Incidence, management and outcomes in hepatic artery complications after paediatric liver transplantation: protocol of the retrospective, international, multicentre HEPATIC Registry.

INTRODUCTION: Hepatic artery complications (HACs), such as a thrombosis or stenosis, are serious causes of morbidity and mortality after paediatric liver transplantation (LT). This study will investigate the incidence, current management practices and outcomes in paediatric patients with HAC after LT, including early and late complications. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The HEPatic Artery stenosis and Thrombosis after liver transplantation In Children (HEPATIC) Registry is an international, retrospective, multicentre, observational study. Any paediatric patient diagnosed with HAC and treated for HAC (at age <18 years) after paediatric LT within a 20-year time period will be included. The primary outcomes are graft and patient survivals. The secondary outcomes are technical success of the intervention, primary and secondary patency after HAC intervention, intraprocedural and postprocedural complications, description of current management practices, and incidence of HAC. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: All participating sites will obtain local ethical approval and (waiver of) informed consent following the regulations on the conduct of observational clinical studies. The results will be disseminated through scientific presentations at conferences and through publication in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The HEPATIC registry is registered at the ClinicalTrials.gov website; Registry Identifier: NCT05818644.

Equivalence of Paper and Electronic-Based Patient Reported Outcome Measures for Children: A Systematic Review.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) exist for a variety of chronic gastrointestinal disorders in children. The availability of electronic (e-)formats of PROMs enhance the accessibility of these tools. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomic and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) defines measurement equivalence (ME) as "comparability of the psychometric properties of data" obtained from the administration of original and adapted versions of PROMs. Consideration of proxy PROM versions is unique to pediatrics and must be included in ME evaluations. We conducted a systematic review (SR) of the literature evaluating ME of e-versions adapted from pediatric paper-based PROMs. A literature search was conducted through Medline, Embase, APA PsychInfo, and the Cochrane Library. Titles, abstracts, and manuscripts were reviewed by 2 independent reviewers. The search yielded 19 studies meeting pre-defined criteria. Just over half (52.6%) of 19 PROMs were disease-specific ones. ME between paper- and e-PROM versions was reported as present in all 19 studies evaluating 5653 participants under the age of 18 years. However, only 6 (31.6%) studies evaluated ME in proxy reported e-versions. Despite the use of PROMs for children with a variety of chronic gastrointestinal disorders, only 1 study evaluated a PROM in this population (IMPACT III for inflammatory bowel disease). Findings from this SR highlight strategic opportunities for the pediatric gastroenterologist to broaden the clinical and research armamentarium to include e-PROMs.

Subjective global nutritional assessment as a nutritional tool in childhood chronic liver disease.

Objective of the study was to assess subjective global nutritional assessment (SGNA) in children with chronic liver diseases (CLD). Children aged 3 months to 18 years with CLD were prospectively enrolled (January 2016 to October 2018). SGNA was performed as per validated pro forma for children. Nutritional categories were categorised into three groups: A (well-nourished), B (moderately malnourished) and C (severely malnourished). Agreement between SGNA and anthropometric measures, prediction of morbidity and death or liver transplantation (LT) at 1-year post-enrolment by SGNA and inter-observer reliability of SGNA were assessed. Ninety-two subjects were enrolled, median age 23·5 (3-216) months. SGNA classified 47 patients (51·1 %) in group A, 26 (28·3 %) in group B and 19 (20·6 %) in group C. Kendall coefficients disclosed significant association of SGNA with all anthropometric measurements, greatest with weight for age (r = -0·637), height for age (r = -0·581) and mid-arm fat area (r = -0·449). At 12 months follow-up, twenty children died and four received LT. A significantly higher number of children with malnutrition (groups B and C) had poor outcome (OR 6·74 (95 % CI 2·21, 20·55), P = 0·001), increased risk of hospital readmission (OR 12·2 (95 % CI 4·60, 35·88), P = 0·001), higher rate of infectious complications (OR 22·68 (95 % CI 7·29, 70·53), P < 0·0001) and lower median survival with native liver (Log Rank < 0·001) as compared with group A. Inter-observer agreement in assessment of SGNA was good (90·2 %). SGNA, in contrast to anthropometric measures, is a better nutritional assessment tool. It is reliable, comprehensive and predicts poor outcome in childhood CLD.

Ninety days transplant free survival with high volume plasma exchange in Wilson disease presenting as acute liver failure.

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy and safety of high volume plasma exchange (HVPE) in Wilson disease presenting as acute liver failure (WD-ALF). METHODS: An analysis of prospectively collected data of consecutively admitted WD-ALF cases was done and patients were divided into two groups: (i) high volume plasma exchange (HVPE) group- who received HVPE + standard medical therapy (SMT), and (ii) SMT group- received only SMT. Outcome measure was transplant free survival (TFS) at 90 days post enrollment, change in biochemical, hemodynamic parameters & incidence of organ dysfunction in HVPE as compared to SMT group, and HVPE related complications. RESULTS: Out of the total 43 cases of WD-ALF reported in the study period, 37 were enrolled (median age 9 years, 62.2% males). All biochemical parameters and prognostic indices except blood ammonia and serum creatinine improved significantly at 72 to 96 hours after enrollment in the HVPE group. Overall, TFS at 90 days was present in 9/19 (47.3%) in HVPE group vs 3/18 (16.6%) in the SMT group (OR 2.84, 95% CI 0.91-8.8, P = .049). Kaplan Meier survival analysis revealed that HVPE group had significantly higher cumulative survival as per the Log Rank test (P = .027); median days of survival was 38 days (IQR 12-63) in HVPE group vs 14 (IQR 5-22) days in SMT group. CONCLUSIONS: The present study indicates that in children with WD-ALF, HVPE not only acts as a bridging therapy to LT but may also improve proportion of the cases with TFS.

Aetiological spectrum, clinical differentiation and efficacy of polyethylene glycol over lactulose in children with constipation: Experience of 316 cases.

AIM: To find the aetiological spectrum, clinical features to differentiate organic from functional constipation (FC) and the efficacy of polyethylene glycol (PEG) over lactulose in the treatment of childhood constipation. METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2014, 316 consecutive children (up to 18 years) with constipation were included in this study. FC was defined as per Rome III criteria. Standard treatment protocol (disimpaction with PEG followed by laxatives) was followed in FC. Lactulose was used in the first 4 years of study and PEG in the last 4 years. Success of therapy was assessed at 3 months. RESULTS: The median age was 44 (25.00-78.00) months, and 227 (72%) were boys. The majority, 245 (77.5%), had FC, while Hirschsprung disease was the most common organic cause (39.4%). On multivariate analysis, delayed passage of meconium, growth failure, absence of retentive posturing and absent faecal impaction significantly (P < 0.05) determined an organic aetiology. In FC, successful outcome at 3 months was achieved equally with PEG and lactulose (81 vs. 76%, respectively). However, more children in lactulose group had to be switched over to PEG due to lack of efficacy (P = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: FC is the most common cause of constipation in children. Presence of delayed passage of meconium, growth failure and absence of retentive posturing and absent faecal impaction raise the suspicion of an organic cause. Both lactulose and PEG are equally effective. PEG has an edge over lactulose as the need for switch over was uncommon.

Atypical manifestations of dengue fever.

We reviewed case records of 40 in-patients (22 boys) with serologically confirmed dengue fever between 1st October and 30th November, 2013. Severe dengue was seen in 30, out of which 12 (30%) had compensated shock. Splenomegaly (6,15%) and encephalopathy (4,10%) were the commonest atypical features. Atypical manifestations of dengue fever were more common than that reported in the past.

Visceral leishmaniasis with Roth spots.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani and transmitted by the bite of infected sandfly Phlebotomus argentipes. The protozoa is obliged intracellularly and causes a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes: VL ('kala azar'), cutaneous leishmaniasis and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (espundia). Kala azar is the most aggressive form and if untreated causes high mortality. Here, we describe a case of VL that presented to us with high-grade fever and found to have Roth spots that were resolved after 15 days of therapy.