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International medical graduates (IMGs) have been a critical part of the USA healthcare in the past 30 years, especially in small rural and poor counties. However, little to no publications are present on the distribution of these IMGs across general surgery residency programs.All freely accessible information on current residents in accredited general surgery residency programs within the USA with at least a 5-year history was explored for IMGs in the current roster using the AMA residency and fellowship database in 2020. Demographic and geographic data were summarized.A total of 230 general surgery residency program were included. Programs were distributed among 46 (92%) states. Of a total 6304 categorical general surgery residents, 573 (9%) were IMGs. Florida (USA) had the highest total number of current IMG general surgery residents with 64. The highest percentage of current IMG residents was found in Maryland (USA) with 31%. IMGs obtained their medical degrees from 76 different countries worldwide. Grenada was the country with the highest origin of IMGs with 77 residents. Central/North America had the highest origin of IMGs with 217 (38%).IMGs make up a small portion of current general surgery residents in USA programs. Some states host more IMGs than others. Particular countries have contributed more IMGs than others. More research is needed to the challenges facing IMGs and come up with novel solutions for them.

Old patients with hepatotoxicity have been scarcely studied in idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) cohorts. We sought for the distinctive characteristics of DILI in older patients across age groups. A total of 882 DILI patients included in the Spanish DILI Registry (33% ≥65 years) were categorized according to age: “young” (

Hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) diseases carry high morbidity despite efforts aimed at their reduction. An assessment of their trial characteristics is paramount to determine trial design adequacy and highlight areas for improvement. As such, the aim of this study is to assess HPB surgery trial characteristics, summarize logistic, financial, and practical reasons behind early discontinuation, and propose potential interventions to prevent this in the future.All clinical trials investigating HPB surgery registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from October 1st, 2007 (inclusive), to April 20th, 2021 (inclusive), were examined. Trial characteristics were collected including, but not limited to, study phase, duration, patient enrollment size, location, and study design. Peer-reviewed publications associated with the selected trials were also assessed to determine outcome reporting.A total of 1776 clinical trials conducted in 43 countries were identified, the majority of which were conducted in the USA. Of these trials, 32% were reported as "completed" whereas 12% were "discontinued." The most common cause of trial discontinuation was low accrual, which was reported in 37% of terminated studies. These resulted in 413 published studies. Most trials had multiple assignment, randomized, or open-label designs. Treatment was the most common study objective (73%) with pharmacological therapy being the most commonly studied intervention.The main reasons for early discontinuation of clinical trials in HPB surgery are poor patient recruitment and inadequate funding. Improved trial design, recruitment strategies and increased funding are needed to prevent trial discontinuation and increase publication rates of HPB surgery clinical trials.

The Model End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) has been widely used to predict the mortality and morbidity of various surgical procedures. We aimed to assess the impact of preoperative MELD score on adverse 30-day postoperative outcomes following gastrectomy.Patients who underwent elective, non-emergent gastrectomy were identified from the ACS NSQIP 2014-2019 database. Patients were categorized according to a calculated MELD score. The primary outcomes of this study were the 30-day overall complications and major complication rates following gastrectomy.Compared to MELD11, patients with MELD ≥11 had significantly higher rates of mortality, any complication, and major complication. MELD score ≥11 was significantly associated with any complication (OR 1.73, p = 0.011) and major complications (1.85, p = 0.014) on multivariate analysis.MELD score ≥11 was associated with poorer outcomes in patients undergoing gastrectomy compared to lower MELD scores.

The use robotics in surgery is gaining momentum. This approach holds substantial promise in pancreas surgery. Robotic surgery for pancreatic lesions and malignancies has become well accepted and is expanding to more and more center annually. The number of centers using robotics in pancreatic surgery is rapidly increasing. The most studied robotic pancreas surgeries are pancreaticoduodenectomy and distal pancreatectomy. Most studies are in their early phases, but they report that robotic pancreas surgery is safe feasible. Robotic pancreas surgery offers several advantages over open and laparoscopic techniques. Data regarding costs of robotics versus conventional techniques is still lacking. Robotic pancreas surgery is still in its early stages. It holds promise to become the new surgical standard for pancreatic resections in the future, however, more research is still needed to establish its safety, cost effectiveness and efficacy in providing the best outcomes.

