Background Surgery for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves a complex interplay between disease, surgery, and medications, exposing patients to increased risk of postoperative complications. Surgical best practices have been largely based on single-institution results and meta-analyses, with multicenter clinical data lacking. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (ACS-NSQIP) has revolutionized the way in which large-volume surgical outcomes data have been collected. Our aim was to employ the ACS-NSQIP to collect disease-specific variables relevant to surgical outcomes in IBD. Study Design A collaborative of 13 high-volume IBD surgery centers was convened to collect 5 IBD-specific variables in NSQIP. Variables included biologic and immunomodulator medications usage, ileostomy utilization, ileal pouch anastomotic technique, and colonic dysplasia/neoplasia. A sample of the Surgical Clinical Reviewer collected data was validated by a colorectal surgeon at each institution, and kappa's agreement statistics generated. Results Over 1 year, data were collected on a total of 956 cases. Overall, 41.4% of patients had taken a biologic agent in the 60 days before surgery. The 2 most commonly performed procedures were laparoscopic ileocolic resections (159 cases) and subtotal colectomies (151 cases). Overall, 56.8% of cases employed an ileostomy, and 134 ileal pouches were constructed, of which 92.4% used stapled technique. A sample of 214 (22.4%) consecutive cases was validated from 8 institutions. All 5 novel variables were shown to be reliably collected, with excellent agreement for 4 variables (kappa ≥ 0.70) and very good agreement for the presence of colonic dysplasia (kappa = 0.68). Conclusion We report the results of the initial year of implementation of the first disease-specific collaborative within NSQIP. The selected variables were demonstrated to be reliably collected, and this collaborative will facilitate high-quality, large case–volume research specific to the IBD patient population.

Acute rejection episodes are the most common cause leading to loss of renal grafts in the early postoperative phase. Doppler sonography presents a noninvasive tool to detect increased arterial blood flow resistance as a result of rejection. This can be measured by the increase in the resistive index (RI) and the pulsatility index (PI). In a prospective study including 65 consecutive patients we investigated whether the detection of rejection episodes is improved by determining RI or PI serially twice a week instead of performing a single examination in cases of transplant dysfunction. In 330 examinations with a color-coded Doppler device (Philips QAD 1, Philips Medical Systems Hamburg, Germany) flow profiles were obtained by means of pulse-wave Doppler over at least three interlobar arteries of the renal transplant and RI and PI were calculated. In 41 cases primary rejections were better recognized by an increase in PI compared to the preceding value than by the absolute PI value (with a sensitivity of 90%; specificity was 76% and 42% respectively). The RI was less specific (with a sensitivity of 90%; specificity was 47% for the relative RI increase and 30% for the absolute RI value). The continuous PI increase started an average of 3.3 days (95% CI-15.25 to + 1.55) before rejection was diagnosed. Vascular rejection episodes showed higher PI values than interstitial rejections (3.86 +/- 2.14 vs. 2.19 +/- 0.87; P < 0.01). The serial investigation technique of PI allows better recognition of rejection episodes than the single measurement of RI or PI performed so far. Doppler sonography recognizes rejection at an early stage.

Introduction: There is little consensus of quality measurements for restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis(RPC-IPAA) performed for ulcerative colitis(UC). The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program(NSQIP) cannot accurately classify RPC-IPAA staged approaches. We formed an IBD-surgery registry that added IBD-specific variables to NSQIP to study these staged approaches in greater detail. Methods: We queried our validated database of IBD surgeries across 11 sites in the US from March 2017 to March 2019, containing general NSQIP and IBD-specific perioperative variables. We classified cases into delayed versus immediate pouch construction and looked for independent predictors of pouch delay and postoperative Clavien-Dindo complication severity. Results: 430 patients received index surgery or completed pouches. Among completed pouches, 46(28%) and 118(72%) were immediate and delayed pouches, respectively.

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Data on 64 rejection reactions in 108 consecutive patients after renal transplantation (61 males, 47 females; mean age 42.8 +/- 12.9 years) were analysed to test what Doppler sonographic measurements can be used to predict whether a given drug regimen is able to suppress rejection. Results were compared with renal function and histological evidence of rejection. The >> pulsatility index << (PI), which is dependent on flow resistance, was determined by Doppler echocardiography: it increases on rejection (measurements made 2.0 +/- 1.1 days apart). The rejection reaction was successfully controlled by drugs (methylprednisolone, azathioprine and cyclosporin) in 44 patients (group 1), but not in 20 patients (group 2). PI before rejection (group 1: 1.8 +/- 0.5; group 2: 1.7 +/- 0.6), PI during histologically confirmed rejection (2.6 +/- 1.2 and 3.1 +/- 1.4, respectively), the size of difference between these values, and parameters of renal function provided no pointers to any drug efficacy in suppressing rejection. But individual changes in PI during suppression treatment proved to be of outstanding value (P < 0.00005). Signs of florid rejection at the end of treatment period correlated with a rising PI in 13 of 17 rejection episodes, while PI fell in only 7 of 47 episodes. Vascular signs of rejection tended to be poor predictors of rejection (P .028). - These findings indicate that serial Doppler sonography can be helpful in monitoring antirejection treatment.

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Background Ileocolic resection (ICR) is performed for Crohn’s disease (CD) patients with terminal ileitis requiring surgery. Current National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) data is lacking specificity around IBD surgery, including stoma formation and biologic therapies. The NSQIP IBD Collaborative (NSQIP-IBD) is a multicenter working group formed to better collect and analyze perioperative data unique to IBD patients under the auspices of NSQIP. We present retrospective analysis of a multicenter cohort of ICR for CD to describe the current practice of ICR for CD across our collaborative and explore factors associated with rates of postoperative complications on behalf of NSQIP-IBD. Methods Review of NSQIP data from 10 participating sites was performed to select ICR cases for CD from March 2017 to March 2019. In addition to standard data from NSQIP, IBD-specific data regarding stoma formation, immunosuppressant use (biologics, steroids, and immune modulators), and dysplasia is included. Primary outcome was anastomotic leak measured in a 30-day postoperative window in undiverted patients. Secondary outcomes were total non-leak complications and total postoperative infections. Multivariable analysis was performed to adjust for confounding pre- and intraoperative confounders. Backward selection of covariates and factors was performed using a cutoff of p&lt;0.2 for main effects. Results 506 ICR cases for CD were identified. 78 patients had stomas per our unique ileostomy NSQIP-IBD variable, compared to 38 found by querying generally available NSQIP data (48.7% of total stomas). ICR patients receiving stoma were more likely to have more severe ASA class and weight loss and had significantly lower albumin and hematocrit. Age, BMI, and sex were similar in either group. Intraoperatively, stoma patients were more likely have worse wound class, be emergent, and longer operative time. 421 cases had complete baseline and intraoperative data for multivariable analysis of leak rates. 422 were available for secondary outcomes analysis. Multivariable analysis of leak rates showed significant association with infections prior to operation (PATOS; OR=6.6, 95% CI 1.1–40, p=0.041). Significant predictors of total postoperative complication rate and infection rate are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. Conclusions NSQIP-IBD data provides clearer, more detailed data than the NSQIP colectomy module alone in IBD patients. We show that CD ICR patients receiving stomas were more emergent, had intraoperative infection, or had more severe disease. This is consistent with most contemporary surgical practices. Total infections PATOS are associated with increased risk of postoperative anastomotic leak, non-leak complications, and infections. NSQIP-IBD data improves on existing NSQIP data to allow a more robust analysis of factors and outcomes unique to IBD cases. We anticipate with more time and greater numbers we will be able to obtain even more granular data.

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