Adenocarcinoma arising from a chronic perianal fistula in a Crohn's disease patient: case report and review of the literature.

Crohn's disease patients frequently develop perianal fistulas during their life. They are also at higher risk to develop cancers. Rarely, those cancers appear within a prior chronic fistula. The main types are adenocarcinoma mostly mucinous and squamous cell carcinoma. They are generally discovered at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis because symptoms are generally the same as those of the fistula itself. Regular follow-up of chronic fistulas is then important for an early diagnosis as well as histological analysis of the fistula during surgery. There is no consensus on the ideal treatment but abdominoperineal resection is the corner stone with or without neo or adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy. This paper presents a rare case of mucinous adenocarcinoma in a chronic perianal fistula in a Crohn's disease female and provides a review of the literature.

Perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis in patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy: retrospective analysis of bacteriological profile and susceptibility.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic tumours are frequently associated with obstructive jaundice requiring preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) before pancreatoduodenectomy (PD), exposing patients to infectious complications. This study aims to compare postoperative complications after PD with or without PBD and to analyse bile bacteriology and antibiotic susceptibility. METHODS: All patients undergoing PD between 2014 and 2019 were retrospectively evaluated, and postoperative outcomes were compared according to PBD use. Prophylactic narrow-spectrum antibiotic therapy was given for 24 h, then adapted according to bacteriologic profile. Intraoperative bile cultures and antibiograms were collected. RESULTS: Among 164 patients with intraoperative bile culture during PD (75 PBD+, 89 PBD-), an infected bile was observed in 95% and 70% of PBD + and PBD- groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Postoperative mortality and severe morbidity including infectious complications were similar between groups (5% and 15%). The median duration of antibiotherapy was longer in PBD + compared to PBD- groups (9 vs. 2 days, p = 0.009). Malignant indication and PBD were associated with bile contamination using univariate analysis, and PBD was significantly relevant at multivariate analysis. Most common pathogens identified in bile cultures were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. and Enterobacter spp. Overall antibiotic susceptibility to commonly used antibiotics was decreased, including those used in our local guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: PBD exposes nearly 100% of patients undergoing PD to bile infection and an increased duration of postoperative antimicrobial therapy, without increasing infectious complications in this study. Adaptation of antimicrobial prophylaxis should be further evaluated according to performance of PBD and local epidemiology, in order to avoid overuse of antibiotics.

The use of automated pupillometry in critically ill cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether pupillary abnormalities would correlate with the severity of encephalopathy in critically ill cirrhotic patients. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we enrolled adult cirrhotic patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit undergoing automated pupillometry assessment within the first 72 h since ICU admission. Encephalopathy was assessed with West-Haven classification and Glasgow Coma Scale. Pupillometry-derived variables were also correlated with biological variables, including ammonium, renal function or inflammatory parameters, measured on the day of pupillary assessment. RESULTS: A total of 62 critically ill cirrhotic patients (Age 61 [52-68] years; 69% male) were included. Median GCS and West-Haven classification were 14 [11-15] and 1 [0-3], respectively. There was a significant although weak correlation between GCS and constriction velocity (CV; R2 = 0.1; p = 0.017). We observed significant differences in CV and DV values among different levels of West-Haven classification. When only patients with encephalopathy (n = 42) or severe HE (n = 18) were considered, a weak correlation between GCS and worst CV was observed. When patients receiving sedatives or opioids were excluded, no significant correlation between pupillometry and clinical variables was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Pupillary function assessed by the automated pupillometry was poorly associated with encephalopathy scales in cirrhotic patients.