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Objective:To evaluate the performance, efficacy and safety of a novel portable endoscopy system for upper gastrointestinal examination.Methods:A multicentered, open-label, randomized, non-inferiority controlled study was conducted in 3 clinical research centers from June 2019 to June 2020, and a total of 90 outpatients admitted to Department of Gastroenterology were randomly assigned to the trial group ( n=44) undergoing portable endoscopy and the control group ( n=46) undergoing Olympus endoscopy. The examination success rate, image quality, performance, overall operation satisfaction rate, biopsy success rate and adverse events of the two groups were compared. Results:The examination success rates of the trial group and the control group were 97.73% (43/44) and 100.00% (46/46) respectively with a difference of -2.27% (95% CI: -6.68%-2.13%), higher than the set non-inferiority margin of -10%. Rates of good and excellent image quality were 100% in both groups, and the difference of 0 was higher than the set non-inferiority margin of -10%. There was no significant difference in the rate of good and excellent performance of the operating system between the two groups [97.67% (42/43) VS 100.00% (46/46), P=0.483]. There was significant difference in the overall satisfactory rate of the operation between the two groups [86.05% (37/43) VS 100.00% (46/46), P=0.011]. A total of 9 cases underwent endoscopic biopsy, including 5 cases in the trial group and 4 cases in the control group. The biopsy channels in both groups were smooth and the biopsy were successfully completed. There was no significant difference in adverse event rate between the two groups [25.00% (11/44) VS 10.87%(5/46), χ2=3.07, P=0.080]. All adverse events disappeared in 48 hours, and no severe adverse events or device defect events occurred. Conclusion:The novel portable endoscopic system is comparable to Olympus endoscopic system in terms of the operating performance, the image quality and safety. Therefore, this system is safe and effective for upper gastrointestinal examination.
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Objective:To investigate the relationship between pancreatic fibrotic marker transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β) and platelet derived growth factor-BB(PDGF-BB) and serum glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in patients with type 3c diabetes mellitus secondary to chronic pancreatitis(CP-T3cDM).Methods:The clinical data of 39 patients with CP-T3cDM admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University between February 2018 and August 2020 were collected, and the patients' age, gender, body mass index, duration of chronic pancreatitis and diabetes mellitus, smoking history, alcohol consumption history, serum HbA1c level at admission, degree of pancreatic atrophy, morphology of the main pancreatic duct, and treatment of diabetes mellitus were recorded. Serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB were detected by ELISA. Patients were divided into high and low level group according to the median TGF-β and PDGF-BB levels, respectively. Clinical characteristics of patients were compared between the TGF-β and PDGF-BB high and low level group. The correlation between TGF-β, PDGF-BB and HbA1c was analyzed by Spearman's correlation analysis.Results:A total of 39 CP-T3cDM patients were included; 35 were male and 4 were female. The age of first onset of chronic pancreatitis was (42±14) years old, and the duration of diabetes mellitus was 24(4, 36) months. The serum HbA1c level was (7.8±1.6)%, and the serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB levels were 20.5(10.5, 43.1) and 647.5(276.9, 1349.2)pg/ml, respectively. The serum HbA1c levels of patients in the high-level group of serum TGF-β and PDGF-BB were significantly higher than those in the corresponding low-level group [8.6%(7.4%, 9.9%) vs 6.7%(6.2%, 7.8%) and 8.6%(7.4%, 9.6%) vs 6.7%(6.1%, 7.8%), respectively] , and the difference was statistically different (both P value <0.01), while none of other indicators showed statistically significant differences between both groups. The correlation analysis showed that the levels of TGF-β and PDGF-BB were significantly positively correlated with HbA1c level ( r=0.45, 0.53, both P value <0.01). Conclusions:Increased pancreatic fibrosis in patients with CP-T3cDM was an important factor contributing to elevated blood glucose level. Patients with higher serum pancreatic fibrotic factors exhibited a significant increase in HbA1c level.
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BACKGROUNDCoronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recently become a public emergency and a worldwide pandemic. The clinical symptoms of severe and non-severe patients vary, and the case-fatality rate (CFR) in severe COVID-19 patients is very high. However, the information on the risk factors associated with the severity of COVID-19 and of their prognostic potential is limited. METHODSIn this retrospective study, the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, treatment and outcome data were collected and analyzed from 223 COVID-19 patients stratified into 125 non-severe patients and 98 severe patients. In addition, a pooled large-scale meta-analysis of 1646 cases was performed. RESULTSWe found that the age, gender and comorbidities are the common risk factors associated with the severity of COVID-19. For the diagnosis markers, we found that the levels of D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), procalcitonin (PCT) were significantly higher in severe group compared with the non-severe group on admission (D-Dimer: 87.3% vs. 35.3%, P<0.001; CRP, 65.1% vs. 13.5%, P<0.001; LDH: 83.9% vs. 22.2%, P<0.001; PCT: 35.1% vs. 2.2%, P<0.001), while the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (ASP) and creatinine kinase (CK) were only mildly increased. We also made a large scale meta-analysis of 1646 cases combined with 4 related literatures, and further confirmed the relationship between the COVID-19 severity and these risk factors. Moreover, we tracked dynamic changes during the process of COVID-19, and found CRP, D-dimer, LDH, PCT kept in high levels in severe patient. Among all these markers, D-dimer increased remarkably in severe patients and mostly related with the case-fatality rate (CFR). We found adjuvant antithrombotic treatment in some severe patients achieved good therapeutic effect in the cohort. CONCLUSIONSThe diagnosis markers CRP, D-dimer, LDH and PCT are associated with severity of COVID-19. Among these markers, D-dimer is sensitive for both severity and CFR of COVID-19. Treatment with heparin or other anticoagulants may be beneficial for COVID-19 patients. FundingThis study was supported by funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC1302203); Beijing Nova Program (grant number: xx2018040). Role of the funding sourceThe funding listed above supports this study, but had no role in the design and conduct of the study.
