Calcific pancreatitis uncovering a multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1: A case report in compliance with the scare guidelines.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic pancreatitis are mostly linked to alcoholic consumption or biliary lithiasis; and Primary hyperthyroidism (PHPT) is still a very rare association and the exact physiopathology is yet to be fully unveiled to the human knowledge. We present the first case report of a calcific pancreatitis associated with not only PHPT but a multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type 1. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 52 years old woman suffering from mellitus diabetes consulting the emergency rooms for acute pancreatitis with hyperlipasemia and hypercalcemia whom final imaging discovered a pituitary gland adenoma, a left surrenal adenoma, and a parathyroid adenoma, and for the pancreas it reveiled an acute mild pancreatitis with a background of calcifications, no gallstones, no bone or renal abnormalities; and the parathyroidectomy was performed following the minimally invasive selective technique. DISCUSSION: Calcemia levels testing routinely performed help discover hyperparathyroidism. The associations of chronic pancreatic inflammation to hyperparathyroidism needs to be studied, even if hypercalcemia is prooven to be a risk factor of pancreatitis; the mechanism behind this association is brievely described. parathyroidectomy is the definitive cure for hyperparathyroidism, the technique advances has shown effective localization of the responsible adenoma and the intraoperative testing of parathormon levels after resection decreasing is a very reliable extemporaneous sign for the success of the procedure. CONCLUSION: The endocrine system is synchronized; meaning the injury of one gland should start the search for others. In our case, the first main lead should not have been the acute pancreatitis but her diabetes. In the future we suggest that diabetes primary explorations may need a pancreatic imaging and endocrine explorations even though it could get pricier for the healthcare system, but giving the complications that we could prevent; it is to be considered.

Is endoscopic nodular gastritis associated with premalignant lesions?

BACKGROUND: Nodularity on the gastric mucosa is occasionally seen in general practice. There is no consensus about the association of nodular gastritis and histological premalignant lesions. This study is designed to investigate the prevalence of histological premalignant lesions in dyspeptic patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis. METHODS: Consecutive patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis were compared with an age- and sex-matched control group. Endoscopic nodular gastritis was defined as a miliary nodular appearance of the gastric mucosa on endoscopy. Biopsy samples of stomach tissue were examined for the presence of atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and dysplasia. The presence of Helicobacter pylori infection was determined by histology. RESULTS: From 5366 evaluated patients, a total of 273 patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis and 1103 participants as control group were enrolled. H. pylori infection was detected in 87.5% of the patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis, whereas 73.8% of the control group were positive for H. pylori (p < 0.001). Prevalence of incomplete intestinal metaplasia (p = 0.016) and dysplasia (p < 0.001) in patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis were significantly higher than in the control group. Prevalence of atrophic gastritis and complete intestinal metaplasia were also more frequent in patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis than in the control group. CONCLUSION: Dysplasia, incomplete intestinal metaplasia and H. pylori infection are significantly more frequent in patients with endoscopic nodular gastritis. Although further studies are needed before a clear conclusion can be reached, we suggest that endoscopic nodular gastritis might serve as a premalignant lesion and could be biopsied in all patients for the possibility of histological premalignancy, in addition to H. pylori infection.

Limited sampling strategy for estimation of amikacin optimal sampling time in critically ill adults.

Aminoglycosides are a class of antibiotics that are commonly used in the treatment of gram-negative pathogens in the critically ill population. Unfortunately, dosing of these aminoglycosides in critically ill patients is difficult due to their altered pharmacokinetics in the critically ill and narrow therapeutic index. In this study, we evaluated whether a limited sampling strategy can be used to predict the area under the concentration (AUC) curve of amikacin concentrations over a 24-hour period after a single dose of intravenous amikacin (25 mg/kg). This open-labelled, non-comparative prospective study recruited 20 adult critically ill trauma patients with a diagnosis of hospital-acquired infection. We assessed the best estimate of plasma amikacin concentrations over a 24-hour period by multiple stepwise regression, using nine blood samples during this study period as the gold standard. Using a jackknife procedure, the AUC of amikacin over a 24-hour period was estimated by choosing a combination of the amikacin concentrations measured at different time-points. Overall, the mean prediction error of all models was not statistically different from zero (P >0.05). Based on bias and imprecision, all models gave good estimate of AUC of amikacin over a 24-hour period, but a two-point sampling strategy at 1.5 and 6 hours post-dose appeared to offer the best compromise between accuracy and cost-effectiveness in optimising the dosing of amikacin in critically ill patients.

