Clinical Gastroenterology Journal

Herbal medications have been used worldwide in place of conventional medical therapies as they are readily available over the counter and usually are lower cost. Currently, these are not tightly controlled by the Food and Drug Administration agency (FDA). However, herbal medications are always overlooked etiologic agents in hepatotoxicity. We present a case of hepatotoxicity with unique pathology findings from Red Bush Tea (Rooibos Tea) consumption in a 39-year-old patient evaluated for elevated liver enzymes. Biopsy showed a congestive hepatopathy pattern on histology. The patient elevated liver enzymes improved within few weeks after stopping bush tea.

There are very few studies have been done in India to study the clinical profile of chronic liver disease patients. This is a single-center crosssectional observational study. A total of 100 patients with chronic liver disease presented to the emergency, OPD, or admitted in the ward were studied. The study aimed to study the clinical profile of patients of chronic liver disease (CLD) who have features of portal hypertension, in terms of clinical presentation, the severity of disease (Child-Pugh classification), and laboratory parameters. The secondary objective was to find out that how many cases of chronic liver disease with portal hypertension have associated portal vein thrombosis presented to OPD or admitted to the wards of our hospital? Materials and method: It was a cross-sectional observational study. The place of the study was the Department of Medicine, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals, New Delhi, and the duration of the study was November 2016 to March 2018. Inclusion criteria were all the patients of chronic liver disease with portal hypertension irrespective of the cause. Results and observations: In our study, the mean age of cases was 46.72 ± 11.04 years (expressed as Mean ± SD) and males (82) outnumbered females (18). The most common cause of chronic liver disease in our study population was alcohol. It was also the most common etiology of chronic liver disease among males and the 3rd most common etiology in females. Conclusion: Overall, when all etiologies were taken into consideration, the most common attributable reason for CLD in our study was alcohol followed by Hepatitis B, followed by Hepatitis C. Among other causes, Diabetes Mellitus was associated with 11% of our study group. There were no patients with Hypertension. Portal vein thrombosis affects the clinical profile of CLD. In our study, the incidence of PVT was 11% and was most common in CLD attributed to alcohol. In our study, most of the patients with PVT indicating and reiterating the association of PVT and the Stage of CLD.