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Invasive aspergillosis (IA) in liver transplant recipients is associated with grave outcomes. We reviewed 116 individual cases reported in the literature from 1985 to 2013. IA was diagnosed after a median of 25 days after transplantation and involved a single organ in 51% of the cases, whereas in the remaining cases, multiple sites were involved. The most common infecting Aspergillus species were Aspergillus fumigatus (73%), Aspergillus flavus (14%), and Aspergillus terreus (8%). Amphotericin B was the drug most frequently used, and it was followed by voriconazole and itraconazole. Combination regimens were used in 51% of the cases. The overall 1-year cumulative survival probability was 35% [95% confidence interval (CI) 5 24.6%-49.6%]. Survival was significantly higher for patients reported from the year 2000 and thereafter (P < 0.001), for those diagnosed with IA more than 30 days after transplantation versus those diagnosed earlier (P 5 0.019), and for patients without renal failure (P 5 0.020). Additionally, the use of voriconazole was significantly associated with a higher probability of survival (P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that subjects with the involvement of multiple sites had a 2.52 times higher risk of a negative outcome (95% CI 5 1.08-5.87) than those with the involvement of a single site. Thus, IA causes life-threatening infections in liver transplant recipients. Predictors associated with poor outcomes may help clinicians to optimize the management of this infection.

A case of systemic infection due to Saprochaete capitata in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia is described. A review of the literature was conducted to identify all reported cases of this infection described between 1977 and August 2013. One hundred and four cases (included the present one) were identified. The median age of the patients was 56 years and 56% were males. Comorbidities included acute myeloid leukemia (52%), acute lymphoid leukemia (22%), other hematological malignancies (13%) and non-hematological diseases (9%). At the time of the infection, 82% of the patients were neutropenic. In 75% of the cases, the yeast was isolated from blood culture, in 25% from other sterile sites. Empirical treatment was done in 36% of the cases. Fifty-eight percent of the individual cases were treated with a combination or a sequential antifungal therapy. Amphotericin B was the antifungal drug most commonly used, followed by voriconazole and itraconazole. The overall crude mortality was 60%. Saprochaete capitata causes life-threatening infections in neutropenic patients. This comprehensive literature review may help the clinician to optimize the management of this rare infection.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth more frequent cancer worldwide and the most common primary liver tumor. Liver transplant (LT) is considered the best curative treatment for patients with cirrhosis and HCC within Milan criteria (1 tumor ≤5 cm and up to 3 tumors ≤3 cm). It removes all the liver affected by cancer and at the same time it treats the underlying liver disease, with a survival rate of 70% and a 5 years recurrence rate of less than 20%. Unfortunately, the applicability of LT for HCC patients is limited by the shortage of liver grafts, determining a longer time on waitlist and high dropout rate. Bridging treatments are neo-adjuvant antitumoral therapies given to patients on the waitlist for LT, affected by HCC within the criteria, with the aim to reduce the disease progression and therefore the dropout rate. Indeed, these treatments act as a "bridge" until a suitable donor organ becomes available. Most of bridging therapies are locoregional treatments (LRTs). Dropout rate for HCC progression increases in a time-dependent way (1) and evidences show higher dropout rates in patients with tumor >3 cm and an expected waiting time longer than 3-6 months (2). In different reports, if HCC is left untreated, the risk of drop out at 6 months and at 1 year has been estimated to be respectively 12% and 15-30% (3,4). Risk factors for dropout include: tumor diameter greater than 3 cm or multifocal disease, serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level greater than 200 ng/mL, waiting time longer than 6 months and lack of response to bridging therapy (5). Although there are no randomized control trials (RCT) evaluating the efficacy of neo-adjuvant therapies in reducing dropout rate and improving survival after LT, LRT is accepted as the standard of care for patients expected to stay on the waitlist for more than 6 months. In patients with HCC within Milan criteria, bridging therapy is estimated to reduce dropout rate to 0-10%. A retrospective study

