Economic burden of in-hospital AKI: a one-year analysis of the nationwide French hospital discharge database.

BACKGROUND: Although Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) incidence is increasing worldwide, data investigating its cost are lacking. This population-wide study aimed to describe the characteristics and costs of hospital stays with, and without AKI, and to estimate the AKI-associated increases in costs and length of stay (LOS) in three subgroups (major open visceral surgery (MOV), cardiovascular surgery with extracorporeal circulation (CVEC), and sepsis). METHODS: All hospital stays that occurred in France in 2018 were included. Stay and patient characteristics were collected in the French hospital discharge database and described. Medical conditions were identified using the 10th International Classification of Diseases and the medical acts classification. In each subgroup, the adjusted increase in cost and LOS associated with AKI was estimated using a generalized linear model with gamma distribution and a log link function. RESULTS: 26,917,832 hospital stays, of which 415,067 (1.5%) with AKI, were included. AKI was associated with 83,553 (19.8%), 7,165 (17.9%), and 15,387 (9.2%) of the stays with sepsis, CVEC, and MOV, respectively. Compared to stays without AKI, stays with AKI were more expensive (median [IQR] €4,719[€2,963-€7782] vs. €735[€383-€1,805]) and longer (median [IQR] 9[4-16] vs. 0[0-2] days). AKI was associated with a mean [95%CI] increase in hospitalization cost of 70% [69;72], 48% [45;50], and 68% [65;70] in the sepsis, CVEC, and MOV groups respectively, after adjustment. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the major economic burden of in-hospital AKI in a developed country. Interventions to prevent AKI are urgently needed and their cost should be balanced with AKI-related costs.

Cost-Effectiveness of Blood-Based Brain Biomarkers for Screening Adults with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the French Health Care Setting.

Two blood-based brain biomarker tests such as the combination of glial fibrillary acidic protein and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (GFAP+UCH-L1) or S100B have potential to reduce the need for head computed tomography (CT) scanning in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). We assessed the clinical and economic impact of using GFAP+UCH-L1 versus CT scan and GFAP+UCH-L1 versus S100B to screen adults with suspected mTBI presenting to an emergency department (ED). A decision model was developed to estimate costs and health outcomes of GFAP+UCH-L1, CT scan, and S100B associated with these screening protocols. Model parameters were extracted from peer-reviewed articles, clinical guidelines, and expert opinion. Analysis was performed from a French health care system perspective (costs in 2020 euros). In the model, patients with a positive biomarker receive a CT scan to confirm the presence of intracranial lesions (ICLs). Depending on clinical state and biomarker and CT results, patients were discharged immediately, kept for observation in the ED, admitted for in-hospital stay and observation, or admitted for surgical management. Incorrect test results may lead to delayed treatment and poor outcomes or overtreatment. GFAP+UCH-L1 use was associated with an overall decrease in CT scans when compared with CT screening or S100B use (325.42 and 46.43 CTs per 1000 patients, respectively). The use of GFAP+UCH-L1 resulted in modest cost savings when compared with CT scanning and with S100B. In all cases, use of GFAP+UCH-L1 marginally improved quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and outcomes. Thus, screening with GFAP+UCH-L1 reduced the need for CT scans when compared with systematic CT scan screening or use of S100B while maintaining similar costs and health outcomes.

Ultrasound findings of Crohn's disease: correlation with MR enterography.

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by periods of relative inactivity alternating with acute flare-ups. Imaging techniques play a fundamental role in the diagnosis and follow-up of Crohn's disease, providing information on the extent of disease, disease activity, and the presence of extramural complications. Because of the frequent re-evaluation required by the relapsing nature of Crohn's disease and the relative young age at which most patients are diagnosed, techniques that use ionizing radiation are best avoided in monitoring this population. Thus, magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and ultrasonography (US) are the preferable techniques. Various studies have demonstrated that US is accurate in assessing the gut. Despite some clear advantages over MRE, US has long been underused in the evaluation of intestinal disease. This review presents an overview of the main imaging findings in Crohn's disease, correlating representative US images with MRE and surgical pathology specimens. We conclude that US reliably depicts both bowel-related and mesenteric features of Crohn's disease and US findings correlate strongly with MRE findings.

Intravenous Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Assessing and Grading Postoperative Recurrence of Crohn's Disease.

