Pancreatitis is the most common and devastating adverse event of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) is mostly mild, but some can progress to more severe conditions with lethal outcomes. Although many risk factors and preventive measures for the occurrence of PEP have been established, there are insufficient studies to compare mild and moderate to severe PEP for the determination of predictors in the severity. This study looked at the eligibility of 4407 patients who had ERCP in a tertiary care hospital between January 2010 and December 2021. Of the 2512 eligible patients, 155 (6.2%) had a diagnosis of PEP, with 113 (4.5%) having a mild degree, 29 (1.2%) having a moderate degree, and 13 (0.5%) having a severe degree. Baseline profiles, intraprocedural data, and post-ERCP outcomes were compared between mild PEP (A) and moderate to severe PEP (B). Group B had a longer median time to resume oral intake or enteral feeding after ERCP (5 vs. 2 days; p = .01) and hospital day (18 vs. 6 days; p = .01) than group A. There was 1 PEP-related death in group B, but the mortality rate was not different between the two groups. The proportion of patients with a common bile duct diameter ≤10 mm (54.0% vs. 35.7%; p = .04), overall biliary cannulation time >10 min (61.9% vs. 38.1%; p = .01), and concurrent post-ERCP complications (16.7% vs. 3.5%; p = .01) was higher in group B than in group A. The main difference in concurrent post-ERCP complications was micro-perforation, which occurred in 11.9% of group B and 0.9% of group A (p = .01). Overall biliary cannulation time >10 min (odds ratio [OR]: 2.90; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19–7.07; p = .02) and concurrent post-ERCP complications (OR: 5.60; 95% CI = 1.17–26.76; p = .03) were found to be independent predictors of moderate to severe PEP. Selective biliary cannulation time >10 min and concurrent post-ERCP complications are risk factors for moderate to severe PEP.
Prognostic factors for poor survival have been proposed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). However, little is known about the association of pretreatment platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) levels and treatment outcomes in elderly SCC patients. We conducted a retrospective study of elderly patients with esophageal SCC to find out clinical factors affecting survival. From January 2008 to December 2017, a total of 106 esophageal SCC patients with age more than 65 years old were enrolled. All included patients had undergone either concurrent CRT or radiotherapy (RT). Complete blood count, differential count, NLR, and PLR were obtained before treatment. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to assess the association between survival and patient, disease, and treatment characteristics. Seventy-five patients received CRT, while the remaining 31 patients were treated with RT alone. Multivariate analysis showed that CRT (p = .03, hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval, CI] = 0.589 [0.365–0.95]), female (p = .011, HR [95% CI] = 0.216 [0.066–0.703]), ECOG performance status 0–I (p < .001, HR [95% CI] = 3.514 [2.049–6.026]), hemoglobin (Hb) ≥12 g/dL (p < .01, HR [95% CI] = 0.57 [0.37–0.878]) were independent factors for predicting better overall survival (OS). Independent factors for predicting better disease-specific survival (DSS) included ECOG performance status 0–I (p < .001, HR [95% CI] = 3.147 [1.802–5.497]), Clinical staging I–II (p = .023, HR [95% CI] = 2.124 [1.112–4.060]) and, NLR <5.3 (p = .029, HR [95% CI] = 1.706 [1.058–2.752]). Our study showed that CRT, gender, ECOG performance status, Hb level, were independent predictors of OS; whereas ECOG performance status, clinical staging and NLR were independent predictors of DSS. Pretreatment NLR >5.3 is an independent poor prognostic factor for DSS of elderly esophageal SCC patients. Because our study is a retrospective analysis, further prospective studies are needed to validify the findings in our study.
A 62-year-old man with medical history of (1) morbid obesity status post Roun-en Y gastric bypass, (2) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (3) cardiac arrest status post pacemaker placement.