Background Ileus is common after elective colorectal surgery, and is associated with increased adverse events and prolonged hospital stay. The aim was to assess the role of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for reducing ileus after surgery. Methods A prospective multicentre cohort study was delivered by an international, student‐ and trainee‐led collaborative group. Adult patients undergoing elective colorectal resection between January and April 2018 were included. The primary outcome was time to gastrointestinal recovery, measured using a composite measure of bowel function and tolerance to oral intake. The impact of NSAIDs was explored using Cox regression analyses, including the results of a centre‐specific survey of compliance to enhanced recovery principles. Secondary safety outcomes included anastomotic leak rate and acute kidney injury. Results A total of 4164 patients were included, with a median age of 68 (i.q.r. 57–75) years (54·9 per cent men). Some 1153 (27·7 per cent) received NSAIDs on postoperative days 1–3, of whom 1061 (92·0 per cent) received non‐selective cyclo‐oxygenase inhibitors. After adjustment for baseline differences, the mean time to gastrointestinal recovery did not differ significantly between patients who received NSAIDs and those who did not (4·6 versus 4·8 days; hazard ratio 1·04, 95 per cent c.i. 0·96 to 1·12; P = 0·360). There were no significant differences in anastomotic leak rate (5·4 versus 4·6 per cent; P = 0·349) or acute kidney injury (14·3 versus 13·8 per cent; P = 0·666) between the groups. Significantly fewer patients receiving NSAIDs required strong opioid analgesia (35·3 versus 56·7 per cent; P < 0·001). Conclusion NSAIDs did not reduce the time for gastrointestinal recovery after colorectal surgery, but they were safe and associated with reduced postoperative opioid requirement.

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Monitoring of liver fibrosis (LF) is an essential tool for preventing liver-related complications in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. In this study, we compared LF progression by transient elastometry (TE) in 50 HIV/HCV co-infected and 115 HCV mono-infected patients followed in our institution between June 2006 and December 2011. Patients naive to interferon therapy and with at least two measurements of liver stiffness by TE were included. In all, 76% of HIV/HCV co-infected and 75% of HCV mono-infected patients remained in the same stage of LF over time. Conversely, 19% and 15% of HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected subjects, respectively, had progression to advanced LF (≥ F3). Our study found a similar proportion of HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected patients that developed an advanced LF during the follow-up time considered. Alcohol abuse was the only factor significantly associated with the progression as evidenced by multiple quantile regression analysis.

Background Postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of major gastrointestinal surgery with an impact on short- and long-term survival. No validated system for risk stratification exists for this patient group. This study aimed to validate externally a prognostic model for AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery in two multicentre cohort studies. Methods The Outcomes After Kidney injury in Surgery (OAKS) prognostic model was developed to predict risk of AKI in the 7 days after surgery using six routine datapoints (age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker). Validation was performed within two independent cohorts: a prospective multicentre, international study (‘IMAGINE’) of patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery (2018); and a retrospective regional cohort study (‘Tayside’) in major abdominal surgery (2011–2015). Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict risk of AKI, with multiple imputation used to account for data missing at random. Prognostic accuracy was assessed for patients at high risk (greater than 20 per cent) of postoperative AKI. Results In the validation cohorts, 12.9 per cent of patients (661 of 5106) in IMAGINE and 14.7 per cent (106 of 719 patients) in Tayside developed 7-day postoperative AKI. Using the OAKS model, 558 patients (9.6 per cent) were classified as high risk. Less than 10 per cent of patients classified as low-risk developed AKI in either cohort (negative predictive value greater than 0.9). Upon external validation, the OAKS model retained an area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve of range 0.655–0.681 (Tayside 95 per cent c.i. 0.596 to 0.714; IMAGINE 95 per cent c.i. 0.659 to 0.703), sensitivity values range 0.323–0.352 (IMAGINE 95 per cent c.i. 0.281 to 0.368; Tayside 95 per cent c.i. 0.253 to 0.461), and specificity range 0.881–0.890 (Tayside 95 per cent c.i. 0.853 to 0.905; IMAGINE 95 per cent c.i. 0.881 to 0.899). Conclusion The OAKS prognostic model can identify patients who are not at high risk of postoperative AKI after gastrointestinal surgery with high specificity. Presented to Association of Surgeons in Training (ASiT) International Conference 2018 (Edinburgh, UK), European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) International Conference 2018 (Nice, France), SARS (Society of Academic and Research Surgery) 2020 (Virtual, UK).