This is a retrospective study focused on recompensation after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. The authors confirmed TIPS could be a treatment for recompensation of patients with cirrhosis according to Baveno VII. The paper identified age and post-TIPS portal pressure gradient as independent predictors of recompensation in patients with decompensated cirrhosis after TIPS. These results need to be validated in a larger prospective cohort.

UNASSIGNED: Porcine antilymphocyte globulin (p-ALG) combined with cyclosporine (CsA) has been commonly used for severe aplastic anemia (SAA) patients, but few studies on the combination of p-ALG and thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TPO-RA).
UNASSIGNED: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 85 people with diagnosed SAA who underwent p-ALG plus CsA, with or without TPO-RA from 2014 to 2023.
UNASSIGNED: The overall response rates were 55.3% and 65.9% at 3 and 6 months, and the TPO-RA group were 66.7% and 72.3% at 3 and 6 months, without TPO-RA group were 27.8% and 55.6%. In multivariate analysis, baseline platelet count of > 10 × 109/L was a simple predictor of favorable response at 6 months (p = 0.015). The median follow-up time for all patients was 39 months (range 0.4 ~ 104), the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 90.6% [95% CI = 82.1-95.2%], and the failure-free survival (FFS) rate was 68.9% [95% CI = 56.6-78.4%]. Having hematologic responses in 6 months was an independent positive predictor for FFS (p = 0.000). Twelve patients (14.1%) suffered from serum sickness, and 9.5% of patients had mild hepatic impairment.
UNASSIGNED: p-ALG along with CsA is an effective choice for patients with SAA. p-ALG combined with TPO-RA may contribute to the early restoration of hematopoiesis.

Introduction In cases of intestinal obstruction, increasing luminal dilatation compromises bowel wall perfusion, eventually resulting in intestinal ischemia and bowel necrosis in advanced cases. Elevated L-lactate, as a biomarker of ischemia, may indicate the presence of bowel ischemia in cases of obstruction. The objective of this study was to evaluate the value of serum L-lactate measurement in predicting the presence of intraoperatively observed intestinal ischemia in patients with acute intestinal obstruction. Methods Patients diagnosed with acute intestinal obstruction were prospectively studied over an 18-month period. Serum L-lactate values were assayed twice: at the time of presentation and following appropriate fluid resuscitation. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to determine the predictive value of serum L-lactate in detecting intestinal ischemia. Results One hundred forty-four cases of intestinal obstruction were included in this study, of which 91 underwent operative intervention. Intestinal ischemia was identified in 52 cases and categorized intra-operatively as reversible (n = 33) and irreversible (n = 19). ROC analysis showed a good predictive value of serum L-lactate after fluid resuscitation for irreversible intestinal ischemia (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.884, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.812-0.956). An L-lactate cut-off of 19.1 mg/dL following fluid resuscitation was determined to have a sensitivity of 89.5%, a specificity of 72.9%, a positive predictive value of 46.6%, and a negative predictive value of 96.3% for gangrenous bowel. Conclusion Serum L-lactate is a good predictive tool for identifying intestinal ischemia during the management of intestinal obstruction. Serum L-lactate after resuscitation showed better predictive value for ischemic bowel.

BACKGROUND: Extracapsular femoral neck fractures (eFNF) are the third most common type of fracture in traumatology. Intramedullary nailing (IMN) is one of the most frequently used ortho-pedic treatments for eFNF. Blood loss is one of the main complications of this treatment. This study aimed to identify and evaluate the perioperative risk factors that lead to blood transfusion in frail patients with eFNF who undergo IMN.
METHODS: From July 2020 to December 2020, 170 eFNF-affected patients who were treated with IMN were enrolled and divided into two groups according to blood transfusion: NBT (71 patients who did not need a blood transfusion), and BT (72 patients who needed blood transfusion). Gender, age, BMI, pre-operative hemoglobin levels, in-ternational normalized ratio (INR) level, number of blood units transfused, length of hospital stay, surgery duration, type of anesthesia, pre-operative ASA score, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and mortality rate were assessed.
RESULTS: Cohorts differed only for pre-operatively Hb and surgery time (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have a lower preoperative Hb level and longer surgery time have a high blood-transfusion risk and should be closely followed peri-operatively.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial meningitis causes high mortality rates among children. Even with early diagnosis and prompt treatment, around 15% of patients die especially in the first and second days after diagnosis. The neutrophil lymphocyte ratio has been reported to be a predicting factor of severity and outcome for patients with pneumonia and sepsis. However, only a few studies are available to rate the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of mortality in bacterial meningitis. This study aimed to know the role of the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of mortality in patients with bacterial meningitis.
METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia between January 2016 to December 2020. Multivariate analysis was used to assess the correlation between predicting factors and outcomes using logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS: A total of 94 samples were included and analyzed in this study with bacterial meningitis. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio >5.225 was a significant predictor of mortality in patients with bacterial meningitis with p = 0.004 and risk ratio 10.78. Other factors that were significant predictors of mortality included the pediatric coma scale ≤8 and positive cerebrospinal fluid culture.
CONCLUSIONS: Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio is a statistically significant predictor of mortality in patients with bacterial meningitis, and can be used as a parameter to predict outcomes in patients with bacterial meningitis.

