Liver Disease

Singer and pianist Ray Charles, 73, whose ebullient recordings melded jazz, blues, gospel and R&B into the basic DNA of soul music, died of acute liver disease yesterday morning at his Beverly Hills home. The dapper dynamo, blind since age 7, had been in declining health since hip-replacement surgery last year. He made his last public appearance at an April 30 ceremony to designate his Los Angeles studio a historic landmark. "He was a fabulous man, full of humor and wit," Aretha Franklin said of Mr. Charles, whose hits included "Georgia on My Mind," "Hit the Road Jack," "Busted," and "I Can't Stop Loving You. " "And, of course, he introduced the world to secular soul singing.

Philadelphia researchers have begun using gene therapy to treat an inherited liver disease that kills most victims before they are old enough to vote. The experimental treatment may someday lead to a cure for the half million Americans who have high cholesterol because of a milder form of the disease. The treatment was completed on the first patient at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Monday. "At this time, our patient is doing very well, with no signs of complications," said James Wilson, director of Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy.

Death-row inmate Frederick A. Thomas finally got his day in court yesterday to try to prove that he was not involved in the 1993 slaying of a FedEx courier, and the first witness backed him up, testifying that the killer was a local drug dealer named "Little Man. " Thomas, 56, who is dying of liver disease, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 for the December 1993 shooting death of the courier, William "Skip" Moyer Jr. of Delaware County....

The surgeon slipped his hands into the patient's chest cavity and slid out a shrunken, hard, grayish liver. He held it in his palms so George Casey, a Philadelphia firefighter watching the operation, could take a closer look. "This is what hepatitis C does to you," said Cosme Manzarbeitia, director of the transplant program at Albert Einstein Medical Center. "It's bumpy and disgusting. " With only his ice-blue eyes showing above a surgical mask, Casey blinked hard. He wanted to see a liver transplant because so many members of his union were infected with the virus that causes hepatitis C. Standing beside the operating table, he thought about Franny and Norm and Mary - firefighters and friends.

When surgeons at St. Agnes Medical Center operated on Cardinal John Krol in May, they were able to stem the internal bleeding that had felled the leader of nearly 1.3 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. But Krol's doctors didn't disclose the underlying cause of the condition that they treated surgically, a condition that is generally a symptom of liver disease. Krol was treated for varicose veins of the esophagus (the muscular tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach)

Experts on liver disease will meet today in Philadelphia to promote workplace screening for hepatitis B and C, diseases that can cause liver failure and cancer but often have no symptoms for years. So far, such screening, which costs $40 a person, has been done primarily for workers in high-risk occupations such as health care, said Deborah Katz, director of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the American Liver Foundation. She argues that other types of businesses should be offering the blood tests, as well.

Q: Please comment on the pros and cons of undergoing surgery for insertion of a shunt to eliminate or reduce ascites due to liver disease. A: Ascites is the accumulation of excess fluid in the abdominal cavity. It is commonly due to liver disease, which interrupts normal venous blood flow. For a variety of complex reasons, this causes massive leakage of clear fluid (serum) into the abdomen. Ascites can also be caused by heart disorders and kidney failure. Symptoms of ascites are enlarging girth, abdominal discomfort and - in its severest form - difficulty breathing.

Catherine M. Blumstein, 51, of Berwyn, a former principal and grade-school teacher at SS. Colman-John Neumann School in Bryn Mawr, died Thursday, April 11, of complications of liver disease at home. "She had a lot of energy and she loved teaching children," said her husband, Lewis. Mrs. Blumstein's teaching career was from 1984 to 2012. During those years she taught students in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. She was an advocate for the use of technology in the classroom, her husband said.

Michael Secreto has no idea where he picked up hepatitis C. Tattoos made with India ink and needles passed among 12-year-old friends in South Philly? Hard drugs as a teenager? Blood from dialysis patients when he drove paratransit vehicles in the 1990s? The infection was a surprise, discovered after Secreto's wife heard about hepatitis and suggested he get tested a decade ago. Back then, the treatment didn't work for him. Now, midway through a new drug regimen, the virus is down to undetectable levels.

Roughly two million to three million baby boomers are chronically infected with hepatitis C, putting them at risk of serious liver damage if left untreated. Dramatic improvements in what is now a very unpleasant drug regimen are expected over the next several years. Should they wait? Before deciding that this story doesn't apply to you, note that chronic hepatitis C can lie dormant for decades with no symptoms. Most people who have it are unaware of the infection. So the first step is to get a blood test, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month proposed recommending for everyone born from 1945 to 1965.

