Revisional laparoscopic parastomal hernia repair

Background: We herein report a laparoscopically performed re-do operation on a patient who had previously undergone a laparoscopic parastomal hernia repair. Case Report: We describe the case of a 71-year-old patient who presented within 3 months of her primary laparoscopic parastomal hernia repair with recurrence. On relaparoscopy, dense adhesions to the mesh were found, and the mesh had migrated into the hernia sac. This had allowed loops of small bowel to herniate into the sac. The initial part of the procedure involved the lysis of adhesions. A piece of Gore-Tex DualMesh with a central keyhole and a radial slit was cut so that it could provide at least 3 cm to 5 cm of overlap of the fascial defect. The tails of the mesh were wrapped around the bowel, and the mesh was secured to the margins of the hernia with circumferential metal tacking and 4 transfascial sutures. The patient remains in satisfactory condition and no recurrence or any surgery-related problem has been observed during 8 months of follow-up. Conclusion: Revisional laparoscopic repair of parastomal hernias seems feasible and has been shown to be safe and effective in this case. The success of this approach depends on longer follow-up reports and standardization of the technical elements

Letter: liver disease and COVID-19 - not the perfect storm

This article is linked to Garrido et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15813 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15886

In-hospital mortality is associated with inflammatory response in NAFLD patients admitted for COVID-19

Background & aims Although metabolic risk factors are associated with more severe COVID-19, there is little evidence on outcomes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We here describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of NAFLD patients in a cohort hospitalised for COVID-19. Methods This study included all consecutive patients admitted for COVID-19 between February and April 2020 at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, with either imaging of the liver available dated within one year from the admission or a known diagnosis of NAFLD. Clinical data and early weaning score (EWS) were recorded. NAFLD diagnosis was based on imaging or past medical history and patients were stratified for Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index. Clinical endpoints were admission to intensive care unit (ICU)and in-hospital mortality. Results 561 patients were admitted. Overall, 193 patients were included in the study. Fifty nine patients (30%) died, 9 (5%) were still in hospital, and 125 (65%) were discharged. The NAFLD cohort (n = 61) was significantly younger (60 vs 70.5 years, p = 0.046) at presentation compared to the non-NAFLD (n = 132). NAFLD diagnosis was not associated with adverse outcomes. However, the NAFLD group had higher C reactive protein (CRP) (107 vs 91.2 mg/L, p = 0.05) compared to non-NAFLD(n = 132). Among NAFLD patients, male gender (p = 0.01), ferritin (p = 0.003) and EWS (p = 0.047) were associated with in-hospital mortality, while the presence of intermediate/high risk FIB-4 or liver cirrhosis was not. Conclusion The presence of NAFLD per se was not associated with worse outcomes in patients hospitalised for COVID-19. Though NAFLD patients were younger on admission, disease stage was not associated with clinical outcomes. Yet, mortality was associated with gender and a pronounced inflammatory response in the NAFLD group

Is antenatal screening for hepatitis C virus cost-effective? A decade's experience at a London centre

BACKGROUND & AIMS: This study aims to assess the cost-effectiveness of a routine universal antenatal hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening programme at a London centre. METHODS: Ten years’ retrospective antenatal screening and outcome data informed a cost-effectiveness analysis using the previously validated MONARCH model. The cost and quality of life outcomes associated with the screening and treatment of newly identified hepatitis C cases were used to generate cost-effectiveness estimates for the screening programme. RESULTS: A total of 35,355 women were screened between 1st November 2003 and 1st March 2013; 136 women (0.38%) were found to be HCV antibody positive. Of 78 (0.22%) viraemic cases, 44 (0.12%) were newly diagnosed. In addition, the screening programme identified three (6.8%) vertical transmissions in children of newly diagnosed mothers. Of 16 newly diagnosed mothers biopsied, all were in the F0-F2 METAVIR disease stages, and 50% had HCV genotype 1. Postnatal treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin was initiated in 19 women, with 14 (74%) achieving sustained virologic response. The total cost of screening and confirmation of diagnoses was estimated to be £240,641. This translates to £5469 per newly diagnosed individual. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of this screening and treatment strategy was £2400 per QALY gained. Treatment with newer direct-acting antiviral regimens would have a projected cost of £9139 per QALY gained, well below the £20,000-30,000/QALY gained willingness-to-pay threshold applied by policy advisory bodies. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that an antenatal screening and treatment programme is feasible and effective, at a cost considered acceptable

