Bile Culture May Guide Antibiotic Stewardship in Acute Bacterial Cholangitis.

BACKGROUND: Bile cultures are often sent with blood cultures in patients with acute bacterial cholangitis. AIMS: To assess the yield of blood and bile cultures in patients with cholangitis and the clinical utility of bile cultures in guiding therapy. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with cholangitis, based on the Tokyo 2013/2018 guidelines were recruited retrospectively over ten years. The clinical and investigation details were recorded. The results of bile and blood cultures including antibiotic sensitivity patterns were noted. The concordance of microorganisms grown in blood and bile cultures and their sensitivity pattern were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 1063 patients with cholangitis were included. Their mean age was 52.7 ± 14 years and 65.4% were males. Blood cultures were positive in 372 (35%) patients. Bile culture was performed in 384 patients with 84.4% being positive, which was significantly higher than the yield of blood culture (p < 0.001). Polymicrobial growth was more in bile (59.3%) than in blood cultures (13.5%, p < 0.001). E.coli, Klebsiella, Enterococcus and Pseudomonas were the four most common organisms isolated from both blood and bile. Extended spectrum betalactamase producing organisms were isolated in 57.7% and 58.8% of positive blood and bile cultures, respectively. Among 127 patients with both blood and bile cultures positive, complete or partial concordance of organisms was noted in about 90%. CONCLUSION: Bile and blood cultures have a similar microbial profile in most patients with cholangitis. As bile cultures have a significantly higher yield than blood cultures, they could effectively guide antimicrobial therapy, especially in those with negative blood cultures.

Granulomatous inflammation is less common in delayed-onset Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease (CD) usually affects younger individuals but delayed-onset disease is not uncommon. We studied the epidemiology, demographic profile, and clinical characteristics of patients with delayed-onset CD (disease onset >50 years) and compared them with CD in younger individuals (disease onset 20-40 years) in a tertiary care center in India. The presenting symptoms, site of involvement, and treatment profile were similar, except for weight loss, which was more often noted in young-onset CD. However, granulomatous inflammation on mucosal biopsy was twice as common in young-onset compared to delayed-onset CD. As it is thus seen less often in delayed-onset CD, this may lead to a potential delay in diagnosis and treatment.

Image-enhanced endoscopy for real-time differentiation between hyperplastic and fundic gland polyps in the stomach.

BACKGROUND: Fundic gland polyps (FGP) of stomach are benign, while some hyperplastic polyps (HP) may harbor dysplasia or malignancy. Conventional white light endoscopy (WLE) cannot reliably distinguish FGP from HP. We investigated the role of image-enhanced endoscopy in differentiating FGP from HP. METHODS: Patients with gastric polyps were recruited prospectively. The characteristics of the polyps were assessed using WLE and magnification narrow band imaging (mNBI). The microsurface, intervening space (IS), and microvascular (V) features of polyps were evaluated on mNBI. The pattern characteristic of FGP and HP were determined. Histopathology of polyps was the gold standard for diagnosis. Finally, in the validation phase, five endoscopists applied the characteristic features identified in this study to predict the type of gastric polyp and their performance was assessed. RESULTS: Forty-five patients with a total of 70 gastric polyps (HP-46, FGP-24) were included in this study. On mNBI, the pattern characteristic of HP included peripheral curved type of white structures forming large circular/villous loops (microsurface), enlarged intervening space, and microvessels appearing as dark patches in the intervening space (p<0.001 vs. FGP). These were noted in 95.7% HP. In contrast, 95.8% FGP had a pattern characterized by dotted/elliptical/tubular white structures (microsurface), normal width of intervening space, and microvessels surrounding the white structures in a network pattern. This IS-V pattern classification had an accuracy of >90% in the validation phase with intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.95. The accuracy of mNBI was higher than WLE (97.1% vs. 67%) in predicting the type of gastric polyp. CONCLUSIONS: Image-enhanced endoscopy with mNBI (IS-V pattern) performs very well in differentiating HP from FGP.

Endoscopic intragastric balloon: A novel therapy for weight loss.

Endoscopic intra gastric balloon placement provides an alternative method for weight loss in patients who fail to respond to life style modification, diet restriction and pharmacological therapy. Intra gastric balloon (IGB), placement can be used as a temporary measure for weight loss in obesity with or without related complications or bridge therapy in morbid obesity prior to bariatric surgery. Weight loss achieved following IGB implantation depends on the type of balloon, medium, and filling volume used for IGB inflation. This brief review provides an overview of the indications, efficacy and safety of intragastric balloon treatment in patients with obesity.

Common polymorphisms of protein tyrosine phosphate non-receptor type 2 gene are not associated with risk of Crohn's disease in Indian.