Catherine M. Blumstein, 51, of Berwyn, a former principal and grade-school teacher at SS. Colman-John Neumann School in Bryn Mawr, died Thursday, April 11, of complications of liver disease at home. "She had a lot of energy and she loved teaching children," said her husband, Lewis. Mrs. Blumstein's teaching career was from 1984 to 2012. During those years she taught students in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. She was an advocate for the use of technology in the classroom, her husband said.

Joan Mulhern, 51, a forceful advocate for the environment who lobbied Congress and often rallied public support to sway lawmakers to her cause, died Dec. 18 of liver disease at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. Her death was relayed by a sister, Marie Mulhern. Ms. Mulhern had been the senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, since 1999. She fought repeated attempts by Congress to limit the scope of the Clean Water Act and battled coal companies and government officials over mountaintop-removal coal mining, in which mountains are blasted away to create strip mines.

Roughly two million to three million baby boomers are chronically infected with hepatitis C, putting them at risk of serious liver damage if left untreated. Dramatic improvements in what is now a very unpleasant drug regimen are expected over the next several years. Should they wait? Before deciding that this story doesn't apply to you, note that chronic hepatitis C can lie dormant for decades with no symptoms. Most people who have it are unaware of the infection. So the first step is to get a blood test, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month proposed recommending for everyone born from 1945 to 1965.

Michael Secreto has no idea where he picked up hepatitis C. Tattoos made with India ink and needles passed among 12-year-old friends in South Philly? Hard drugs as a teenager? Blood from dialysis patients when he drove paratransit vehicles in the 1990s? The infection was a surprise, discovered after Secreto's wife heard about hepatitis and suggested he get tested a decade ago. Back then, the treatment didn't work for him. Now, midway through a new drug regimen, the virus is down to undetectable levels.

WASHINGTON - Deaths from liver-destroying hepatitis C are on the rise, and new data show that baby boomers are most at risk. Federal health officials are considering whether anyone born between 1945 and 1965 should get a one-time blood test to check if their livers harbor this ticking time bomb. Two-thirds of people with hepatitis C are in this age group, most unaware they have a festering virus that takes a few decades to do its damage. The issue has taken new urgency since two drugs hit the market last summer that promise to cure many more people than ever was possible.

Dr. Francis "Frank" A. Zampiello, 75, of Philadelphia, an early advocate for better health care through his work with the U.S. Public Health Service, died Thursday, Dec. 1, at home of complications from autoimmune liver disease. Before retiring, Dr. Zampiello was national director of the Quality Center in the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Primary Health Care, where he served from 1997 until 2002. In that role, he worked to reduce errors and increase efficiency in the nation's health-care delivery.

HIV drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. will spend about $11 billion to buy Pharmasset Inc., of Princeton, in what one analyst termed an "amazing risk," a high-stakes gamble that could yield billions of dollars in drug sales if a possible breakthrough hepatitis C treatment pans out. Gilead, of Foster City, Calif., said Monday it would pay $137 per share in cash for Pharmasset, a company with no products on the market and a stock that has traded as...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Uncle Mo was supposed to return to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup as a conquering hero. He was the buzz horse entering the Kentucky Derby, having won the first four races of his career and earning top 2-year-old honors. But he never made it to the starting gate. Uncle Mo was knocked out on Derby eve by a serious liver disease. When owner Mike Repole left Louisville in May, he didn't know whether he would ever see his best horse again. The colt was sidelined for four months because of the illness, leaving Repole, trainer Todd Pletcher, and others around Uncle Mo to wonder whether it was a race he could win. Now he appears to be back on his game.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday found in favor of the widow of a Philadelphia firefighter who claimed he got hepatitis C from his job. Patricia Kriebel filed a workers' compensation claim after her husband, Joseph Kriebel, 52, died in 2004 from liver disease caused by hepatitis C. The city, in fighting the claim, relied on the testimony of a doctor who cited a military record from 1969 that said he contracted "serum hepatitis from drug...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Stay Thirsty won the $1 million Travers Stakes to move to the head of the 3-year-old class, taking charge in the stretch Saturday and beating Rattlesnake Bridge by 11/2 lengths. Stay Thirsty's victory came a little more than 30 minutes after his stablemate, Uncle Mo, the Kentucky Derby favorite sidelined for more than four months with a life-threatening liver disease, finished second by a nose to Caleb's Posse in the $250,000 King's Bishop. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite in the field of 10, Stay Thirsty raced just off the pace set by Preakness winner Shackleford.