Ethanolamine oleate as a novel therapy is effective in resistant idiopathic achalasia.

Idiopathic achalasia (IA) is a primary motor disorder of the esophagus. Recently, ethanolamine oleate (EO) has been introduced as a novel therapy in IA. We investigate the long-term efficacy of EO injection in the selected IA patients. Two hundred twenty patients with IA were evaluated prospectively. Thirty-one patients who were resistant to or poor candidate of pneumatic balloon dilation and/or cardiomyotomy were enrolled in this study. EO was injected into the lower esophageal sphincter three times at 2-week intervals. Patients were evaluated with the achalasia symptom score (ASS), timed barium esophagogram, and manometry before and after the injections. A good response was defined as a greater than 50% reduction from baseline in the ASS, height and/or volume of barium in TBE, and absence of severe dysphagia or regurgitation at 1.5 months after the last injection. Relapse was defined as two or more points increase in dysphagia score after an initial good response. The mean age of patients was 49.32 ± 19.3 years. Twenty-nine patients had a good response and two had a poor response. The mean ASS decreased from 12.48 (±2.06) to 4.50 (±2.96) (P = 0.0001), and the mean volume of barium decreased from 115.35 (±93.40) to 45.50 (±60.86) mL at 1.5 months after the last injection (P = 0.0001).The mean lower esophageal sphincter pressure was 30.47 ± 13.95 before the treatment and decreased to 14.30 ± 11.89 at 1.5 months after the treatment. (P = 0.0001). The mean duration of follow up was 30.16 ± 11.3 (18-68) months. Twelve patients in whom symptoms relapsed were treated effectively with reinjection. In some patients, minor complications (chest pain and erosion in the distal esophagus) occurred. This study indicates that EO has a long-term effect and can be considered for use in the selected IA patients.

Influence of sepsis on higher daily dose of amikacin pharmacokinetics in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Severe sepsis is a major problem as cause of high rates morbidity and mortality in intensive care units (ICU). Aminoglycosides are an important group of antimicrobials used for severe sepsis. However, aminoglycoside pharmacokinetics in ICU patients may be altered during sepsis, which can affect the drug concentrations. Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine the relationship between amikacin disposition kinetics after a 25 mg/kg loading dose and hemodynamic response to sepsis, as well as clinical parameters, in a population of critically ill patients. METHODS: In this work, 30 patients who were candidate to amikacin therapy following Gram negative sepsis were enrolled. The pharmacokinetic profile of amikacin by a non-compartmental model was calculated for each patient. RESULTS: Mean volume of distribution was 0.36 ± 0.07 L/kg and mean serum amikacin clearance was 3.88 ± 0.97 ml/min/kg. In the case of Vd, APACHE II score correlation was significant. In the case of amikacin clearance, two covariates including creatinine clearance and Sr Cr significant correlation was found. CONCLUSIONS: It appears necessary to use higher amikacin dosage (≥ 25 mg/kg) considering hemodynamic response of patients to sepsis. To achieve therapeutic drug concentration a close drug monitoring and a shift from the population mean toward a value more representative of the critically ill patient subpopulation is crucial.  

A Case with a Fistula Draining into the Stomach due to Retained Surgical Gauze.

Retained surgical gauze is occasionally observed in general practice. Herein, we report a case with surgical gauze retained for over 13 years that created a fistula which drained pus into the stomach.