Effectiveness of Continuous Glucose Monitoring on Metrics of Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

PURPOSE: To provide a systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing the findings of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) in the management of adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on glucose control and clinical outcomes. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane were searched for RCTs that assessed the effectiveness of real-time CGM (rt-CGM) or flash CGM (FGM) in adults (≥18 years) with T2DM that reported on at least 1 of the following outcomes: hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), time in range, time in hyperglycemia, or time in hypoglycemia. The GRADE approach was used to assess certainty of evidence for primary outcomes. RESULTS: Fourteen RCTs assessing CGM were included, with 825 patients in 9 RCTs using rt-CGM and 822 in 5 RCTs using FGM. Moderate certainty of evidence indicated that use of CGM had a modest but statistically significant reduction in HbA1c levels of about 0.32%. Our analyses of each device type separately showed similar reductions in HbA1c (0.34% and 0.33%, respectively, for rt-CGM and FGM), with trends for improvement in other glucose metrics favoring rt-CGM over self-monitored blood glucose. CONCLUSION: Both rt-CGM and flash CGM led to modest but statistically significant declines in HbA1c among individuals with T2DM, with little heterogeneity in the results. However, the duration of the included RCTs was relatively short and few studies reported on important clinical outcomes, such as adverse events, emergency department use, or hospitalization. Longer term studies are needed to determine if the short-term improvements in glucose control leads to improvements in clinically important outcomes.

Presence of concomitant inflammatory bowel disease is associated with an increased risk of postcholecystectomy complications.

BACKGROUND: Surgery in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is often associated with complications. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether concomitant IBD was associated with an increased risk of postcholecystectomy complications. METHODS: The study group consisted of 82 consecutive IBD patients who underwent cholecystectomy from January 2001 to October 2010. The control group included 296 cholecystectomy patients without IBD who were randomly selected from the cholecystectomy database. Variables were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in age, gender, body mass index, presence of gallstones/common bile duct stones, indication for cholecystectomy, and postoperative mortality between the study and control groups. More patients in the study group had postoperative complications than in the control group (17.1% vs. 6.8%, P = 0.005). On multivariate analysis, the presence of concomitant IBD was independently associated with an increased risk for postoperative complications (odds ratio [OR] = 4.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.63-13.20, P = 0.004) after adjusting for age, the presence of cirrhosis, diabetes, body mass index, the use of corticosteroids, immunomodulators, total parental nutrition, or biologics, the presence of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), acute or chronic cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, or prior abdominal surgeries, and indication for surgery (elective vs. emergent). CONCLUSIONS: IBD patients undergoing cholecystectomy have a significantly increased risk of postoperative complications. Although further studies are warranted to clarify the reason for these differences, caution should be taken to determine the need and timing of cholecystectomy in IBD patients.

A comparison of high-definition versus conventional colonoscopes for polyp detection.

BACKGROUND: High-resolution, high-definition colonoscopes (HD) with 170 degrees angle of view providing brighter images, sharper resolution, and a 30 degrees wider field of view than conventional colonoscopes (CC) are available. The impact of these innovations on enhancing the detection of clinically important colonic lesions or over detection of clinically insignificant colonic lesions is not well established. OBJECTIVES: To compare the difference in the detection of individuals with polyps, adenomas, or high-risk adenoma features between HD and CC. We also compared the difference in detection of individuals with clinically insignificant colonic lesions, >or=2, <6-mm hyperplastic polyps between HD and CC. METHODS: Endoscopic findings from 426 individuals who underwent HD were compared to a cohort of 426 individuals who underwent CC after matching by gender, age (+/-5 years), and indication for colonoscopy based on propensity score. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess for differences in polyp detection rates and risk classification between the two groups. RESULTS: HD affords no increase over CC in the detection of individuals with polyps, 39.9 vs. 36.9% (P = 0.34) or adenomas, 24.7 vs. 21.9% (P = 0.36). The proportion of subjects classified as high risk did not differ between the groups, 5.7% in the HD group and 4.5% in the CC group (P = 0.43) and 5.6% of each cohort was found to have >or=2, <6-mm hyperplastic polyps (P = 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: HD colonoscopy does not increase the detection of individuals with polyps, adenomas, or high-risk adenoma features. HD does not increase the detection of individuals with clinically insignificant colonic lesions.