EUS-guided rendezvous technique for pancreas divisum.

Video 1EUS-guided rendezvous technique for pancreas divisum.

Rising Rate of Obesity in Patients Admitted for Crohn's Disease Increases Costs But Not Mortality.

GOAL: The goal of this study was to compare outcomes and trends for inpatients with Crohn's disease (CD) and obesity. BACKGROUND: Obesity is a growing concern in the United States. Current data on the effect of obesity on the course of the CD are conflicted. METHODS: Data from the 2016 to 2017 National Inpatient Sample were compared for obese, normal weight, and malnourished patients. After adjustment for comorbidities, demographics and disease type/inpatient surgery, outcomes including mortality, length of stay, hospitalization charges, and rates of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in obese and malnourished patients were compared with those with normal body mass index using multivariable regression. For trend analysis, rates of obesity were compared from 2002 to 2017. RESULTS: The percentage of patients with CD and obesity increased from 1.8% in 2002 to 9.5% in 2017 (0.5% per year, P<0.001). Rates of death were similar in obese versus normal-weight CD patients [odds ratio (OR)=1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85-1.73, P=0.288]. In contrast, obese CD patients had increased length of stay (1.0 d, 95% CI: 0.81-1.26, P<0.001), cost ($8323, 95% CI: 5565-11,082, P<0.001), and DVT rate (OR=1.67, 95% CI: 1.13-2.46, P=0.01). Malnourished CD patients had OR for death of 2.15 (95% CI: 1.71-2.70, P<0.001) compared with normal-weight cohort. Similarly, length of stay, cost, and DVT rate were all increased. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of hospitalized CD patients with obesity are increasing. Patients with obesity and CD have increased length of stay and costs, with no mortality difference. Malnourished CD patients continue to have higher mortality, length of stay, and cost. Obesity is a risk factor for adverse hospitalization outcomes.

Out of Sight-Out of Mind: Impact of Cascade Reporting on Antimicrobial Usage.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data evaluating the strategy of suppressing broader-spectrum antibiotic susceptibilities on utilization. Cascade reporting (CR) is a strategy of reporting antimicrobial susceptibility test results in which secondary (eg, broader-spectrum, costlier) agents may only be reported if an organism is resistant to primary agents within a particular drug class. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of ceftriaxone-based cascade reporting on utilization of cefepime and clinical outcomes in patients with ceftriaxone-susceptible Escherichia and Klebsiella clinical cultures. METHODS: We compared post-CR (July 2014-June 2015) with baseline (July 2013-June 2014), evaluating utilization of cefepime, cefazolin, ceftriaxone, ampicillin derivatives, fluoroquinolones, piperacillin/tazobactam, ertapenem, and meropenem; new Clostridium difficile infection; and length of stay (LOS) after the positive culture, 30-day readmission, and in-hospital all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Mean days of therapy (DOT) among patients who received any antibiotic for cefepime decreased from 1.229 days during the baseline period to 0.813 days post-CR (adjusted relative risk, 0.668; P < .0001). Mean DOT of ceftriaxone increased from 0.864 days to 0.962 days, with an adjusted relative risk of 1.113 (P = .004). No significant differences were detected in other antibiotics including ertapenem and meropenem, demonstrating the direct association of the decrease in cefepime utilization with CR based on ceftriaxone susceptibility. Average LOS in the study population decreased from 14.139 days to 10.882 days from baseline to post-CR and was found to be statistically significant (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we demonstrated significant association of decreased cefepime utilization with the implementation of a CR based on ceftriaxone susceptibility. We demonstrated the safety of deescalation, with LOS being significantly lower during the post-CR period than in the baseline period, with no change in in-hospital mortality.

A Multicenter Study Into Causes of Severe Acute Liver Injury.

The differential diagnosis of an increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level and/or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level of ≥1000 IU/L often is stated to include 3 main etiologies: ischemic hepatitis, acute viral hepatitis (typically hepatitis A and hepatitis B), and drug-induced (more specifically, acetaminophen/paracetamol) liver injury (DILI).1 Unfortunately, there are a paucity of studies examining the most common causes of acute liver injury (ALI) and those that have been published have been small,2 single-center,2 or examined less severe increases in ALT or AST levels.3,4 We conducted a multicenter study of all patients with an ALT and/or AST level ≥1000 IU/L. Our study had 3 main goals: (1) to determine the most common causes of an ALT and/or AST level ≥1000 IU/L, along with their relative frequencies; (2) to determine differences in etiology based on hospital type (liver transplant center, community hospital, Veterans Affairs hospital); and (3) to confirm or disprove the differential heuristic that ischemic hepatitis, acute viral hepatitis, and acetaminophen toxicity are the most common etiologies.