BACKGROUND: Multiple genetic risk factors for Crohn's disease (CD) have been identified. However, these observations are not consistent across different populations. The protein tyrosine phosphate non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2) gene plays a role in various aspects of host defense including epithelial barrier function, autophagy, and innate and adaptive immune response. Two common polymorphisms in the PTPN2 gene (rs2542151 and rs7234029) have been associated with risk of CD in Western countries. AIM: To evaluate the association of PTPN2 gene polymorphisms with risk of CD in Indian population. METHODS: We conducted a prospective case-control study. Patients with CD were recruited, and their clinical and investigation details were noted. Controls were patients without organic gastrointestinal disease or other comorbid illnesses. Two common polymorphisms in the PTPN2 gene (rs2542151 and rs7234029) were assessed. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of cases and controls and target DNA was amplified using specific sets of primers. The amplified fragments were digested with restriction enzymes and the presence of polymorphism was detected by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The frequency of alleles was determined. The frequencies of genotypes and alleles were compared between cases and controls to look for significant differences. RESULTS: A total of 108 patients with CD (mean age 37.5 ± 12.7 years, females 42.6%) and 100 controls (mean age 39.9 ± 13.5 years, females 37%) were recruited. For the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7234029, the overall frequency of G variant genotype (AG or GG) was noted to be significantly lower in the cases compared to controls (35.2% vs 50%, P = 0.05). For the SNP rs2542151, the overall frequency of G variant genotype (GT or GG) was noted to be similar in cases compared to controls (43.6% vs 47%, P = 0.73). There were no significant differences in minor allele (G) frequency for both polymorphisms between the cases and controls. Both the SNPs had no significant association with age of onset of illness, gender, disease location, disease behaviour, perianal disease, or extraintestinal manifestations of CD. CONCLUSION: Unlike observation form the West, polymorphisms in the PTPN2 gene (rs7234029 and rs2542151) are not associated with an increased risk of developing CD in Indian patients.

Prevalence of Risk Factors for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Middle-Aged and Elderly Patients With Cryptogenic Cirrhosis.

Aim of the study: To study the prevalence of risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in middle-aged (40-59 years) and elderly patients (≥60 years) with cryptogenic cirrhosis as compared to those with hepatitis B or C virus (HBV or HCV) related cirrhosis. Methods and materials: Between August 2013 and December 2014, cases (cryptogenic cirrhosis) and controls (HBV/HCV cirrhosis) above 40 years of age were prospectively recruited and assessed for the cause and prevalence of risk factors for NAFLD. Results: One hundred eighteen cases (male-74%; age 55 (40-74) years; median (range); Child's class A:B:C-46:38:16) and 59 controls (male-80%; age 55.5 (40-69) years; Child's class A:B:C-56:30:14) were enrolled. Obesity (53% v/s 39%, P-0.081), diabetes mellitus (DM) (52% v/s 27%; P-0.002), family history of DM (30% v/s 13%; P-0.016), family history of Obesity (21% v/s 3.5%; P-0.002) and metabolic syndrome (65% v/s 44%; P-0.01) were more among cases than controls. Lifetime weight as obese was also longer in cases than in controls (5.9 ± 6.2 years v/s 3.2 ± 5.1 years, P-0.002). On subgroup analysis, in elderly age group, DM (55% v/s 17%, P-0.006), family history of DM (40% v/s 11%, P-0.025), metabolic syndrome (76% v/s 44%, P-0.017) and family history of obesity (19% v/s 0, P-0.047) were more common in cases as compared to controls, where as in the middle-age group, family history of obesity was the only significant factor (22% v/s 5%, P-0.025). Lifetime weight as obese was longer in cases than controls in both middle and elderly age groups. Conclusion: Among middle-aged and elderly patients with cirrhosis, there was a higher prevalence of risk factors for NAFLD in those with cryptogenic cirrhosis, compared to those with HBV or HCV cirrhosis.

Prevalence of past hepatitis A infection among Crohn's patients and controls - An examination of the 'hygiene hypothesis', and the need for hepatitis A vaccination.

Our study aimed to determine the prevalence of prior exposure to hepatitis A virus in Crohn's disease patients, whose IgG antibody levels against hepatitis A virus were compared with age and sex-matched controls. All of the 41 cases with Crohn's disease and 43 controls included in the study tested positive for IgG anti-hepatitis A virus antibody, with titres (38.8 IU/ml, 22-63.9; median, IQR) similar to those in controls (40.7 IU/ml, 17.3-66.7; p = 0.75). Environmental sanitation remains poor in India, despite reasonable economic gains as reflected by universal exposure to hepatitis A virus infection. Vaccination against hepatitis A may not be important in patients attending inflammatory bowel disease clinic, owing to natural immunity provided by prior infection. The observed rise in inflammatory bowel disease incidence seems to be increasing despite persistently poor environmental hygiene.

Retained biliary plastic stents - lest we forget.

Prolonged indwelling of endoscopically placed biliary plastic stents may lead to complications. We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreaticography (ERCP) at our centre in 2017 and were noted to have retained biliary plastic stents ( > 3 months after an index ERCP). A total of 127 patients had previously placed biliary plastic stents, out of which 45 (35.4%) were retained. The median age of the latter was 52 years (range = 22-79 years) with 27 (60%) patients being men. The median duration of the retained stents was 144 days (range = 94-3292 days). The majority of the patients were asymptomatic. However, 9 (20%) patients had cholangitis, 2 (4.4%) had choledocholithiasis, 2 (4.4%) had cholangitic abscess and 1 (2.2%) developed septicaemia. Fortunately, all these complications could be managed medically and endoscopically. Retention of biliary plastic stents is a problem often overlooked and underestimated in clinical practice. Various measures need to be instituted to create awareness of this entity to prevent undesirable outcomes.