This study demonstrates that there is no association between the activity of SLE and PCT levels. The utility of the PCT resides is in raising suspicion of a concurrent bacterial or mycotic infection in the evaluation of patients with active autoimmune diseases.

Background: Dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) are forms of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs), which are associated with the production of autoantibodies that are useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. Objective:The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs), myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs), and myositis-associated autoantibodies (MAAs) in 6 Latin American countries.Methods: Two hundred ten patients with IIM were included in this cross-

Background In patients with active Crohn’s disease (CD), treatment of intra-abdominal abscess usually comprises antibiotics and radiologically guided percutaneous drainage (PD) preceding surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of postoperative complications and identify the optimal time interval for surgical intervention after PD. Methods A multicentre, international, retrospective cohort study was carried out. Details of patients with diagnosis of CD who underwent ultrasonography- or CT-guided PD were retrieved from hospital records using international classification of disease (ICD-10) diagnosis code for CD combined with procedure code for PD. Clinical variables were retrieved and the following outcomes were measured: 30-day postoperative overall complications, intra-abdominal septic complications, unplanned intraoperative adverse events, surgical-site infections, sepsis and pathological postoperative ileus, in addition to abscess recurrence. Patients were categorized into three groups according to the length of the interval from PD to surgery (1–14 days, 15–30 days and more than 30 days) for comparison of outcomes. Results The cohort comprised 335 CD patients with PD followed by surgery. Median age was 33 (i.q.r. 24–44) years, 152 (45.4 per cent) were females, and median disease duration was 9 (i.q.r. 3.6–15) years. Overall, the 30-day postoperative complications rate was 32.2 per cent and the mortality rate was 1.5 per cent. After adjustment for co-variables, older age (odds ratio 1.03 (95 per cent c.i. 1.01 to 1.06), P < 0.012), residual abscess after PD (odds ratio 0.374 (95 per cent c.i. 0.19 to 0.74), P < 0.014), smoking (odds ratio 1.89 (95 per cent c.i. 1.01 to 3.53), P = 0.049) and low serum albumin concentration (odds ratio 0.921 (95 per cent c.i. 0.89 to 0.96), P < 0.001) were associated with higher rates of postoperative complications. A short waiting interval, less than 2 weeks after PD, was associated with a high incidence of abscess recurrence (odds ratio 0.59 (95 per cent c.i. 0.36 to 0.96), P = 0.042). Conclusion Smoking, low serum albumin concentration and older age were significantly associated with postoperative complications. An interval of at least 2 weeks after successful PD correlated with reduced risk of abscess recurrence.

Due to the huge heterogeneity in the results, further efforts to standardise autoantibodies detection techniques need to be performed, emphasising in homogenisation of the antigens preparation allowing reproducibility of both population of patients and at individual patient level.

Introducción: la pancreatitis aguda (PA) es una enfermedad de alta complejidad clínica y, de acuerdo con sugravedad, puede tener una elevada morbimortalidad con altos costos para el sistema de salud, especialmente a nivel intrahospitalario. Materiales y métodos: se desarrolló un estudio descriptivo basado en historias clínicas de un hospital universitario de alta complejidad. Se revisaron las historias con diagnóstico CIE 10 de pancreatitis aguda entre enero de 2011 y diciembre de 2018. Se incluyeron todos los pacientes mayores de 18 años, de ambos sexos, con diagnóstico de PA por cumplimiento de al menos 2 de los criterios de Atlanta de 2012. Resultados: se revisaron 1353 historias clínicas, de las cuales 386 cumplieron criterios para PA. Entre ellas se identificaron 205 mujeres (53 %) y 181 hombres (47 %), y la prevalencia de comorbilidades fue inferior al 10 %. El 38 % de los casos de pancreatitis ocurrieron en personas entre los 50 y 70 años de edad. Con respecto a la etiología de la PA, el origen biliar fue el de mayor frecuencia, con 200 casos del total (52 %); seguido de idiopático (19,7 %) y poscolangiopancreatografía retrógrada endoscópica (CPRE), que ocurrió en 33 pacientes (8,5 %). Conclusiones: la PA es una entidad frecuente que afecta a adultos de todas las edades y genera una cantidad importante de consultas en urgencias. En Colombia, los datos previos apuntaban a pacientes con pancreatitis graves y no se tenía conocimiento del comportamiento sociodemográfico y clínico de las pancreatitis agudas en urgencias.