UNASSIGNED: Intracranial infection is a major cause of emergency and death in children. To assist clinical decision-making in patient management, we conducted a study about factors associated with mortality. This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with mortality in pediatric patients with intracranial infection.
UNASSIGNED: We performed a cohort retrospective study in our tertiary hospital to evaluate the outcomes of patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from 2014 to 2018. The Chi-square test was performed to determine the significance of the predictor, and p < 0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant result. We used multivariate logistic regression to determine relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).
UNASSIGNED: We recruited 112 patients who were admitted to the PICU of our tertiary hospital. A total of 38.4% were diagnosed with encephalitis, 9.8% meningitis and 51.8% meningoencephalitis. Of the 112 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 28 (25%) patients died in the PICU. The need of mechanical ventilation support variable had a statistically significant association with mortality (RR 22.76; 95% CI: 3.88-51.45).
UNASSIGNED: Recognition of conditions that exacerbate intracranial infection in children needs to be done as early as possible. Moreover, the need of mechanical ventilation support in the PICU needs more attention.

UNASSIGNED: Dengue shock syndrome (DSS) in children is a challenging infectious disease due to its high mortality rate. Several factors can contribute to the DSS patients\' outcomes. Here we defined factors associated with clinical outcomes of patients with DSS in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
UNASSIGNED: We retrospectively collected data from January 2016 to May 2020 of patients who had been diagnosed with DSS and admitted to PICU in our tertiary referral hospital. Bivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to evaluate independent predictors of the study outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Overall, 146 patients were enrolled in this study, including 53.4% males and 46.6% females. The mortality rate during the study period was 5.5%. Fluid overload percentage, shock condition at PICU admission, DIC, and AKI were independent predictors for DSS mortality in logistic regression test with p < 0.05. There were several factors correlated with prolonged stay, including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (RR 15.26; 95% CI: 4.97-46.81), and nutritional status (RR 16.47; 95% CI: 3.72-72.9).
UNASSIGNED: Fluid overload percentage, shock condition at PICU admission, DIC, and AKI are independent predictors for DSS mortality. Several factors contribute to prolonged PICU stay, including DIC and nutritional status.

Candida infection was previously thought to be rare in intensive care. With the increased use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, the incidence of candida infection increased significantly. Case-control study was done in patients ≤18 years of age treated for 3 days or more in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, Yogyakarta from January 2014 to December 2016. Overall, 43 children were included in this study as a case group with positive candida culture and 43 children as a control group with no candida culture. Cut off point of candida score is ≥3 from our subjects. The area under curve (AUC) value for cut off ≥3 was moderate (0,72). Candida score ≥3 has an odd ratio (OR) 6.8 (95% CI 2.4-18.6) with P < .05. All of confounding factors in candida infection have no association with P > .05. Candida score can be used as predictor of candida infection in PICU.

We aimed to examine the effects of pre-operative blood values on varicocelectomy success.
A total of 130 patients who underwent varicocelectomy in our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. Operation success was defined as the return of all semen parameters (concentration, progressive motility, and morphology) to normal values 6 months after surgery. The patients were separated as two groups as benefiting from the treatment (Group A) and not (Group B).
The best cut-off value for the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which can predict varicocelectomy success, was assigned to be 2.27, with AUC of 0.859 (%95 CI 0.795-0.922). The highest sensitivity and specificity were 0.857 and 0.731 (p < 0.001). The best cut-off value for the mean platelet volüme (MPV) value, which can predict varicocelectomy success, was assigned to be 9.45, with AUC of 0.729 (%95 CI 0.639-0.819). The highest sensitivity and specificity were 0.655 and 0.635 (p < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis showed NLR ratio (odds ratio (OR): 11.2, p < 0.001) and MPV (OR: 2.65, p = 0.002) parameters as independent predictive factors in predicting varicocelectomy success.
Our study showed that low NLR ratio (≤2.27) and high MPV (≥9.45) ratio levels may be a useful pre-operative predictive tool in identifying men who benefit most from varicocelectomy in infertile patients with varicocoele.

BACKGROUND: The clinical value of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with thick melanoma is uncertain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between survival and lymph node status in thick melanomas.
METHODS: Of a total of 736 melanoma patients registered between 2000 and 2016, 50 presented with thick melanomas (≥ 4.0 mm) without distant metastatic disease. All patients were examined with a whole-body magnetic resonance imaging, or computed tomography, and positron emission tomography-computed tomography depending on the incorporation of the new technology in our medical institutions. They were studied according to the following procedure: 1) preoperative determination of regional lymph node along with the estimation and localization of sentinel lymph node (SLN) (dynamic isotope lymphography); 2) intraoperative localization and SLNB (lymphatic mapping); and 3) histopathology. Patient and tumor features were collected.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 40 months, and 37% had a follow-up ≥ 5 years. A positive SLN was identified in 28 patients (56%). No significant difference in melanoma-specific overall survival was observed in terms of the primary tumor site. Hazard ratios (HRs) were statistically significant for SLNB-positive group and mitotic rate (MR) > 3 mm2, but not for presence of ulceration. Mortality risk in the SLN-positive group was almost fourfold greater than that in the SLN-negative group at any time of follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: SLN status, along with MR, can provide valuable prognostic information in patients with thick primary cutaneous melanoma.