Assessment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in chronic pancreatitis patients using jejunal aspirate culture and glucose hydrogen breath test.

BACKGROUND: A subset of chronic pancreatitis patients respond poorly to pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is considered to be one of the major reasons for this poor response. Previous studies have reported a wide range of prevalence of SIBO in patients with chronic pancreatitis. We aimed to assess the prevalence of SIBO in chronic pancreatitis using quantitative jejunal aspirate culture and glucose hydrogen breath test (GHBT). The sensitivity and specificity of GHBT for the diagnosis of SIBO in chronic pancreatitis were also estimated. METHODS: Newly diagnosed chronic pancreatitis patients were recruited into the study. A detailed history and relevant laboratory tests were done. All patients underwent an endoscopy and jejunal fluid aspiration for bacterial cultures and GHBT to detect SIBO. The results of GHBT were compared with jejunal fluid aspirate culture. RESULTS: The jejunal aspirate culture was positive in 18/48 (37.5%) patients while the GHBT showed that 14/48 (29%) patients had SIBO. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of GHBT in our study was 44.4, 80, 57.14 and 70.59%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SIBO is not uncommon in chronic pancreatitis patients. One-third of our study population had SIBO. GHBT has low sensitivity but had high specificity in the diagnosis of SIBO in chronic pancreatitis.

Risk factors of thrombosis in abdominal veins.

AIM: To estimate the prevalence of inherited and acquired thrombophilic risk factors in patients with abdominal venous thrombosis and to compare the risk factor profiles between Budd-Chiari syndromes (BCS) and splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT). METHODS: In this retrospective study, 36 patients with abdominal venous thrombosis were studied. The patients were divided into Budd-Chiari group (hepatic vein, IVC thrombosis) and splanchnic venous thrombosis group (portal, splenic, superior mesenteric veins) based on the veins involved. Hereditary and acquired thrombophilic risk factors were evaluated in all patients. RESULTS: Twenty patients had SVT, 14 had BCS, and 2 had mixed venous thrombosis. Ten patients (28%) had hereditary and 10 patients (28%) acquired thrombophilic risk factors. The acquired risk factors were significantly more common in the SVT group (SVT vs BCS: 45% vs 7%, c2 = 5.7, P = 0.02) while hereditary risk factors did not show significant differences between the two groups (SVT vs BCS: 25% vs 36%, c2 = 0.46, P = 0.7). Multiple risk factors were present in one (7%) patient with BCS and in 3 patients (15%) with SVT. No risk factors were identified in 57% of patients with BCS and in 45% of patients with SVT. CONCLUSION: Hereditary and acquired risk factors play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of abdominal venous thrombosis. Acquired risk factors are significantly more common in SVT patients while hereditary factors are similar in both groups.