Development of upper gastrointestinal cancer in patients with symptomatic gallstones, cholecystectomy, and sphincterotomy: A nationwide cohort study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Exposures of gallstones and treatments thereof in relation to development of cancer have not been explored before in long-term follow-up studies. Our objective was to determine whether symptomatic gallstones, cholecystectomy, or sphincterotomy were associated with development of upper gastrointestinal cancers. METHODS: This is a nationwide cohort study of persons born in Denmark 1930-1984 included from age 30 years with long-term follow-up (1977-2014). Exposures were hospital admissions with gallstones, cholecystectomy, and sphincterotomy. Time-varying covariates were included in analyses to allow the impact of exposures to change with time. Follow-up periods were 2-5 and > 5 years. Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. RESULTS: A total of 4,465,962 persons were followed. We found positive associations between sphincterotomy and biliary (>5 years HR 4.34, CI [2.17-8.70]), gallbladder (2-5 years HR 20.7, CI [8.55-50.1]), and pancreatic cancer (2-5 years HR 3.68, CI [2.09-6.49]). Cholecystectomy was positively associated with duodenal (2-5 years HR 2.94, CI [1.31-6.58]) and small bowel cancer (2-5 years HR 2.75, CI [1.56-4.87]). Inverse associations were seen for cholecystectomy and biliary (>5 years HR 0.60, CI [0.41-0.87]), pancreatic (>5 years HR 0.45 CI [0.35-0.57]), esophageal (>5 years HR 0.57, CI [0.43-0.74]), and gastric cancer (>5 years HR 0.68, CI [0.55-0.86]) and for gallstones and pancreatic cancer (>5 years HR 0.66, CI [0.47-0.93]). Gallstones were positively associated with gallbladder (>5 years HR 3.51, CI [2.02-6.10]) and small bowel cancer (2-5 years HR 3.21, CI [1.60-6.45]). CONCLUSIONS: A positive association between sphincterotomy and biliary cancer was identified. Cholecystectomy seems to be inversely associated with biliary, pancreatic, esophageal, and gastric cancer. Associations should be explored in similar large cohorts.

Antibiotics for uncomplicated diverticulitis.

BACKGROUND: Diverticulitis is a complication of the common condition, diverticulosis. Uncomplicated diverticulitis has traditionally been treated with antibiotics, as diverticulitis has been regarded as an infectious disease. Risk factors for diverticulitis, however, may suggest that the condition is inflammatory rather than infectious which makes the use of antibiotics questionable. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this systematic review were to determine if antibiotic treatment of uncomplicated acute diverticulitis affects the risk of complications (immediate or late) or the need for emergency surgery. SEARCH METHODS: For this update, a comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO International Clinical Trial Registry Platform on February 2021. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including all types of patients with a radiologically confirmed diagnosis of left-sided uncomplicated acute diverticulitis. Comparator and interventions included antibiotics compared to no antibiotics, placebo, or to any other antibiotic treatment (different regimens, routes of administration, dosage or duration of treatment). Primary outcome measures were complications and emergency surgery. Secondary outcomes were recurrence, late complications, elective colonic resections, length of hospital stay, length to recovery of symptoms, adverse events and mortality. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors performed the searches, identification and assessment of RCTs and data extraction. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or involvement of the third author. Authors of trials were contacted to obtain additional data if needed or for preliminary results of ongoing trials. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias was used to assess the methodological quality of the identified trials. The overall quality of evidence for outcomes was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Effect estimates were extracted as risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed with the Mantel-Haenzel method. MAIN RESULTS: The authors included five studies. Three studies compared no antibiotics to antibiotics; all three were original RCTs of which two also published long-term follow-up information.  For the outcome of short-term complications there may be little or no difference between antibiotics and no antibiotics (RR 0.89; 95% CI 0.30 to 2.62; 3 studies, 1329 participants; low-certainty evidence). The rate of emergency surgery within 30 days may be lower with no antibiotics compared to antibiotics (RR 0.47; 95% CI 0.13, 1.71; 1329 participants; 3 studies; low-certainty evidence). However, there is considerable imprecision due to wide confidence intervals for this effect estimate causing uncertainty which means that there may also be a benefit with antibiotics. One of the two remaining trials compared single to double compound antibiotic therapy and, due to wide confidence intervals, the estimate was imprecise and indicated an uncertain clinical effect between these two antibiotic regimens (RR 0.70; 95% CI 0.11 to 4.58; 51 participants; 1 study; low-certainty evidence). The last trial compared short to long intravenous administration of antibiotics and did not report any events for our primary outcomes. Both trials included few participants and one had overall high risk of bias. Since the first publication of this systematic review, an increasing amount of evidence supporting the treatment of uncomplicated acute diverticulitis without antibiotics has been published, but the total body of evidence is still limited. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The evidence on antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated acute diverticulitis suggests that the effect of antibiotics is uncertain for complications, emergency surgery, recurrence, elective colonic resections, and long-term complications. The quality of the evidence is low. Only three RCTs on the need for antibiotics are currently available. More trials are needed to obtain more precise effect estimates.

