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More than half of patients hospitalized with liver cirrhosis are dealing with an episode of acute kidney injury; the most severe pattern is hepatorenal syndrome due to its negative prognosis. The main physiopathology mechanisms involve renal vasoconstriction and systemic inflammation. During the last decade, the definition of hepatorenal syndrome changed, but the validated criteria of diagnosis are still based on the serum creatinine level, which is a biomarker with multiple limitations. This is the reason why novel serum and urinary biomarkers have been intensively studied in recent years. Meanwhile, the imaging studies that use shear wave elastography are using renal stiffness as a surrogate for an early diagnosis. In this article, we focus on the physiopathology definition and highlight the novel tools used in the diagnosis of hepatorenal syndrome.

Background and objectives: The prognoses of patients experiencing a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) are often significantly altered by hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), the early detection of which might be cumbersome. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR), derived-NRL (d-NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-C-reactive protein (LCR) ratios in predicting the progression to septic shock and death. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of a consecutive series of ninety COVID-19 patients with prolonged hospitalization (exceeding 15 days) admitted to the ICU was conducted. The prevalence of culture-proven HAIs throughout their hospital stays was documented. NLR, dNLR, PLR, and LCR were recorded on admission, day 7, and day 14 to assess their discriminative prowess for detecting further progression to septic shock or death. Results: The prevalence of HAIs was 76.6%, 50% of patients met the criteria for septic shock, and 50% died. The median time to the first positive culture was 13.5 days and 20.5 days for developing septic shock. Mechanical ventilation was a key contributing factor to HAI, septic shock, and mortality. On admission and day 7 NLR, dNLR, PLR, and LCR values had no prognostic relevance for events occurring late during hospitalization. However, day-14 NLR, dNLR, and PLR were independent predictors for progression to septic shock and mortality and have shown good discriminative capabilities. The AUCs for septic shock were 0.762, 0.764, and 0.716, while the values for predicting in-hospital death were 0.782, 0.778, and 0.758, respectively. Conclusions: NLR, dNLR, and PLR are quick, easy-to-use, cheap, effective biomarkers for the detection of a more severe disease course, of the late development of HAIs, and of the risk of death in critically ill patients requiring a prolonged ICU stay.

Introduction Mortality from variceal bleeding remains high despite the therapeutic progress in severe cirrhosis. Understanding the predictive factors of failure to control bleeding (FTB) and mortality will lead to better future therapies. Comorbidities are thought to be important prognostic factors for variceal bleeding. The aim of the study was to assess the factors associated with FTB and with 42-day mortality and to evaluate the influence of comorbidities on these patients’ prognosis. Material and methods We prospectively included in the study all consecutive patients with cirrhosis and variceal bleeding presenting to the emergency room and we followed them up over 6 weeks. CirCom score and Charlson index were used for the assessment of comorbidities. Results Of the 138 patients included in the study, 27 (19.5%) were considered to have FTB. Child C class (74.07% vs. 32.43%, p < 0.001), Meld score (20.5 vs. 16.00, p = 0.004) and creatinine level (1.04 vs. 0.81, p = 0.01) were associated with FTB, but only Child class was independently associated with FTB in multivariate analysis (OR = 2.94, p = 0.006). Mortality at 42 days (21.7%) was influenced by the severity of the disease assessed through Child class (76.66% vs. 30.55% – Child C, p < 0.001) and MELD score (21.00 vs. 16.00, p 1 (16.7% vs. 21.3%, p = 0.76) or Charlson index > 4 (36% vs. 47.2%, p = 0.41). Conclusions The severity of cirrhosis is an important prognostic factor for FTB and 42-day mortality. Identifying the factors associated with early mortality may help selecting patients needing more than conventional therapy.

Cardiotoxicity is a well-recognised side effect of cancer-related therapies with a great impact on outcomes and quality of life in the cancer survivor population. The pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity in patients with gastrointestinal cancers involves various molecular mechanisms, and the combined use of various chemotherapies augments the risk of each drug used alone. In terms of cardiotoxicity diagnosis, novel biomarkers, such as troponins, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), myeloperoxidases and miRNAs have been recently assessed. Echocardiography is a noninvasive imaging method of choice for the primary assessment of chemotherapy-treated patients to generally evaluate the cardiovascular impact of these drugs. Novel echocardiography techniques, like three-dimensional and stress echocardiography, will improve diagnosis efficacy. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can evaluate cardiac morphology, function and wall structure. Corroborated data have shown the importance of CMR in the early evaluation of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, treated with anticancer drugs, but further studies are required to improve risk stratification in these patients. In this article, we review some important aspects concerning the cardiotoxicity of antineoplastic drugs used in gastrointestinal cancers. We also discuss the mechanism of cardiotoxicity, the role of biomarkers and the imaging methods used in its detection.

Background. Treatment of gastric varices (GV) implies a number of several difficulties and sometimes entails complications. The best endoscopic success rate was attributed until now to the use of tissue adhesives(N-Butyl-2-Cyanoacrylate) and band ligation.Aim. To assess the therapeutic efficacy and safety of cyanoacrylate injection compared to band ligation in patients with acute GV hemorrhage.Material and methods. Thirty-seven patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding from GV were included in the study, treated with cyanoacrylate injection (GVO)-19 patients or band ligations (GVL)-18 patients. They were followed up for overall results, complications and survival rate.Results. The mean age of the study group was 60.22 ± 9.34 years, with a male/female ratio of 21:16. The mean follow-up period was 427.26 ± 214.16 days in the GVO group and 406.21 ± 213.23 days in the GVL group (p = 0.76). Initial hemostasis was achieved in all patients treated with cyanoacrylate and in 88.88% from the GVL group (p = 0.43). Rebleeding occurred in 72.22% of the GVL group and in 31.57% of the GVO patients (p = 0.03). Patients in the GVO group had a significantly larger rebleeding-free period(p = 0.006). No difference was found in survival rates(p = 0.75). The Child Class (p = 0.003 for Class C) and treatment method (p = 0.01) were independently associated with the rate of rebleeding. No differences were found regarding the rate of complications.Conclusion. The use of cyanoacrylate in acute GV bleeding had better results when compared with band ligation in terms of controlling the hemorrhage and recurrence of bleeding. The overall survival rate was not influenced by the method used for the treatment of complicated GV.