Praful Kamani

Monitoring and management of antituberculosis drug induced hepatotoxicity

Background:  Hepatotoxicity to antituberculosis therapy (ATT) poses a major challenge. This often results in inadequate therapy. The risk of fulminant hepatic failure and mortality is high once icteric hepatitis develops. There is no consensus on monitoring protocols and for the reintroduction of ATT.

Tu1048 Coagulopathy in Cirrhosis a Prospective Study to Correlate Conventional Tests of Coagulation and Bleeding Following Invasive Procedures in Cirrhotics

BACKGROUND Conventional tests of coagulation which only measure procoagulant factors do not correctly estimate the actual in vivo hemostatic balance in cirrhosis. This prospective multicenter study was conducted to evaluate safety of various invasive procedures in the presence of abnormal coagulation tests and to correlate conventional coagulation parameters with clinically significant bleeding in cirrhotics. METHODS Three hundred and eighty patients (median age 54 years, 287 males) enrolled in the study were divided into two groups (A and B), according to the presence or absence of abnormal coagulation parameters (defined as INR ≥1.5 and/or platelet count ≤50,000/cum). RESULTS One hundred and twenty-eight patients (33.68%) were qualified in group A. Alcohol was the predominant etiology of cirrhosis (40% and 32% in groups A and B, respectively). The two groups were similar in baseline characteristics other than tests of coagulation and severity of liver disease. Low risk procedures (abdominal paracentesis most common) were carried out in 47% and 53% patients in two groups, respectively. None of the patients in either group had clinically significant bleeding. Similarly, high risk procedures (central vein cannulation, liver biopsy, etc.) were carried out in 14% and 10%, respectively, in two groups. Three patients in group A developed clinically significant bleeding, however, the difference was statistically nonsignificant (p=0.061). None of our patients received periprocedural correction of abnormal coagulation parameters with plasma/platelet concentrate. CONCLUSIONS Deranged conventional coagulation parameters did not predict clinically significant bleeding in cirrhosis. Whenever indicated, any invasive procedure could be safely carried out in patients with cirrhosis without prior correction of coagulation abnormalities.

Risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease: A prospective multi-center study

IntroductionEnvironmental risk factors have been associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). With rising incidence, it is important to know risk factors associated with IBD in our population. This study was aimed to evaluate risk factors for IBD from western India.MethodsThis was prospective, multi-center case-control study which included 1054 patients with IBD of which 765 (72.5%) were ulcerative colitis (UC) and 289 (27.4%) Crohn’s disease (CD). Asymptomatic individuals without a history of any major illness served as controls. The questionnaire containing risk factors for IBD was given to patients and control group. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated for each variable.ResultSignificant numbers of patients with CD were from rural area. Rural environment (OR 1.071, 0.82–1.38 and OR 1.441, 1.02–2.02), higher education (OR 1.830, 1.52–2.19 and OR 1.519, 1.16–1.97), professional by occupation (OR 1.754, 1.46–2.09 and OR 1.293, 0.99–1.67), annual family income >100,000 Indian national rupees (OR 2.185, 1.52–3.13 and OR 4.648, 3.10–6.95), history of appendectomy (OR 3.158, 1.71–5.80 and OR 3.158, 1.71–5.80), and family history of IBD (OR 4.510, 2.19–9.25 and OR 3.972, 1.58–9.96) were the risk factors for UC and CD, respectively. Vegetarian diet was protective factor for UC (OR 0.29, 0.27–0.39) and risk for CD (OR 1.179, 0.88–1.57). Smoking and chronic alcoholism were not found to be the risk factors.ConclusionThis study highlights association between socioeconomic, dietary factors, appendectomy, and family history as risk factors for IBD.