Malignant pleural effusion is a common clinical problem in cancer patients. Many therapeutic techniques have been investigated, including pleurodesis. Little is known about the factors that may affect the success rate of such a procedure. The main objective of this study is to assess the success rates of pleurodesis performed on malignant pleural effusions in cancer patients at AUBMC and to identify the predictors of a successful pleurodesis. Patients diagnosed with malignant pleural effusions and who have undergone pleurodesis between years 2004 and 2013 at the American University of Beirut Medical Center were identified. Relevant information including patient, tumor and pleural effusion characteristics and outcome after pleurodesis was recorded. Data analysis was done to assess the success rate of pleurodesis as well as for the presence of statistically significant association between success of pleurodesis and the different clinical characteristics. Pleurodesis success rates were as follow: 17.7% had complete success, 12.9% had partial success, 40.3% had failed pleurodesis, 3.2% died shortly after pleurodesis, and 25.8% were lost to follow-up. When this failure rate was further analyzed in terms of the different clinical markers, only two parameters were found to be associated with different success rates of pleurodesis, namely the mean pH of the pleural fluid and the tube used to perform pleurodesis. The conclusions of this study will benefit future cancer patients presenting with malignant effusions. Based on this study's results a well as those of future studies, clinicians will cautiously plan the management of malignant pleural effusion and also refine the technique used.
Background/Aim The ABC score is a new pre-endoscopic scoring system that was recently developed to accurately predict one-month mortality in upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). We aim to validate this new score on a cohort of Lebanese patients treated in a tertiary care center and to compare it to currently existing scores. Methods Adult patients admitted to the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) with overt GIB between January 2013 and August 2020 were included. The area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves of the ABC score in predicting 30-day mortality was calculated using the SPSS software. Other optimal existing scores for predicting mortality (the Oakland score for lower GIB, the AIMS-65 and the Rockall scores for upper GIB)s were also assessed and compared to the ABC score. Results A total of 310 patients were included in our study. For upper GIB, the ABC score showed good performance in predicting 30-day mortality (AUROC: 0.79), outperforming both the AIMS-65 score (AUROC 0.67, p < 0.001) and the Rockall score (AUROC: 0.62, p < 0.001). For lower GIB, the ABC score also had good performance which was comparable to the Oakland score (AUROC: 0.70 vs 0.56, p = 0.26). Conclusion In our cohort of patients, the ABC score demonstrated good performance in predicting 30-day mortality for patients with upper and lower GIB compared to other established risk scores, which may help guide management decisions. This simple and novel score provides valuable prognostic information for patients presenting with GIB and appears to be reproducible in different patient populations.
Cameron ulcers usually present with chronic obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. Few cases of life-threatening bleeding have been reported. We hereby present an elderly man who presented with upper gastrointestinal bleeding associated with hemodynamic instability because of a large cratered Cameron ulcer. This ulcer contained a large pseudoaneurysm, and endoscopic therapy was deemed unsafe. The patient had a recurrence of his bleeding, necessitating intervention by our interventional radiology colleagues and then surgical intervention for definitive therapy. This case is important because it familiarizes gastroenterologists with the endoscopic appearance of huge Cameron ulcers and therapeutic options to control hemostasis. It also stresses the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach to ensure the best outcomes for patients.
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