Diabetes mellitus and the risk of progression or malignancy of pancreatic cystic neoplasms in patients undergoing surveillance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Patients with pancreatic cystic neoplasms (PCN) generally undergo surveillance by cross-sectional imaging or endoscopic-ultrasound due to their pre-malignant potential. Appearance of certain cyst characteristics during surveillance is associated with aggressive behavior or presence of malignancy. Patient characteristics associated with progression or induction of malignancy in PCN is unclear from current studies. We performed this meta-analysis to determine the patient characteristics associated with progression or malignancy in patients with PCN who undergo surveillance. METHODS: We performed a systematic research of several electronic databases for all the studies on surveillance of PCN which reported demographic data of patients who had progression or malignancy and controls. We calculated Risk ratio (RR) or Hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for each variable. Mantel- Haenszel method or Inverse-variance model was used to pool data of progression or malignant transformation into fixed or random effect model meta-analysis. RESULTS: 11observational studies, 4 assessing risk factors for malignancy (3955 patients) and 7 evaluating risk factors for progression of PCN (3144 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. Diabetes mellitus was associated with higher risk for malignant transformation as well as progression of PCN (RR = 1.54, CI 1.23, 1.92). Advanced age was associated with higher risk of progression. Male gender had higher risk for malignant transformation but not progression of PCN. CONCLUSION: Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of both malignancy and progression of PCN in patients who undergo surveillance. Advanced age is also associated with higher risk of progression of PCN.

Comparison of clinical outcomes of multiple plastic stents and covered metal stent in refractory pancreatic ductal strictures in chronic pancreatitis- a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic pancreatic duct (PD) strictures in chronic pancreatitis refractory to single plastic stenting are usually managed by placement of multiple plastic stents (MPS). Fully covered self-expanding metallic stents (FCSEMS) have also been used in the management of these patients. However, the overall efficacy and safety of different types of stents is unclear from the currently available studies. We performed this meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and complications from MPS and FCSEMS in patients with PD strictures refractory to treatment with single plastic stents. METHODS: Several electronic databases were searched for all the studies evaluating the outcome of placement of multiple plastic stents and fully covered metal stents in patients with PD strictures refractory to single plastic stenting. We calculated the Weighted Pooled Ratio (WPR) with Confidence Interval (CI) between the MPS and FCSEMS. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies (including 2 abstracts) were included in the analysis. MPS were placed in 106 patients and FCSEMS in 192 patients. Improvement in pain after stenting (P = 0.794), risk of recurrence of pain after removal of stent (P = 0.48) and stricture recurrence after stent removal (P = 0.52) were comparable between MPS and FCSEMS. Risk of endoscopic re-intervention was also comparable between metal stents and MPS. However, FCSEMS was associated with overall higher risk of adverse events (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: FCSEMS are comparable to multiple plastic stents in the treatment of symptomatic refractory PD strictures. However, use of FCSEMS is associated with increased risk of adverse events.

The Utility of Noninvasive Scores in Assessing the Prevalence of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Advanced Fibrosis in Type 2 Diabetic Patients.

GOALS: The aim of our study is to assess the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and advanced hepatic fibrosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using simple noninvasive scores. BACKGROUND: In individuals with T2DM, there is a very high prevalence of NAFLD. Moreover, T2DM is a risk factor for advanced disease in NAFLD patients. STUDY: Using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes all patients with the diagnosis of T2DM were reviewed and a retrospective chart analysis was performed on 169,910 patients between the ages of 18 to 80. To predict the prevalence of NAFLD, we calculated the hepatic steatosis index. To estimate the prevalence of advanced fibrosis, NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), fibrosis-4 index, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI), and AST/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 121,513 patients included in the analysis, 89.4% were above normal weight limit. NAFLD based on Hepatic Steatosis Index>36 was present in 87.9% of patients. Advanced fibrosis was present in 35.4% based on NFS>0.676, 8.4% based on fibrosis-4>2.67, 1.9% based on APRI>1.5, and 16.9% based on AST/ALT>1.4% indicating advanced fibrosis and high risk of developing cirrhosis related to NAFLD. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of patients with T2DM, we detected high prevalence of hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis using noninvasive scores. These scores are easy and nonexpensive tools to screen for NAFLD and advanced fibrosis, although the significant variability of the percentage of patients with advanced fibrosis using these scores indicates the need for further validation in diabetic populations.

Pulmonary toxicities of tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

The incidence of pulmonary toxicities with the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) is not very high; however, various case reports and studies continue to show significant variability in the incidence of these adverse events, ranging from 0.2% to 10.9%. Gefitinib and erlotinib are orally active, small-molecule inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase that are mainly used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Imatinib is an inhibitor of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase that is used to treat various leukemias, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and other cancers. In this article, we review data to identify the very rare but fatal pulmonary toxicities (mostly interstitial lung disease) caused by these drugs.

Pulmonary toxicities of biologics: a review.

With the advancement of research in cancer treatment more and more drugs are being introduced for the treatment of cancer. In this review study, we have tried to look at some of the relatively newly introduced drugs, commonly referred to as biologics. The aim of this study was to review the very rare but fatal pulmonary toxicities (mostly interstitial lung disease) caused by these drugs. The drugs that were reviewed are rituximab, cetuximab, bevacizumab, alemtuzumab, and trastuzumab. This review basically aims at presenting a basic introduction (mechanism of action and indications of use) of these drugs followed by a summary of the incidence, various clinical presentations, diagnosis, treatment options, and outcome of patients around the world who presented with pulmonary toxicities caused by these drugs.