of fatty liver, treatment of cirrhosis, treatment of ascites.

Khatore Pharmaceuticals resolves on World Hepatitis Day to expand the reach of ayurvedic medicine Kamalahar to hepatitis patients all over the world

World hepatitis day is observed on July 28 every year. World Hepatitis Day is an annual event that each year provides international focus for patient groups and people living with hepatitis B and C. It aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis B and hepatitis C and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. If Hepatitis is left untreated and unmanaged, it can lead to liver cirrhosis and complications like liver cancer or liver failure.

World hepatitis day has been led by the world hepatitis alliance since 2007 and on May 2010, it got global endorsement from the World Health Organization (WHO).  In 2010, July 28 was designated as the   WORLD HEPATITIS DAY in order to provide opportunity for education, and greater understanding of viral hepatitis as a global public health problem, and to stimulate the strengthening of preventive and control measures of this disease. The reason July 28 was chosen was also to honor Nobel Laureate Prof. Blumberg who discovered hepatitis B virus as his birthday is on July 28.

The WHO estimates that over 180 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and a further 350-400 million people are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a virus that is 100 times more infectious than HIV.

Chronic HBV and HCV can have serious consequences. It has led to liver cirrhosis in 20-25% and hepato-cellular carcinoma in 1-5% of cases. Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules (lumps that occur as a result of a process in which damaged tissue is regenerated), leading to loss of liver function.  Ascites is the most common complication of cirrhosis, and is associated with a poor quality of life, increased risk of infection, and a poor long-term outcome. Other potentially life-threatening complications are hepatic encephalopathy (confusion and coma) and bleeding from esophageal varices. Cirrhosis is generally irreversible, and treatment usually focuses on preventing progression and complications. In advanced stages of cirrhosis the only option is a liver transplant.

Acute HBV has a fatality rate of up to 2% in the elderly. These figures indicate the burden of both diseases. Treatment is available for both but is expensive and lengthy. A safe and cost-effective vaccine exists for HBV.

Kamalahar - an ayurvedic medicine provides cost-effective treatment of hepatitis without causing any side effects. It is composed of herbal ingredients which have been known to treat liver disorder over hundreds of years. The ingredients have been used by many people practicing traditional or alternative medicine to strengthen liver. It is the combination of those ingredients such as Tecoma undulata, Phyllanthus urinaria, Embelia ribes, Taraxacum officinale, Nyctanthes arbortritis and Terminalia arjuna which makes Kamalahar very effective for the treatment of hepatitis, cirrhosis, fatty liver, ascites, jaundice. This year Kamalahar expanded its reach on the World Hepatitis Day to reach out to more patients. The goal for Kamalahar is to reach all patients suffering from Hepatitis, Cirrhosis, Fatty Liver, ascites and other liver disorders. Kamalahar has already treated liver disorder for millions of people suffering from it in the eastern part of India.