A novel mobile phone application for infant stool color recognition: An easy and effective tool to identify acholic stools in newborns.

OBJECTIVES: Early diagnosis of biliary atresia is essential to improve long-term outcomes. Newborn screening with an infant stool color card allows early recognition of biliary atresia patients. Our aim was to develop and validate a mobile phone application (PopòApp) able to identify acholic stools. METHODS: An intuitive app was developed for iOS and Android smartphones. A learning machine process was used to generate an algorithm for stools color recognition based on the seven colors of the infant stool color card, which were considered as the gold standard. Consecutive images of stools were taken by the PopòApp, directly into the diapers of children aged ≤6 months. The PopòApp classified the photographs as "normal", "acholic" or "uncertain". To validate the PopòApp, four doctors independently classified all images, and only those for which all doctors agreed were included. The sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values, and accuracy of the PopòApp were evaluated. RESULTS: Of 165 images collected, 160 were included in the study. All acholic stools were recognized by the PopòApp. The PopòApp sensitivity was 100% (95% CI:93.9%-100%) with no false negatives, regardless of the brand of phone. The specificity was 99.0% (95% CI:94.6%-99.9%). The accurancy of the PopòApp was 99.4% (95% CI:96.6%-99.9%), with a positive predictive value of 98.4% (95% CI:89.8%-99.8%). CONCLUSION: The current study proved, in a large cohort, that the PopòApp is an accurate and easy tool for recognition of acholic stools. The mobile App may represent an effective strategy for the early referral of children with acholic stools, and potentially could improve the outcomes of biliary atresia.

Combined endovascular-surgical treatment for complex congenital intrahepatic arterioportal fistula: A case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Congenital intrahepatic arterioportal fistula (IAPF) is a rare vascular malformation in infants that causes severe portal hypertension (PH) with poor prognosis if untreated. Currently, radiological embolisation is considered the first-line therapy for simple IAPF; however, it might be not resolutive for complex hepatic vascular lesions. When endovascular embolization is not sufficient to completely obliterate the IAPF, surgical intervention is needed, but it has been associated with severe morbidity and mortality in small children. Furthermore, indications are not defined. CASE SUMMARY: We present the first case of a 6-month-old girl with trisomy 21 affected by a complex congenital IAFP, which caused severe PH, successfully treated with an endovascular-surgical hybrid procedure. The novel technique comprised a multi-step endovascular embolisation, including a superselective transarterial embolisation of the afferent vessels and a direct transhepatic embolisation of the dilated portal vein segment, combined with selective surgical ligation of the arterial branches that supply the fistula, which were too small to be embolised. The complex IAPF was also associated with severe cholestasis and intra/extrahepatic biliary tree dilatation, which was successfully treated by a temporary biliary drainage. At 24-mo follow-up, the hybrid endovascular-surgical procedure achieved complete occlusion of the complex IAPF and resolution of the PH. A comprehensive review of the literature on congenital IAPF management, focussed on alternative treatment strategies, is also reported. CONCLUSION: The combined radiological-surgical approach is a safe and effective treatment option for complex IAPF and avoids major invasive surgery.

Prevalence and risk factors for congenital diaphragmatic hernia: A global view.

PURPOSE: To determine the global prevalence for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and identify CDH-related risk factors. METHODS: Using a defined strategy, a systematic review of the literature was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, searching for population-based epidemiological studies to evaluate the prevalence of CDH globally and per country. Studies containing overlapping populations or timeframes were excluded. CDH-related risk factors were calculated by meta-analysis using RevMan5.3 and expressed as risk ratio and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: Prevalence: Of 8230 abstracts screened, 30 full-text articles published between 1980 and 2019 were included. The overall prevalence of CDH was 2.3 in 10,000 births (16,710 CDH babies in 73,663,758 livebirths). RISK FACTORS: From 9 studies we found that male sex [RR 1.38 (1.05-1.80), p=0.02] and maternal age >35 years [RR 1.69 (1.26-2.25), p=0.0004] were associated with CDH. Conversely, maternal black ethnicity resulted as a protective factor [RR 0.82 (0.77-0.89, p<0.00001]. CONCLUSION: This study reveals that there is a worldwide paucity of population-based studies, and those studies that report on prevalence and risk factors come from a small number of countries. The prevalence of CDH varies within and across geographical world regions. The main risk factors for CDH identified are male sex and older maternal age. More epidemiological studies, involving more world regions, are needed to identify possible strategies to help strengthen our understanding of the risk factors, provide clinicians with the tools necessary for prenatal and postnatal counseling, and inform policy makers on how to strategize CDH care in different parts of the world. TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review and meta-analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III.