Abstract: Background and Study Aims. Patients undergoing therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) may require different amounts of sedative agents depending on demographic characteristics, indication of ERC, and/or endoscopic intervention. Patients and Methods. We retrospectively analyzed all patients undergoing therapeutic ERC from 2008 – 2014 who received deep sedation with propofol ± midazolam. Results. A total of 2448 ERC procedures were performed in 781 patients. The cumulative per procedure propofol dose in the different groups was as follows: PSC 479 mg (±256), bile duct stones 356 mg (±187), benign stenosis/cholestasis 395 mg (±228), malignant stenosis 401 mg (±283), and postliver transplant complications 391 mg (±223) (p < 0.05). Multivariable analysis showed that dilatation therapy (p = 0.001), age (p = 0.001), duration of the intervention (p = 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), gender (p = 0.001), platelet count (p = 0.003), and bilirubin (p = 0.043) influence independently the propofol consumption. Conclusions. Demographic characteristics and endoscopic interventions have a distinct influence on the amount of sedation required for therapeutic ERC. Although the sedation-associated complication rate is low optimization of sedative regimens is a prime goal to further reduce adverse events of therapeutic ERC. PubDate: Mon, 01 Jul 2019 06:05:12 +000
Abstract: Context. Ability of SAAG to differentiate malignant ascites from other aetiologies like tubercular peritonitis is a major problem. Alternate screening test is needed for differentiating ascites due to malignancy from those due to tubercular peritonitis. Aims. To study the diagnostic utility of serum ascites lipid gradients and serum ascites protein gradients in pathophysiological differentiation of ascites. Settings and Design. The present study is a prospective, descriptive, hospital-based, cross-sectional study. Methods and Material. The study was conducted on patients with ascites who were admitted to General Medicine Department, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. The study included 60 patients with ascites of different etiologies (liver cirrhosis, tubercular peritonitis, and malignant ascites). All of them had undergone clinical, laboratory, and imaging investigations and were treated as per standard of care. All patients underwent abdominal paracentesis, and fluid samples were sent for analysis. Statistical Analysis Used. ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and ROC curve analysis. Results. Among the gradients, only SAPG and SAAG had over all statistical significance ( PubDate: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 00:07:11 +000
Abstract: Background/Aims. Unplanned hospitalisation is a marker of poor prognosis and a major financial burden in patients with cirrhosis. Frailty-screening tools could determine the risk for unplanned hospital admissions and death. The study aims to evaluate the bedside frailty-screening tool (Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)) in prediction of mortality in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods. One hundred forty-five patients with liver cirrhosis were recruited from Cairo University Hospital. Clinical assessment and routine laboratory tests were performed, and the SPPB frailty index, Child score, and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score were calculated on admission. These metrics were compared to assess mortality outcomes over the course of 90 days. Results. The mean age of the patients was 60 ± 7 years, and frailty index score (SD) was 6 ± 3. The overall 90-day readmission rate was 43.4%, while the overall 90-day mortality rate was 18.6%. SPPB scores differed significantly between survivors (4.1 ± 1.4) and nonsurvivors (6.47 ± 2.8) (P value ≤ 0.001) as well as between readmitted patients (7.5 ± 2.9) and patients who were not readmitted (4.5 ± 1.9) (P value ≤ 0.001), while the Child and MELD scores showed no associations with patient outcomes. SPPB performed better with a specificity of 72.3% and a sensitivity of 72.2% for predicting mortality. Conclusions. SPPB could be a screening tool used to detect frailty and excelled over traditional scores as a predictor of death. A low SPPB frailty score among hospitalised patients with cirrhosis is associated with poor outcomes. PubDate: Thu, 02 May 2019 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Background. In recent years, inflammation-based scoring systems have been reported to predict survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The aim of our study was to validate combined preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio (NLR)-Platelet-to-Lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in predicting overall survival (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) in patients who underwent curative resection for HCC. Methods. We conducted a retrospective study of HCC patients underwent liver resection with curative intent from January 2010 to December 2013. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cut-off values for NLR and PLR. Patients with both NLR and PLR elevated were allocated a score of 2; patients showing one or neither of these indices elevated were accorded a score of 1 or 0, respectively. Results. 132 patients with a median age of 66 years (range 18-87) underwent curative resection for HCC. Overall morbidity was 30.3%, 30-day mortality was 2.3%, and 90-day mortality was 6.8%. At a median follow-up of 24 months (range 1-88), 25% patients died, and 40.9% had recurrence. On multivariate analysis, elevated preoperative NLR-PLR was predictive of both OS (HR 2.496; CI 1.156-5.389; p=0.020) and RFS (HR 1.917; CI 1.161-3.166; p=0.011). The 5-year OS was 76% for NLR-PLR=0 group, 21.7% for the NLR-PLR=1 group, and 61.1% for the NLR-PLR=2 group, respectively. The 5-year RFS was 39.3% for the NLR-PLR=0 group, 18.4% for the NLR-PLR=1 group, and 21.1% for the NLR-PLR=2 group, respectively. Conclusion. The preoperative NLR-PLR is predictive of both OS and RFS in patients with HCC undergoing curative liver resection. PubDate: Tue, 02 Apr 2019 14:05:15 +000
Open Access journal
[338 journals]
