Asymptomatic Aneurysmal Portosystemic Venous Shunt: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Spontaneous intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt (SIPSVS) is relatively rare and not well recognized. Herein, we report 75-year-old female of an aneurysmal portosystemic venous shunt detected by colour Doppler ultrasound in check-up examination. A direct vascular communication between left portal vein and middle hepatic vein was confirmed by CT-angiography. The cause of intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt is disputed. This abnormality, mainly described in cirrhotic liver and rarely in healthy liver, is usually revealed by hepatic encephalopathy or glycoregulation disorders. However, with improvements in imaging the number of reports of SIPSVS identified incidentally in patients without definite symptoms increasing

Hepatitis C infection in hemodialysis patients: A review

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who is treated with dialysis or kidney transplantation (KT). The survival rate for HCV-infected renal transplant recipients is better than that for HCV-infected hemodialysis patients on transplant waiting lists. Early diagnosis and treatment HCV infection prior to KT prevents complications post-transplantation and reduces mortality. In addition to screening for anti-HCV antibodies and detecting HCV RNA, percutaneous liver biopsy is particularly valuable for assessing the stage of liver damage in HCV-infected patients, because the stage of fibrosis is important determining optimal treatment for HCV. Studies have been demonstrated that with conventional interferon (IFN) monotherapy or pegylated IFN monotherapy are similar efficacy and safety in HCV-infected hemodialysis patients. Sustained viral responses (SVRs) with these monotherapies have ranged approximately 30% to 40%. Limited reports support the use of IFN and ribavirin combination therapy as antiviral treatment for ESRD patients or patients on hemodialysis. Ribavirin can be started at low dose and careful monitoring for side effects. Patients that show SVR after treatment are strong candidates for KT. It is also generally accepted that ESRD patients with decompensated cirrhosis and portal hypertension should be referred to the liver transplant team for consideration of combined liver-KT

Evaluation of the Turkish translation of the Minimal Standard Terminology for Digestive Endoscopy by development of an endoscopic information system

Background/aims: There are very few evaluation studies for the Minimal Standard Terminology for Digestive Endoscopy. This study aims to evaluate the usage of the Turkish translation of Minimal Standard Terminology by developing an endoscopic information system. Methods: After elicitation of requirements, database modeling and software development were performed. Minimal Standard Terminology driven forms were designed for rapid data entity. The endoscopic report was rapidly created by applying basic Turkish syntax and grammar rules. Entering free text and also editing of final report were possible. After three years of live usage, data analysis was performed and results were evaluated. Results: The system has been used for reporting of all endoscopic examinations. 15,638 valid records were analyzed, including 11,381 esophagogastroduodenoscopies, 2,616 colonoscopies, 1,079 rectoscopies and 562 endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographies. In accordance with other previous validation studies, the overall usage of Minimal Standard Terminology terms was very high: 85% for examination characteristics, 94% for endoscopic findings and 94% for endoscopic diagnoses. Some new terms, attributes and allowed values were also added for better clinical coverage. Conclusions: Minimal Standard Terminology has been shown to cover a high proportion of routine endoscopy reports. Good user acceptance proves that both the terms and structure of Minimal Standard Terminology were consistent with usual clinical thinking. However, future work on Minimal Standard Terminology is mandatory for better coverage of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographies examinations. Technically new software development methodologies have to be sought for lowering cost of development and the maintenance phase. They should also address integration and interoperability of disparate information systems

Association of TNF-alpha-308 polymorphism with the outcome of hepatitis B virus infection in Turkey

WOS: 000252940900003PubMed ID: 17974504Background and aim: Cytokines play important roles in the regulation of immune response. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of the cytokine gene polymorphisms with persistence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the development of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) due to HBV infection. Methods: The study involved 27 patients with end-stage liver disease due to HBV infection, 23 HBV carriers and 60 healthy controls. All genotyping (TNF-alpha, TGF-beta, IL-10, IFN-gamma) experiments were performed using sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) by using commercial kit according to manufacturers' instructions. Results: The frequencies of TNF-alpha -308 G/G and TGF-beta 1 codon 10-25 T/C-G/G polymorphisms were significantly higher in HBV-infected individuals (patients + carriers) when compared with those of healthy controls (p: 0.02 and p: 0.004, respectively). The frequency of TNF-alpha -308 G/G polymorphism was significantly higher in the patients than those of the healthy controls (p: 0.02), whereas the frequency of TGF-beta 1 codon 10-25 T/T-G/G polymorphism was lower (p: 0.028). On the other hand, TNF-alpha -308 G/G and TGF-beta codon 10-25 T/C-G/G polymorphisms were significantly more common in HBV carriers than the control group (p: 0.017 andp: 0.018, respectively). In addition, TNF-alpha -308 G allele frequency was significantly more common in HBV-infected individuals (patients + carriers) than those of healthy controls (p: 0.0007). TNF-alpha -308 G allele frequency was also found to be higher in patients or carriers when compared with those of healthy controls (p: 0.01 and p: 0.01, respectively). Statistically significant differences were still kept after Bonferroni correction of the p-values for only TNF-alpha -308 G allele frequency in patients or carriers (Pc). Conclusion: Our study suggests that TNF-alpha gene polymorphism in patients infected with HBV would result in relatively inefficient inhibition of HBV and development of ESLD, and therefore, may be valuable predictor determinants for the development of ESLD in patients with chronic HBV infection. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Helicobacter pyloriinfection in hemodialysis patients: Susceptibility to amoxicillin and clarithromycin

WOS: 000208100300012PubMed: 15682477AIM: To evaluate susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori to amoxicillin and clarithromycin in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and non-uremic controls. METHODS: The subjects with dyspeptic complaints were 33 ESRD patients and 46 age-and sex-matched non-uremic controls who exhibited H pylori on antral biopsy specimens. The two groups were age and sex matched. The H pylori strains' pattern of susceptibility to amoxicillin and clarithromycin was investigated with the agar dilution technique. RESULTS: None of the H pylori strains from either group showed resistance to amoxicillin with the agar dilution method. Twelve (36.4%) of the ESRD group strains and 7 (15.2%) of the control group strains showed resistance to clarithromycin, and this difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Resistance to amoxicillin does not appear to be an important problem in H pylori-infected ESRD and non-uremic patients in our region. In contrast, the rates of resistance to clarithromycin are high, particularly in the ESRD population. (C) 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved