Clinicopathological profile of peritoneal tuberculosis and a new scoring model for predicting mortality: an international ID-IRI study.

Existing literature about peritoneal tuberculosis (TBP) is relatively insufficient. The majority of reports are from a single center and do not assess predictive factors for mortality. In this international study, we investigated the clinicopathological characteristics of a large series of patients with TBP and determined the key features associated with mortality. TBP patients detected between 2010 and 2022 in 38 medical centers in 13 countries were included in this retrospective cohort. Participating physicians filled out an online questionnaire to report study data. In this study, 208 patients with TBP were included. Mean age of TBP cases was 41.4 ± 17.5 years. One hundred six patients (50.9%) were females. Nineteen patients (9.1%) had HIV infection, 45 (21.6%) had diabetes mellitus, 30 (14.4%) had chronic renal failure, 12 (5.7%) had cirrhosis, 7 (3.3%) had malignancy, and 21 (10.1%) had a history of immunosuppressive medication use. A total of 34 (16.3%) patients died and death was attributable to TBP in all cases. A pioneer mortality predicting model was established and HIV positivity, cirrhosis, abdominal pain, weakness, nausea and vomiting, ascites, isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in peritoneal biopsy samples, TB relapse, advanced age, high serum creatinine and ALT levels, and decreased duration of isoniazid use were significantly related with mortality (p < 0.05). This is the first international study on TBP and is the largest case series to date. We suggest that using the mortality predicting model will allow early identification of high-risk patients likely to die of TBP.

Predictors of lower limb amputations in patients with diabetic foot ulcers presenting to a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk factors for lower limb amputations in diabetic patients presenting with foot ulcers. METHODS: The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at the Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from December 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020, and comprised patients of either gender having type 1 or type 2 diabetes and foot ulcers. The wounds were assessed according to Wagner wound staging and wound sepsis was evaluated in terms of local infection of the wound, leucocytosis and osteomyelitis of the bone. The glycaemic control of these patients was assessed on presentation by measuring glycated haemoglobin levels. Data was analysed using SPSS 26. RESULTS: Of the 135 patients, 82(60.7%) were males and 53(39.2%) were females. Majority patients 59(43.7%) were aged 50-60 years. All 135(100%) patients underwent some type of amputation. Of all the amputations, 91(67.4%) were done in patients with poor glycaemic control on presentation, and 56(41.5%) in those with stage 4 wound. Local wound infection, increased total leukocyte count and bone showing features of osteomyelitis were significantly associated with increased risk of lower extremity amputations (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: With proper glycaemic control and early presentation and treatment, majority of amputations could be avoided in diabetic patients with foot ulcers.