PURPOSE: The aim was to investigate the contribution of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to improve the results of US in the evaluation of recurrence in postsurgical Crohn's disease (CD) and establish its role in the assessment of the severity. METHODS: Anastomotic site was assessed in 108 postsurgical CD patients with B-mode, color Doppler and CEUS. Bowel wall thickness (WT), transmural complications or stenosis, color Doppler grade, and bowel wall contrast enhancement (BWCE)-using time-intensity curves-were correlated with endoscopic Rutgeerts score. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was built to establish the best cutoff to predict recurrence and the severity. A US scoring system was elaborated in order to determine the grade of recurrence. RESULTS: Ileocolonoscopy detected recurrence in 90 (83.3%) subjects and severe recurrence in 62. WT ≥ 3 mm had an accuracy of 90.7% in the detection of endoscopic recurrence. The combination of parameters-WT ≥ 3 mm and BWCE (≥ 46%)-demonstrated similar accuracy (90.7%). A WT ≥ 5 mm showed the best specificity (100%) for the diagnosis of recurrence and a WT ≥ 6 mm the best specificity (95.7%) for the detection of severe recurrence. The combination of sonographic parameters-WT ≥ 6 mm or WT between 5 and 6 mm with BWCE ≥ 70%, or complications-obtained the best results grading the recurrence (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 90.3%, 87%, and 88.9%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: US shows high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of postsurgical recurrence. When combined with CEUS, it can improve the detection of severe recurrence.

Accuracy of magnetic resonance enterography in assessing response to therapy and mucosal healing in patients with Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We assessed the accuracy of magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) in monitoring response to therapy in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) using ileocolonoscopy as a reference standard. METHODS: We performed a prospective multicenter study of 48 patients with active CD and ulcers in at least one ileocolonic segment. All patients underwent ileocolonoscopy and MRE at baseline and 12 weeks after completing treatment with corticosteroids (CS) or anti-tumor necrosis factor agents. Disease activity was quantified using Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity (CDEIS) and Magnetic Resonance Index of Activity (MaRIA). The primary analysis was to determine the accuracy of MRE in identification of healing, defined as the disappearance of ulcers in endoscopy examination. Additional analyses established the accuracy of MRE in determining endoscopic remission (a CDEIS score <3.5) and change in severity based on consideration of all segments. RESULTS: MRE determined ulcer healing with 90% accuracy and endoscopic remission with 83% accuracy. The mean CDEIS and MaRIA scores significantly changed at week 12 in segments with ulcer healing, based on endoscopic examination (CDEIS: 21.28 ± 9.10 at baseline vs 2.73 ± 4.12 at 12 weeks; P < .001 and MaRIA: 18.86 ± 9.50 at baseline vs 8.73 ± 5.88 at 12 weeks; P < .001). The MaRIA score accurately detected changes in lesion severity (Guyatt score: 1.2 and standardized effect size: 1.07). MRE was as reliable as endoscopy in assessing healing; no significant changes in CDEIS or MaRIA scores were observed in segments with persistent ulcers, based on endoscopic examination (CDEIS: 26.43 ± 9.06 at baseline vs 20.77 ± 9.13 at 12 weeks; P = .18 and MaRIA: 22.13 ± 8.42 at baseline vs 20.77 ± 9.17 at 12 weeks; P = .42). The magnitude of change in CDEIS scores correlated with those in MaRIA scores (r = 0.51; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: MRE evaluates ulcer healing with a high level of accuracy when ileocolonoscopy is used as the reference standard. The MaRIA is a valid, responsive, and reliable index assessing response to therapy in patients with CD.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in Crohn's disease: technique, image interpretation and clinical applications.

BACKGROUND: Recent meta-analysis has demonstrated no significant differences in diagnostic accuracy among different imaging techniques (US, MRI and CT) in the evaluation of Crohn's disease (CD). High-resolution bowel ultrasound has emerged as an alternative imaging technique for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with CD, being as accurate as CT and MR for detecting intramural and extramural extension of the disease. B-Mode US can evaluate the localization and length of the affected intestinal segments and allow identification of transmural complications, stenosis and intestinal obstruction. Doppler techniques are tools that visualize and quantify bowel vascularization. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a new technique that involves IV administration of an ultrasound contrast agent with real-time examination, providing an accurate depiction of the bowel wall microvascularization and the perienteric tissues. The introduction of imaging quantification techniques enables an objective quantitative measurement of the enhancement. METHOD AND RESULTS: The article reviews the technique, sonographic findings, advantages and limitations, and clinical applications of contrast-enhanced US in the evaluation of Cohn's disease. Current CEUS applications in CD are: CD activity assessment, evaluation of inflammatory masses, distinguishing phlegmons from abscesses, characterization of stenosis by differentiating fibrosis from inflammation, monitoring the efficacy of drug treatments and improving the detection of disease recurrence. CONCLUSION: CEUS is an emerging technique that is part of the entire sonographic evaluation, with a role in the diagnosis and follow-up of CD, thus improving therapy planning and monitoring of the efficacy of treatment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13244-011-0124-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Tissue harmonic sonography in the diagnosis of common bile duct stones: a comparison with endoscopic retrograde cholangiography.

