Gut
-
Thrombocytopenia in cirrhotic patients may be due to deficient production of thrombopoietin. ⋯ Inadequate thrombopoietin production may contribute to cirrhotic thrombocytopenia. Thrombopoietin production is restored after liver transplantation leading to the resolution of thrombocytopenia.
-
Several scoring systems have been developed to predict the risk of rebleeding or death in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). These risk scoring systems have not been validated in a new patient population outside the clinical context of the original study. ⋯ The risk scoring system developed by Rockall and coworkers is a clinically useful scoring system for stratifying patients with acute UGIB into high and low risk categories for mortality. For the prediction of rebleeding, however, the performance of this scoring system was unsatisfactory.
-
Height of portal pressure correlates with severity of alcoholic cirrhosis. Portal pressure indices are not however used routinely as predictors of survival. ⋯ Indirectly measured portal pressure is an independent predictor of survival in patients with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cirrhosis. In patients with a previous variceal bleeding episode this predictive value seems to be better if the measurement is taken within the first two weeks from the bleeding episode. A greater use of this technique is recommended for the prognostic assessment and management of patients with chronic liver disease.
-
To examine the relation between inflammatory bowel disease and appendicectomy, childhood domestic hygiene, and Helicobacter pylori infection. ⋯ Our findings confirm the strong inverse association between previous appendicectomy and the development of ulcerative colitis and suggest that the protective effect is greater for appendicectomy performed in childhood.