Esthika Dewiasty

Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This study investigated the distribution of serotype and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae carried by adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Jakarta, Indonesia. Specimens of nasopharyngeal swab were collected from 200 HIV infected adults aged 21 to 63 years. Identification of S. pneumoniae was done by optochin susceptibility test and PCR for the presence of psaA and lytA genes. Serotyping was performed with sequential multiplex PCR and antibiotic susceptibility with the disk diffusion method. S. pneumoniae strains were carried by 10% adults with serotype 6A/B 20% was common serotype among cultured strains in 20 adults. Most of isolates were susceptible to chloramphenicol (80%) followed by clindamycin (75%), erythromycin (75%), penicillin (55%), and tetracycline (50%). This study found resistance to sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim was most common with only 15% of strains being susceptible. High non-susceptibility to sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim was observed in S. pneumoniae strains carried by HIV infected adults in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Indonesia: Lack of Improvement of One-Year Survival Rates between 1998-1999 and 2013-2014.

BACKGROUND The survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is usually low due to late diagnosis. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital as the largest tertiary referral hospital in Indonesia, has recently improved its modalities for advanced HCC management, but there has not been any evaluation on any improvement in HCC patient survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective analysis on 114 HCC patients in 2013-2014 were conducted and compared with the database for 77 HCC patients in 1998-1999. Clinical characteristics and treatment received were recorded and the survival of both groups was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. RESULTS The percentage of HBV positive patients had increased after fifteen years from 32.5% to 67.5%. Only two patients (1.8%) in 2013-2014 were diagnosed with HCC during surveillance program. Proportions of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer A, B, C, and D in 2013-2014 were 1.8%, 42%, 28.1%, and 28.1%, respectively. There was an increase in the use of potentially curative treatment, such as surgical resection or combination of loco-regional therapies. The one-year survival rate increased from 24.1% in 1998-1999 to 29.4% in 2013-2014, while the median survival decreased from 146 days to 138 days, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.913). CONCLUSIONS There was no improvement in the median survival of HCC patients after fifteen years because most continued to present at late stages. There is an urgent need for a nationwide implementation of a hepatitis screening program and HCC surveillance education.

Lactate clearance as a simple bedside instrument to predict short-term mortality of severe septic patients

Severe sepsis is major health problem with a high mortality rate, and still its incidence continues to rise [1-5]. Lactate clearance, measurement of the lactate level at two consecutive times, is an inexpensive and simple clinical parameter that can be obtained by a minimally invasive means [6-8]. This parameter represents kinetic alteration of the anaerobic metabolism that makes it a potential parameter to evaluate disease severity and intervention adequacy. Lactate clearance early in the hospital course may indicate a resolution of global tissue hypoxia and is associated with improved outcome [7-9]. Nevertheless, the relationship between lactate clearance and short-term mortality in severe septic patients is still poorly understood. Understanding the presence of confounder factors is also important to strengthen the role of lactate clearance in the treatment of severe septic patients.