PURPOSE: To revisit the diagnostic accuracy of sonography in the detection of choledocholithiasis using modern equipment with tissue harmonic imaging (THI) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with sphincterotomy as the gold standard. METHODS: A total of 107 patients with clinically suspected choledocholithiasis were examined with THI before undergoing ERCP. The sonographic findings that were prospectively evaluated included the presence of choledocholithiasis, size of common bile duct, sonographic view and patient position that best visualized the stone(s), visualization of the distal common duct, and duration of examination. The accuracy of sonography compared with ERCP and sphincterotomy was calculated. RESULTS: Sonography correctly detected stones in 65 of 76 patients (sensitivity of 86%). The specificity and the overall accuracy were 87% and 86%, respectively. The sensitivity of sonography was higher with dilated extrahepatic duct (44% in patients with common bile duct measuring less than 6 mm in diameter, 82% between 6 and 10 mm, and 100% with common bile duct larger than 10 mm). The lateral approach with the patient in left lateral decubitus position of the patient was the most effective in 47% of the cases. CONCLUSION: Sonography with THI is an accurate technique for the detection of choledocholithiasis that may be used as the first-choice technique to avoid unnecessary procedures in a high percentage of patients, especially those with dilated biliary tree.

Crohn disease: correlation of findings at contrast-enhanced US with severity at endoscopy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of visualization of vascularization at contrast material-enhanced ultrasonography (US) for assessment of the activity of Crohn disease, with severity grade determined at endoscopy as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ethics committee approval and written informed consent were obtained. Sixty-one patients (age range, 21-67 years; median age, 36 years) who had Crohn disease underwent both colonoscopy and US, including color Doppler and contrast-enhanced US, prospectively. To assess the vascularization of the involved bowel loop in a region expected to be seen at colonoscopy, the contrast agent uptake was measured by using quantitative analysis of the enhancement in regions of interest. Measurement of contrast enhancement was assessed as the increase in wall brightness with respect to the baseline brightness. Results were compared with the severity grade determined at endoscopy by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Colonoscopy showed inflammatory lesions in 53 patients (mild disease, seven; moderate disease, 12; and severe disease, 34). Bowel wall thickness and grade at color Doppler US (P = .019 and .002, respectively) correlated with severity grade at endoscopy. Mural contrast enhancement in patients with active disease at endoscopy was markedly increased in comparison with enhancement in patients with inactive disease (P < .001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that an increase in wall brightness was a significant and independent variable predictive of severity grade at endoscopy. A threshold brightness value of percentage of increase of 46% had a sensitivity and specificity of 96% and 73%, respectively, in the prediction of moderate or severe grade for inflammation at endoscopy. CONCLUSION: Quantitative measurements of bowel enhancement obtained by using contrast-enhanced US correlate with severity grade determined at endoscopy. Contrast-enhanced US could be a useful technique to monitor the activity of Crohn disease. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: http://radiology.rsna.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1148/radiol.2531082269/-/DC1.

Assessment of the extension and the inflammatory activity in Crohn's disease: comparison of ultrasound and MRI.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this prospective study was twofold: to examine the efficacy of MRI and sonography in the assessment of Crohn's disease (CD) activity in comparison with clinical scoring and biologic tests and to compare both techniques in the evaluation of extension and transmural complications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty patients with histologically proven Crohn's disease were prospectively examined the same day first with sonography and after MRI. Sonographic exam included evaluation of bowel wall thickness, vascularity pattern, and perienteric changes. Thirty minutes prior to MRI imaging, patients were given 250 mL of dilute sodium phosphate solution and additional 750 mL of water orally. MRI images evaluation included bowel wall thickening, bowel wall enhancement, and perienteric changes. The gastrointestinal tract was divided into five segments. Findings and extension of the both techniques were verified by means of barium studies, surgery, or/and colonoscopy. The sonographic and MR findings were compared with clinical and laboratory data. RESULTS: About 53 of 119 (45%) bowel segments showed pathological changes in gold standard tests. Sonography was superior to MRI in the localization of affected bowel segments (sensitivity: US 91%; MRI 83%; intertechniques agreement, kappa: 0.905) and in recognizing transmural complications (sensitivity: US 80%; MRI 72%), although significant differences were not found (p > 0.05). A statistically significant correlation between color Doppler flow and MR bowel wall enhancement (segment-by-segment analysis and per patient analysis; p > 0.5), and between perienteric changes in both techniques (p > 0.5) were found. Wall thickness measured on sonography was significantly greater in the group of patients with clinical activity (p = 0.023) or with clinical-biologic activity (p = 0.024). Grades of hyperemia and MR contrast enhancement of patients with clinical-biologic activity was higher than in patients without clinical-biologic activity (p = 0.019; p = 0.023). CONCLUSION: In summary, both ultrasound and MRI are sensitive to localize the affected bowel segments and to detect transmural complications in patients with Crohn's disease. A significant correlation between color Doppler flow and bowel wall enhancement on MRI was found. Sonographic wall thickness, color Doppler flow, and bowel wall enhancement on MRI are related with clinical or biologic activity.