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The ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) started in the end of 2019 in China has triggered a global public health crisis. Previous studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 infects cells by binding angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is the same as SARS-CoV. The expression and distribution of ACE2 in the pancreas are unknown. At the same time, the injury of pancreas after SARS-CoV-2 infection has not been concerned. Here, we collected public datasets (bulk RNA-seq and single-cell RNA-seq) to indicate the expression and the distribution of ACE2 in pancreas (in both exocrine glands and islets). And further, clinical data including mild and severe patients with COVID-19 demonstrated there existed mild pancreatitis. In the 67 severe cases, 11 patients (16.41%) showed elevated levels of both amylase and lipase, and 5 patients (7.46%) showed imaging alterations. Only one patient (1.85%) showed elevated levels of both amylase and lipase in 54 mild cases, without imaging changes. Our study revealed the phenomenon and possible cause of mild pancreatic injury in patients with COVID-19. This suggests that pancreatitis after SARS-CoV-2 infection should also be paid attention in clinical work.
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As a progressive and chronic intractable disease, chronic pancreatitis (CP) is generally manifested as early chronic pain, and then exocrine and endocrine insufficiency, and various complications in clinical course. The complex clinical manifestations lead to the controversies over treatment strategies at present, involving a multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) approach. It can enable different professional medical experts to discuss the diagnosis and treatment for patients together during a specific period (online or offline), which is an effective mode for diagnosing and treating complex diseases nowadays. MDT for CP usually begins with lifestyle intervention and drug therapy, and then goes with endoscopic interventions and surgical resection, or their combination. This article reviewed the current status on MDT approaches for CP and shared the MDT experience from Changhai Hospital in order to improve the management of CP course.
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Objective:The clinical characteristics of critical COVID-19 patients with pneumothorax after mechanical ventilation were retrospectively analyzed to provide reference for epidemic prevention and treatment.Methods:A retrospective analysis was made on 130 cases of COVID-19 critically patients admitted from January 1, 2020 to February 13, 2020 in Jinyintan Hospital of Wuhan.The clinical characteristics, mechanical ventilation related pneumothorax and treatment were analyzed.Results:Among the 130 patients with COVID-19 in critical condition, 7 (5.38%)cases had mechanical ventilation related pneumothorax (including bilateral and unilateral pneumothorax). All the 7 pneumothorax patients received bedside closed drainage, oxygen saturation and oxygen partial pressure were significantly improved after closed thoracic drainage.No statistical differences were found in other indexes (pH, lactic acid, PCO 2, oxygenation index). Conclusion:For large critical COVID-19 care centers, the involvement of thoracic surgeons are recommended to deal with the thoracic complications associated with mechanical ventilation. After the occurrence of pneumothorax, if there are no other obvious contrainstances, thoracic closed drainage should be given in time.
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To investigate the computed tomographc(CT)features of mild/moderate and severe/critical cases of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in the recovery phase. Totally 63 discharged patients in Wuhan,China,who underwent both chest CT and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)from February 1 to February 29,2020,were included.With RT-PCR as a gold standard,the performance of chest CT in diagnosing COVID-19 was assessed.Patients were divided into mild/moderate and severe/critical groups according to the disease conditions,and clinical features such as sex,age,symptoms,hospital stay,comorbidities,and oxygen therapy were collected.CT images in the recovery phase were reviewed in terms of time from onset,CT features,location of lesions,lobe score,and total CT score. There were 37 patients in the mild/moderate group and 26 in the severe/critical group. Compared with the mild/moderate patients,the severe/critical patients had older age [(43±16) years (52±16) years; =2.10, =0.040], longer hospital stay [(15±6)d (19±7)d; =2.70, =0.009], higher dyspnea ratio (5.41% 53.85%; =18.90, <0.001), lower nasal oxygen therapy ratio (81.08% 19.23%;=23.66, <0.001), and higher bi-level positive airway pressure ventilation ratio (0 57.69%; =25.62, <0.001). Time from onset was (23±6) days in severe/critical group, significantly longer than that in mild/moderate group [(18±7) days] (=3.40, <0.001). Severe/critical patients had significantly higher crazy-paving pattern ratio (46.15% 10.81%;=4.24, =0.039) and lower ground-glass opacities ratio (15.38% 67.57%; =16.74, <0.001) than the mild/moderate patients. The proportion of lesions in peripheral lung was significantly higher in mild/moderate group than in severe/critical group (78.38% 34.61%; =13.43, <0.001), and the proportion of diffusely distributed lesions was significantly higher in severe/critical group than in mild/moderate group (65.38% 10.81%; =20.47, <0.001). Total CT score in severe/critical group was also significantly higher in severe/critical group than in mild/moderate group [11 (8,17) points 7 (4,9) points; =3.81, <0.001]. The CT features in the recovery stage differ between mild/moderate and severe/critical COVID-19 patients.The lung infiltration is remarkably more severe in the latter.