Pancreatic function following post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: A controlled cohort study with long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis is one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal-related hospitalization and the incidence is increasing. Endo- and exocrine pancreatic function can be compromised after acute pancreatitis. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the long-term consequences of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis (PEP) on pancreatic function. METHODS: A follow-up study was carried out with prospective assessment of endo- and exocrine pancreatic function among cases with previous PEP and matched controls from a Danish cohort consisting of 772 patients undergoing first-time ERCP. Pancreatic function was evaluated by faecal-elastase-1 test, blood levels of haemoglobin A1c, C-peptide, vitamin B12, vitamin D and indirectly by changes in body weight. RESULTS: Twenty-nine cases and 49 controls participated in the study. Mean follow-up time (standard deviation) was 58 (21) months. Twelve (41%), eight (28%) and nine (31%) patients had mild, moderate and severe PEP, respectively. There was no difference between cases and controls with regard to pancreatic function parameters and PEP severity was not associated with pancreatic function. Factors associated with pancreatic function impairment included body mass index, alcohol consumption, age and smoking. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that long-term pancreatic function following PEP is similar to the pancreatic function of other patients with comparable gallstone-related morbidity.

Antibiotics for uncomplicated diverticulitis.

BACKGROUND: Diverticulitis is an inflammatory complication to the very common condition diverticulosis. Uncomplicated diverticulitis has traditionally been treated with antibiotics with reference to the microbiology, extrapolation from trials on complicated intra-abdominal infections and clinical experience. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of antibiotic interventions for uncomplicated diverticulitis on relevant outcome. SEARCH METHODS: Studies were identified by computerised searches of the The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and EMBASE. Ongoing trials were identified and reference lists of identified trials and relevant review articles were screened for additional studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: RCTs including all types of patients with a radiological confirmed diagnosis of left-sided uncomplicated diverticulitis. Interventions of antibiotics compared to any other antibiotic treatment (different regime, route of administration, dosage or duration of treatment), placebo or no antibiotics. Outcome measures were complications, emergency surgery, recurrence, late complications and duration of hospital stay and recovery of signs of infection. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors performed the searches, identification of RCTs, trial assessment and data extraction. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or involvement of a third part. Authors of trials were contacted to obtain additional data if needed or were contacted for preliminary results of ongoing trials. Effect estimates were extracted as relative risks (RR). MAIN RESULTS: Three RCTs were identified. A qualitative approach with no meta analysis was performed because of variety in interventions between included studies. Interventions compared were antibiotics to no antibiotics, single to double compound antibiotic therapy and short to long IV administration. None of the studies found significant difference between the tested interventions. Risk of bias varied from low to high. The newest RCT overall had the best quality and statistical power. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The newest evidence from one RCT says there is no significant difference between antibiotics versus no antibiotics in the treatment of uncomplicated diverticulitis. Previous RCTs have only suggested a non-inferiority between different antibiotic regimes and treatment lengths. This new evidence needs confirmation from more RCTs before it can be implicated safely in clinical guidelines. Ongoing RCTs will be published in the years to come and more are needed. The role of antibiotics in the treatment of complicated diverticulitis has not been investigated yet.

Laparoscopic surgery compared with open surgery decreases surgical site infection in obese patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare surgical site infections rate in obese patients after laparoscopic surgery with open general abdominal surgery. BACKGROUND: In mixed surgical populations, surgical site infections are fewer in laparoscopic surgery than in open surgery. It is not clear if this is also the case for obese patients, who have a higher risk of surgical site infections than nonobese patients. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, and The Cochrane library (CENTRAL) were searched systematically for studies on laparoscopic surgery compared with open abdominal surgery. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies reporting surgical site infection in groups of obese patients (body mass index ≥ 30) were included. Separate meta-analyses with a fixed effects model for RCTs and a random effects model for observational studies were performed. Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed according to the Cochrane method and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. RESULTS: Eight RCTs and 36 observational studies on bariatric and nonbariatric surgery were identified. Meta-analyses of RCTs and observational studies showed a significantly lower surgical site infection rate after laparoscopic surgery (OR = 0.19; 95% CI [0.08-0.45]; P = 0.0002 and OR = 0.33; 95% CI [0.26-0.42]; P = 0.00001). Sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of selection and detection bias confirmed the significant estimates with acceptable heterogeneity. No publication bias was present for the observational studies. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic surgery in obese patients reduces surgical site infection rate by 70%-80% compared with open surgery across general abdominal surgical procedures. Future efforts should be focused on further development of laparoscopic surgery for the growing obese population.