Due to postprandial diarrhea, general malaise, blood-tinged stool for 1 to 2 weeks, the patient went to our gastroenterology clinic. He denied symptoms of fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting. On initial evaluation, his vital signs were within normal limits, and his abdominal examination was soft, nontender, normal active bowel sound and without signs of peritonitis. A complete blood count and basic biochemical tests were unremarkable. Colonoscopy revealed swollen of appendiceal aperture and a moderate amount of fecalith and purulent discharge from the appendiceal orifice. (Figure 1) Further abdominal computed tomography showed swelling of appendix with perifocal fatty stranding, favor acute appendicitis (Figure 2, arrowhead). He was then admitted for a laparoscopic appendectomy where her appendix and adjacent tissues appeared mildly hyperemic. The appendix was evaluated by an experienced pathologist. Grossly, the external surface of appendix is congested, with pus coating on the serosa. On section, the lumen is filled up with fecal and purulent material. No perforation is found. Microscopically, it shows a picture of acute appendicitis with marked transmural acute inflammation of appendix and peri-appendiceal fat.
Acute appendicitis is one of the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Although advances in imaging modalities, diagnosis of acute appendicitis still has false-negative rate.1 Endoscopy is not the standard for diagnosis and treatment of appendicitis, but there are few reported cases of silent appendicitis diagnosed at the time of colonoscopy. From case reports in recent 2 years, we found purulent discharge,2 bulging, erythematous, edematous of appendiceal orifice were rare endoscopic finding but related to appendicitis. Thus we perform colonoscopy when insert to cecum, we need to take notice of the appendiceal orifice.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Written informed consent was obtained from the patients.
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Allen, Jacqui
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Chang, Wei-Lun
Chang, Wei-Yuan
Chen, Hsuan-Wei
Chen, Jiann-Hwa
Chen, Kuan-Chih
Chen, Kuan-Yang
Chen, Mei-Jyh
Chen, Ming-Jen
Chen, Ming-Yao
Chen, Peng-Jen
Chen, Po-Yueh
Cheng, Pin-Nan
Chien, Hsi-Yuan
Chien, Shih-Chieh
Chou, Chu-Kuang
Chou, Jen-Wei
Chu, Cheng-Hsin
Chu, Yin-Yi
Chuah, Seng-Kee
Chuah, Yoen Young
Chung, Chen-Shuan
Feng, I-Che
Han, Ming-Lun
Hsieh, Ming-Tsung
Hsu, Chao-Wei
Hsu, Ching-Sheng
Hsu, Ping-I
Hsu, Wei-Fan
Hsu, Wen-Feng
Hsu, Wen-Hung
Hsu, Yao-Chun
Huang, Jee-Fu
Huang, Tien-Yu
Huang, Wei-Chen
Hung, Chao-Hung
Hung, Jui-Sheng
Kao, Sung-Shuo
Kao, Wei-Yu
Kitagawa, Koh
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Kuo, Hsin-Yu
Kuo, Kuang-Tai
Kuo, Yuan-Hung
Kuo, Yu-Ting
Lai, Hsueh-Chou
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Lee, Chung-Ying
Lee, I-Cheng
Lee, Kuei-Chuan
Lee, Tsung-Chun
Lee, Tzong-Hsi
Lei, Wei-Yi
Liang, Chih-Ming
Liao, Szu-Chia
Liao, Wei-Chih
Lien, Gi-Shih
Lin, Cheng-Kuan
Lin, Chih-Lin
Lin, Chih-Wen
Lin, Ching-Pin
Lin, Jung-Chun
Lin, Meng-Ying
Lin, Tsung-Jung
Lin, Yu-Min
Liou, Jyh-Ming
Liu, Chen-Hua
Liu, Nai-Jen
Luo, Jiing-Chyuan
Moon, Jong Ho
Peng, Cheng-Yuan
Shieh, Tze-Yu
Shih, Yu-Lueng
Shiu, Sz-Iuan
Su, Chien-Wei
Sun, Meng-Shun
Tai, Chi-Ming
Tsai, Kun-Feng
Tsai, Ming-Chao
Tsai, Ming-Hung
Tsai, Tzung-Jiun
Tseng, Cheng-Hao
Tseng, Chih-Wei
Tseng, Kuo-Chih
Tseng, Ping-Huei
Tseng, Tai-Chung
Tsou, Yung-Kuan
Tu, Chia-Hung
Wang, Chia-Chi
Wang, Yao-Sheng
Wang, Yen-Po
Wong, Ming-Wun
Wu, I-Chen
Yang, Hung-Chih
Yang, Tzu-Wei
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