Background: Although acute hepatitis E is not fatal in healthy individuals, it is unclear whether hepatitis E superinfection increases the mortality in patients with pre-existing liver disease. Thus, we investigated the prognosis of patients with acute hepatitis E according to their cirrhosis diagnosis, and the prognosis according to the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) in patients with cirrhosis and chronic liver disease (CLD). Methods: This study included 74 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis E between January 2007 and December 2019. Of them, 39 patients without CLD, 13 patients with non-cirrhotic CLD, and 22 patients with cirrhotic CLD were analyzed. Results: Among the 74 patients with HEV infection, 7 (9.5%) died within 180 days: 5 with underlying cirrhosis (71.4%) and 2 without cirrhosis (28.6%). The 180-day mortality was significant higher for patients with cirrhosis than for patients without cirrhosis (22.7% vs. 3.8%, P = 0.013). The age- and sex-adjusted proportional-hazard model revealed an approximately eightfold increase in the 180-day mortality risk in patients with cirrhosis compared to patients without cirrhosis. In addition, development of hepatitis E virus-related ACLF due to acute liver function deterioration in patients with pre-existing CLD or cirrhosis worsened the 180-day mortality rate. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the acute hepatitis E mortality rate was low in healthy individuals but higher in patients with cirrhosis, and especially high in those with ACLF.

Background: The effect of acute kidney injury (AKI) on patients with acute variceal bleeding (AVB) using the recently proposed International Club of Ascites (ICA) criteria is unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of AKI using the ICA criteria and factors associated with the outcomes in cirrhotic patients with AVB. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included data of cirrhotic patients with AVB from two centers in Korea. The association of the ICA criteria for AKI with 6-week mortality was analyzed through univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox proportional hazard model. Results: In total, there were 546 episodes of AVB in 390 patients, of which 425 and 121 episodes were due to esophageal and gastric variceal bleeding, respectively. Moreover, 153 patients fulfilled the ICA criteria for AKI, and 64, 30, 39, and 20 patients were diagnosed with stages 1a, 1b, 2, and 3, respectively. Conversely, 97 patients developed AKI within 42 days as per the conventional criteria. The 6-week mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with ICA-AKI than in patients without ICA-AKI; the occurrence of ICA-AKI was an independent factor for predicting the 6-week mortality. Conclusion: The ICA criteria could help diagnose renal dysfunction earlier, and presence of AKI is a predictor of mortality in patients with cirrhosis and AVB.

Introduction: Therapeutic laparoscopic-assisted transgastric endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (LA-ERCP) is a safe and effective technique for patient who are unable to receive endoscopic or percutaneous transhepatic treatment. This procedure shows a high overall success rate in managing pancreaticobiliary complications, comparable to that of ERCP. Patient concerns: A 51-year-old man had abdominal pain for 2 days. The patient showed acute calculous cholecystitis and acute cholangitis with distal common bile duct (CBD) stones. We performed laparoscopic cholecystectomy and removed the distal CBD stones through CBD exploration. On the fourth day after the surgery, bile leakage was observed through the surgical drain. Diagnosis: The patient was diagnosed with postoperative bile leakage based on clinical findings. Interventions: The patient could not receive ERCP or percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage because he had severe trismus and limb stiffness after suffering from poliomyelitis. So, we performed LA-ERCP, sphincterotomy, and biliary stent insertion. The fully covered self-expanding metal stent was implanted within the percutaneous gastrostomy site around, and 4 weeks later, the stent was removed during re-ERCP. Outcomes: The patient was discharged without any complications. There were no long-term complications noted during the 12-month follow-up. Conclusion/Lessons: Staged LA-ERCP represents a practical strategy for managing bile leakage and offers a novel solution for patients for whom transoral and transhepatic approaches are unsuitable. As a result, clinicians must know techniques for gaining access to the biliary system, such as LA-ERCP.

Background/Objectives: No current guideline specifies the timing of catheter removal after percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD). This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of early PTBD catheter removal after resolution of biliary obstruction in patients with acute cholangitis. Methods: This retrospective, single-center cohort study included 357 patients with acute cholangitis who underwent PTBD. Patients were divided into an early removal group (7–10 days, n = 199) and a late removal group (>10 days, n = 158) according to the timing of PTBD catheter removal. Clinical outcomes after catheter removal were compared between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the complication rate after PTBD catheter removal (2.5%; 95% CI, 1.1–5.7% in the early group vs. 1.9%; 95% CI, 0.6–5.4% in the late group; p > 0.999). In the early group, the most common complication was biloma (n = 3, 1.5%), followed by bile peritonitis (n = 1, 0.5%) and hemobilia (n = 1, 0.5%). In the late removal group, biloma, bile peritonitis, and hemobilia each occurred in one patient (0.6%). The total length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in the early group than in the late group (12 days [IQR, 10–15] vs. 17 days [IQR, 14–24]; p < 0.001). In exploratory multivariable analysis, early removal was associated with a 5.36-day shorter adjusted conditional median hospital stay than late removal (95% CI, 3.63–7.08; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Early PTBD catheter removal 7–10 days after placement appears to be feasible and was associated with a low rate of post-removal complications in appropriately selected patients with acute cholangitis, provided that predefined removal criteria are met.

Background/Objectives: Bismuth quadruple therapy (BQT) is recommended as the best second-line regimen after failure of first-line clarithromycin triple therapy (CTT) for Helicobacter pylori eradication. However, there are some limitations to this approach, including the lack of an appropriate sequel regimen after failure of BQT and complicated administration. Metronidazole triple therapy (MTT) is simple to administer, but it is not widely recommended. This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of MTT as second-line regimen for H. pylori eradication after failure of CTT. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of the Korean patients with H. pylori infection who underwent second-line treatment after failure of first-line CTT from October 2013 to October 2019. The efficacy of MTT and BQT for H. pylori eradication was compared. Results: The eradication rate in the BQT group tended to be higher than that in the MTT group; however, the difference was not statistically significant (208/233, 89.3% versus 244/284, 85.9%, p = 0.287). Among 40 patients with second-line MTT eradication failure, 21 received the third-line BQT, and 15 showed successful eradication (15/21, 71.4%). In the men 70 years or older, the eradication rate of MTT was lower than that of BQT without statistical significance (75.8% versus 94.1%, p = 0.141). Conclusions: These findings suggested that MTT could be a second-line treatment option, reserving BQT for Helicobacter pylori eradication after first line CTT failure, except in elderly men 70 years or older.