ABSTRACT
BACKGROUNDS: Splenomegaly may contribute to hypersplenism and can result in thrombocytopenia. Many approaches are used to treat splenomegaly; however, the current management of splenomegaly has intrinsic limitations or disadvantages. Now, we initiate a new approach, that of total splenic vessel (artery and vein) ligations (TSVLs) in paediatric patients with splenomegaly. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the results obtained with TVSLs procedure for paediatric patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventeen paediatric patients with splenomegaly were screened for enrolment into this retrospective analysis. PROCEDURE: We identified and dissociated the splenic vessel. Next, we ligated the splenic artery and we used clips to ligate the vein distally and proximally. RESULT: The mean [standard deviation (SD)] splenic infarction rate of a total of 17 patients was 77.5 (5.1)% in 6 months after operation. After TSVL, the mean count of platelet (PLT) and white blood cell (WBC) increased significantly and reached a steady state in the third month. Both the PLT and WBC had a significance higher than pre-TSVL in a 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: Based on the evidence, we make cautious conclusions that TSVLs are a safe and effective method in the treatment of paediatric patients with splenomegaly, achieving a satisfactory long-term haematological response and benefit.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine reliable predictors of outcome of biliary atresia (BA) after Kasai's operation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included two consecutive stages of infants with biliary atresia. First stage, 200 BA cases who underwent Kasai's operation at our institution between May 2006 and May 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. In the first stage, we wanted to calculate a clinical scoring system by logistic regression. For cut-off determination, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was employed. Second stage (validation of scoring system), we used our scoring system to prospectively predict the outcomes of patients underwent a Kasai operation from inspecting the accuracy of our system. RESULTS: Early cholangitis, age at operation, JC time, post-operative TB, DB, AST, ALT and surgical method entered into our scoring system. The most reliable cut-offs determined by ROC analysis were 7.71 (sensitivity: 86.0%, specificity: 98.0%). We used our scoring system to predict the prognosis of the 15 BA patients and found that 13 of 15 patients were correctly predicted at the cut-off value of 7.71. CONCLUSION: Our scoring system is considered to be a reliable and useful predictor of the prognosis of biliary atresia.
