Whipple's disease unmasked by TNF inhibitor therapy for treatment of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis.

We report a patient with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed with Whipple's disease following treatment of tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFI) therapy. Whipple's disease should be considered in patients with seronegative rheumatoid arthritis and other unexplained multisystem illness. The TNFI therapy and immunosuppressive therapies can unmask latent Whipple's disease.

Feasibility and reliability of clinical coding surveillance for the routine monitoring of adverse drug events in New Zealand hospitals.

AIM: To explore the feasibility and reliability of Clinical Coding Surveillance (CCS) for the routine monitoring of Adverse Drug Events (ADE) and describe the characteristics of harm identified through this approach in a large district health board (DHB). METHOD: All hospital admissions at Waitemata DHB from 2015 to 2016 with an ADE-related ICD10-AM code of Y40-Y59, X40-X49 or T36-T50 were extracted from clinical coded data. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, statistical process control and Pareto charts. Two clinicians assessed a random sample of 140 ADEs for their accuracy against what was clinically documented in medical records. RESULTS: A total of 11,999 ADEs were identified in 244,992 admissions (4.9 ADEs per 100 admissions). ADEs were more prevalent in older adults and associated with longer average length of stays and medicines such as analgesics, antibiotics, anticoagulants and diuretics. Only 2,164 (18%) of ADEs were classified as originating within hospital. Of ADEs originating outside of the hospital, the main causes were poisoning by psychotropics, anti-epileptics and anti-parkinsonism agents and non-opioid analgesics. Clinicians agreed that 91% of ADE positive admissions were accurately classified as per clinical documentation. CONCLUSION: CCS is a feasible and reliable approach for the routine monitoring of ADEs in hospitals.

Baker's asthma.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Baker's asthma is one of the leading causes of occupational asthma and this review describes recent developments in the field. RECENT FINDINGS: The location of bakery production has undergone change and, subsequently, so has the location of baker's asthma. Innovations in the baking industry have also led to new, potentially allergenic, ingredients. A new family of cereal allergens has been identified, including wheat thioredoxin hb (Tri a25). New enzymes are being added to bread that may have allergic potential. The relationship of specific sensitization and baker's asthma has been confirmed in further studies. Measuring specific sensitization to bakery allergens is an essential part of making the diagnosis but there is a lack of standardization of allergen tests. Advancements are being made in the measurement of airborne allergens through the Measurement of Occupational Allergen Exposure project and the development of novel measurement techniques. This will enable better exposure-response relationships and more accurate risk assessment. SUMMARY: Progress is being made to better identify bakery allergens and measure exposures accurately. Changes in the location of bread production and new allergens mean that the distribution and determinants of baker's asthma are changing.

Intraoperative imprint cytology for evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes from visceral malignancies.

Although originally described for breast cancer and melanoma, sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping techniques are being investigated in the treatment of visceral malignancies. There is no literature evaluating intraoperative analysis of SLNs from visceral sites. We evaluated the utility of touch preparation intraoperative imprint cytology (IIC) in evaluating SLNs harvested in the setting of visceral malignancy. SLN mapping procedures involving 50 cases of visceral malignancy (37 colon, 12 gastric, and 1 small bowel), from February 1999 through August 2001, were studied. In each case, subserosal injections of isosulfan blue were used to identify the SLN. The SLNs were then sent fresh to the pathology laboratory for evaluation by IIC. A standard lymphadenectomy was performed in all cases. Postoperatively, the SLNs were evaluated by means of using hematoxylin and eosin staining. If these stains were normal, immunohistochemical analyses using carcinoembryonic antigen and cytokeratin were subsequently performed. SLNs were successfully identified in 46 cases (92%), and a total of 95 SLNs were harvested. The average number of SLNs was 1.9 with a range of one to six. More SLNs were found with gastric than with colonic lesions (2.8 vs. 1.8; P=.017). Evaluable IIC in 41 cases revealed metastatic disease in 10 SLNs, representing seven patients. Of the 34 patients with normal IIC, five were found to have positive SLNs on hematoxylin and eosin staining. An additional three patients were found to have positive SLNs only on immunohistochemical analysis. The overall sensitivity and specificity of IIC was 64% and 100%, respectively. This resulted in a positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 86%. The use of IIC to evaluate SLNs from visceral malignancies is clearly feasible. When the IIC of the SLN is positive, the surgeon may feel confident that disease is actually present in the SLN. If there is a negative result, the technique may miss disease that is present on subsequent permanent sections. We do not recommend routine use of IIC; however, it may be of use in clinical trials.

Outcome of occupational asthma after cessation of exposure: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Patients with occupational asthma, and their medical advisers, need valid information about the prognosis of their disease. METHODS: A systematic review of the published literature on the symptomatic and functional outcomes of occupational asthma was carried out after avoidance of exposure to the causative agent. Through a full search of electronic and bibliographic sources, original studies documenting complete recovery from asthma (n = 39,1681 patients) or improvement in non-specific bronchial hyper-responsiveness (NSBHR; n = 28,695 patients) were identified. The median duration of follow-up was 31 (range 6-240) months for studies of symptomatic recovery and 37 (6-240) months for studies of NSBHR. Most studies were of patients recruited from special clinics. RESULTS: Reported rates of symptomatic recovery varied from 0% to 100%, with a pooled estimate of 32% (95% CI 26% to 38%). These rates were lower with increasing age (p = 0.019) and among clinic based populations (p = 0.053). Patients with the shortest durations of exposure (< or =76 months) had the highest rate of recovery (36%; 95% CI 25% to 50%), but the effect was not linear. The pooled prevalence of persistent NSBHR at follow-up was 73% (95% CI 66% to 79%). This figure was higher among patients whose disease was due to high-molecular-weight agents (p = 0.006) and, less clearly, those from clinic-based populations (p = 0.561). In between-study comparisons, no clear patterns of improvement relating to total duration of exposure or follow-up were found. From within-study comparisons there was some evidence that a shorter duration of symptoms was associated with a higher rate of symptomatic recovery. CONCLUSION: The available data on the prognosis of occupational asthma are insufficiently consistent to allow confident advice to be given to patients with the disease. Clinicians and epidemiologists with an interest in this disease should consider a collaborative and carefully standardised study of the prognosis of occupational asthma.