Evaluation of hematological parameters in dyspepsia patients infected with Helicobacter pylori: A retrospective study from the Central Region of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the hematological parameters in dyspepsia patients infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection from Al Qassim province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out in Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Hospital, Al Qassim, KSA. The data of dyspepsia and epigastric pain patients were derived from the hospital based registration system between 2020-2021. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the correlation between the onset of H. pylori infection and anemia. RESULTS: Among 810 enrolled patients, there were 202 (24.9%) patients with H. pylori infection and 144 (17.8%) with anemia. The prevalence of anemia in the H. pylori (+) group was not statistically higher than the H. pylori (-) group after adjusting age, red blood cell count, serum ferritin, mean corpuscular volume, platelet count, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (p>0.05). The level of hemoglobin was almost identical in both the H. pylori (+) group and the H. pylori (-) group (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings show that H. pylori infection may not be related to anemia in dyspepsia patients from the Central region of KSA.

Early and late effects of therapeutic plasma exchange in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: A single-center experience.

Therapeutic plasma exchanges (TPE) is considered as one of the treatment modalities that is used in systemic autoimmune diseases. This study aimed to describe the early and late effect of TPE in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) presented with acute kidney injury (AKI). Retrospective study comprised patients with SLE and AAV with AKI seen between January 2000 and June 2014 at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh. All patients underwent TPE. Retrospectively, all patients were assessed for early and late renal outcome at 12- month and 24-month intervals. Renal outcome was assessed according to serum creatinine level, glomerular filtration rate, active urine sediment, and proteinuria. P <0.05 was considered significant. A total of 68 patients were included, 58 patients (51 females) had SLE and 10 patients (7 females) had AAV completed TPE. All patients had active disease and had AKI. At the first 12 months, 18 patients (17 SLE and 1 AAV) showed complete response and 14 patients had partial response while 22 patients did not show therapeutic benefit. The nonresponders (22 patients) entered the late assessment interval (24 months) without any therapeutic response. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the patient's response to TPE at the first and second assessment intervals and the baseline serum creatinine level. TPE might be an alternative rescue treatment in lupus nephritis with AKI.

Nephrotic syndrome is a rare manifestation of IGA nephropathy.

Nephrotic syndrome is a rare presentation of IgA nephropathy. The degree of proteinuria in IgA nephropathy predicts poor prognosis. We herein report a teenager with IGA nephropathy, the nephrotic syndrome and segmental glomerular scars who after developing complications from high dose corticosteroid therapy was successfully treated with tacrolimus and low dose prednisone.