Role of Age and Race in the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Veterans With Hepatitis B Virus Infection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatocellular (HCC) surveillance guidelines for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are based on race- and age-specific estimates of HCC risk, derived from studies conducted in areas in which HBV is endemic. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the national Veterans Administration data to identify patients with chronic HBV infection from 2001 through 2013. We examined the effect of race and age on HCC risk while adjusting for baseline clinical characteristics. RESULTS: The study cohort had 8329 patients; 3498 patients (42.0%) were white, 3248 (39%) were African Americans, and 659 (7.9%) were Asian Pacific Islanders. The annual HCC incidence was highest in Asian Pacific Islanders (0.65%), followed by whites (0.57%) and African Americans (0.40%). After adjusting for clinical and viral factors, the risk of HCC was significantly higher in Asian Pacific Islanders compared with whites (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 2.04; 95% CI, 1.31-3.17). There was no difference in HCC risk between African Americans and whites (adjusted HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.58-1.02). HCC risk increased with age: adjusted HR was 1.97 (95% CI, 0.99-3.87) for 40-49 years; adjusted HR was 3.00 (95% CI, 1.55-5.81) for 50-59 years; and adjusted HR was 4.02 (95% CI, 2.03-7.94) for more than 60 years vs less than 40 years. Patients with cirrhosis had higher risk of HCC than patients without cirrhosis (adjusted HR = 3.69; 95% CI, 2.82-4.83). However, even among patients without cirrhosis, the annual incidence of HCC was more than 0.2% for all patients older than 40 years with high levels of alanine aminotransferase-regardless of race. CONCLUSIONS: In a sample of male veterans with chronic HBV infection, risk of HCC is highest among Asian Pacific Islanders, followed by whites and African Americans. Cirrhosis increased HCC risk. Among patients without cirrhosis, male patients who are older than 40 years and have increased levels of alanine aminotransferase might benefit from HCC surveillance, regardless of race.

Hepatocellular carcinoma in the absence of cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cirrhosis related to chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The extent to which HCC occurs in U.S. in the absence of cirrhosis in CHB remains unclear. METHODS: We identified CHB patients who were diagnosed with HCC in the national Veterans Administration (VA) between 2001 and 2013. We defined presence and absence of cirrhosis at the time of HCC diagnosis using explicit histological, radiological, endoscopic, and laboratory criteria. We used multivariable regression analysis to identify demographic and clinical characteristics associated with CHB-related HCC in the absence of cirrhosis. We also examined liver transplant-free survival in CHB-HCC patients with and without cirrhosis. RESULTS: Among 8539 CHB patients, 317 developed HCC of whom 30 (9.5%) did not have any evidence of cirrhosis at the time of HCC diagnosis. Compared to HCC patients with cirrhosis, HCC patients without cirrhosis were more likely to be non-white (African American, OR=6.78; 95% CI 2.05-22.4; Asian, OR 11.6, 95% CI 2.63-50.8), have a family history of HCC (OR 32.9, 95% CI 3.76-288), and hypertension (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.02-9.75). There was no significant difference in the transplant-free survival between CHB-HCC patients with and without cirrhosis (hazard ratio 0.68, 95% CI 0.43-1.09). CONCLUSIONS: Fewer than 10% of U.S. based CHB-related HCC patients did not have cirrhosis. Race and family history of HCC were the main risk factors for HCC in the absence of cirrhosis in CHB. These factors may help guide the decision to initiate HCC surveillance in CHB patients without cirrhosis. LAY SUMMARY: Patients with chronic hepatitis B who are African American, or Asian, older than 40years of age with family members with liver cancer or high blood pressure are at a higher risk of developing liver cancer in the absence of cirrhosis. These patients should be included in the screening program for liver cancer.

The Validity of HCC Diagnosis Codes in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients in the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: Administrative databases that include diagnostic codes are valuable sources of information for research purposes. AIM: To validate diagnostic codes for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis B patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of patients with chronic HBV seen in the national Veterans Administration (VA). HCC cases were identified by the presence of ICD-9 code 155.0. We randomly selected 200 HBV controls without this code as controls. We manually reviewed the electronic medical record (EMR) of all cases and controls to determine HCC status. We calculated the positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity, and specificity for the HCC code. We conducted an implicit review of the false-positive cases to determine possible reasons for the miscoding. RESULTS: Of the 8350 patients with HBV, 416 had an ICD-9 code for HCC. Of these 416, 332 patients had confirmed HCC and 61 did not; HCC status was indeterminate for 23 patients. Of the 200 controls, none had HCC confirmed in the EMR. The PPV ranged from 85.3 to 80.0% and specificity ranged from 99.2 to 99.0% based on classification of indeterminate cases as true versus false positives, respectively. The NPV, sensitivity, and specificity were 100%. Two-thirds of false-positive cases were diagnosed with HCC prematurely as a workup of liver mass and latter imaging and/or biopsy were not diagnostic for HCC. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic code of HCC in chronic HBV patients in the VHA data is predictive of the presence of HCC in medical records and can be used for epidemiological and clinical research.

The most frequent ED patients carry insurance and a significant burden of disease.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine factors that impact emergency department (ED) utilization among the most frequent ED users. METHODS: This prospective observational study consisting of questionnaires was conducted in an urban ED with an annual census of 95000 patients. A convenience sample of the top 1% of adult frequent users (≥9 ED visits in the previous 12 months) was enrolled from February 2009 to March 2010. Patients were excluded because of intoxication, altered mental status, or acute psychosis. RESULTS: A total of 115 patients were enrolled, with an average age of 44 years and median number of 22 ±13 ED visits in the preceding 12 months. Seventy-eight percent of frequent users reported adequate health insurance coverage, and 75% reported one or more chronic medical conditions. Despite the high rates of insured patients, 75% identified the ED as their primary health care site. Half of the cohort had 2 or more hospital admissions over the past 12 months, of which 24% were patients with end-stage renal disease. CONCLUSIONS: The top 1% of frequent users usually had adequate health insurance and primary care access but were burdened by chronic conditions and frequent hospital admissions. Such patients may require more extensive coordinated medical management to decrease ED utilization.

Solitary colon metastasis from renal cell carcinoma nine years after nephrectomy: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common renal malignancy in adults. Metastatic disease is relatively common at presentation and frequently involves the lung, bone, brain, liver and adrenal glands. After curative resection, there is a 30-40% risk of recurrence, and a 10% risk of developing metastatic disease after 5 years. The gastrointestinal tract, particularly the colon, represents a very uncommon site of late metastatic disease. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We present a case of a 67 year-old-male who underwent a left radical nephrectomy for RCC 9 years before presenting with a metastatic large bowel obstruction. He was later found to have a near-completely obstructing mass in the rectosigmoid colon and underwent a sigmoidectomy with anterior resection of the upper rectum. Histopathology confirmed metastatic RCC confined to the colonic wall with negative microscopic margins. DISCUSSION: The tendency of RCC to metastasize to unusual sites such as the pancreas or thyroid gland has been widely reported. However, cases of colon metastasis from RCC are extremely rare. Despite the absence of randomized prospective data, widespread consensus supports the surgical treatment of solitary and oligometastatic disease in light of the poor patient outcomes in non-surgically treated disease (Milovic et al., 2013) [3]. Multiple groups have reported favorable outcomes for surgically resected solitary metastatic disease with long disease-free intervals and good performance status. CONCLUSION: The colon is a potential, though uncommon, site for solitary metastasis from RCC. The clinical presentation is frequently several years after initial curative resection. Oncologic resection with negative margins may result in long-term survival in patients with isolated metastatic disease.