Cost effectiveness analysis of hepatitis C case finding strategies using direct linkage into care

It is estimated that more than 50% of persons with hepatitis C in the UK remain undiagnosed, which should be considered a failure of current screening processes. Further, treatment uptake is poor and linkage and retention to care is a significant barrier to virus elimination. In this thesis we demonstrate the impact of long term linkage to care using the example of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance. We demonstrate that in scenarios where patients are required to followed up long term, there are currently significant shortfalls in maintaining linkage to specialist services. In at least 40% of cases, lack of linkage was not due to patient related factors and were institutional failures. We also evaluated the impact of hepatitis C cirrhosis on hospital admissions. Patients who did not achieve SVR were associated with more frequent admission events and more days of admission. Whilst it is unclear if this was primarily associated with greater likelihood of advanced liver disease solely it does provide a compelling argument for treatment at earlier stages of disease. After demonstrating the burden of disease, health economic evaluation was performed comparing real-life screening and treatment outcomes in a drug-treatment unit, antenatal screening service and a homeless shelter. In all scenarios the screening was followed by direct linkage into specialist services aiming to increase retention. Finally a exploratory analysis was performed on a UK birth cohort screening programme using real-world age distributions of hepatitis C patients. All health economic analysis was performed using a validated hepatitis C natural history Markov modelling model. Hepatitis C screening at varying viraemic prevalences as seen in the drug treatment unit (41%) and antenatal screening (0.16%) are demonstrably cost-effective as long as patients are appropriately linked up to care with specialist services to reap the benefits of SVR at earlier stages of disease and minimise onward virus related liver complications.Open Acces

A real-world intention-to-treat analysis of a decade’s experience of treatment of hepatitis C with interferon-based therapies [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Objectives: To assess the uptake of pegylated interferon (PegIFN) plus ribavirin (RBV)-based regimens in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a large, single-centre, real-world setting over 10 years. Methods: This was a single centre, retrospective analysis of data from patients who attended their first appointment for treatment of HCV genotype 1–3 between 2003 and 2013. Patients were stratified by HCV genotype. The total number of patients who attended their first appointment, incidence of patients who did not proceed to treatment and associated reasons, and incidence of patients treated were analysed. Sustained virological response (SVR) rates were also reported for all patient populations. Results: Overall, 1,132 patients attended their first appointment; 47.8% were included in the genotype 1 group (genotype 1a: 22.2%, genotype 1b: 13.3%, genotype 1 other: 12.3%), 7.7% in the genotype 2 group and 44.5% in the genotype 3 group. A greater proportion of patients received treatment versus those who did not receive treatment (84.4% vs 15.6%, respectively). Reasons for declining treatment included: patient declined treatment with PegIFN plus RBV: 35.0%, medical contraindications: 20.3% and mental health-related contraindications: 13.6%. An SVR was achieved in 52.6% of patients who attended their first appointment and 62.3% of patients who received treatment. Conclusions: Approximately half of the patients included in this study achieved an SVR. A noteworthy proportion of patients did not receive treatment due to a reluctance to receive PegIFN plus RBV or contraindications to therapy. Results suggest an ongoing need for improvement in the treatment uptake and overall outcomes – particularly for genotype 2 and 3 patients for whom availability of interferon-free regimens is limited. The introduction of more tolerable direct-acting antiviral regimes may help overcome barriers to uptake demonstrated within this cohort