[Background & Aims] Prospective drug-induced liver injury (DILI) registries are important sources of information on idiosyncratic DILI. We aimed to present a comprehensive analysis of 843 patients with DILI enrolled into the Spanish DILI Registry over a 20-year time period., [Methods] Cases were identified, diagnosed and followed prospectively. Clinical features, drug information and outcome data were collected., [Results] A total of 843 patients, with a mean age of 54 years (48% females), were enrolled up to 2018. Hepatocellular injury was associated with younger age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] per year 0.983; 95% CI 0.974–0.991) and lower platelet count (aOR per unit 0.996; 95% CI 0.994–0.998). Anti-infectives were the most common causative drug class (40%). Liver-related mortality was more frequent in patients with hepatocellular damage aged ≥65 years (p = 0.0083) and in patients with underlying liver disease (p = 0.0221). Independent predictors of liver-related death/transplantation included nR-based hepatocellular injury, female sex, higher onset aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and bilirubin values. nR-based hepatocellular injury was not associated with 6-month overall mortality, for which comorbidity burden played a more important role. The prognostic capacity of Hy’s law varied between causative agents. Empirical therapy (corticosteroids, ursodeoxycholic acid and MARS) was prescribed to 20% of patients. Drug-induced autoimmune hepatitis patients (26 cases) were mainly females (62%) with hepatocellular damage (92%), who more frequently received immunosuppressive therapy (58%)., [Conclusions] AST elevation at onset is a strong predictor of poor outcome and should be routinely assessed in DILI evaluation. Mortality is higher in older patients with hepatocellular damage and patients with underlying hepatic conditions. The Spanish DILI Registry is a valuable tool in the identification of causative drugs, clinical signatures and prognostic risk factors in DILI and can aid physicians in DILI characterisation and management., [Lay summary] Clinical information on drug-induced liver injury (DILI) collected from enrolled patients in the Spanish DILI Registry can guide physicians in the decision-making process. We have found that older patients with hepatocellular type liver injury and patients with additional liver conditions are at a higher risk of mortality. The type of liver injury, patient sex and analytical values of aspartate aminotransferase and total bilirubin can also help predict clinical outcomes., The present study has been supported by grants of Instituto de Salud Carlos III cofounded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – FEDER (contract numbers: PI19/00883, PI16/01748, PI18/00901, PI18/01804, PI-0285-2016, PI-0274-2016, PI-0310-2018, PT17/0017/0020) and Agencia Española del Medicamento. CIBERehd and Plataforma ISCIII Ensayos Clinicos are funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III. MRD holds a Joan Rodes (JR16/00015)/Acción B clinicos investigadores (B-0002-2019) and JSC a Rio Hortega (CM17/00243) research contract from ISCIII and Consejería de Salud de Andalucía.

Objectives Positive autoantibody (AAB) titres are commonly encountered in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and in a proportion of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) patients. The underlying mechanism for selective AAB occurrence in DILI is unknown, but could be associated with variations in immune-associated genes. Hence, we aimed to analyse human leucocyte antigen (HLA) allele compositions in DILI with positive (+) and negative (-) AAB titres and in AIH patients. Methods High-resolution genotyping of HLA class I (A, B, C) and II (DRB1, DQB1) loci was performed on 207 DILI and 50 idiopathic AIH patients and compared with 885 healthy Spanish controls. Results Compared with controls, HLA-B*08:01 [ 44 vs. 9.7%, P = 3.7E-13/corrected P-value (P-c) = 1.0E-11], C*07:01 (46 vs. 24%, P = 6.4E-04/P-c = 0.012), DRB1*03:01 (58 vs. 21.5%, P = 5.0E-09/P-c = 1.0E-07) and DQB1*02:01 (56 vs. 22%, P = 6.8E-08/P-c = 9.0E-07) were significantly more frequent in AIH patients. The HLA-A*01:01 frequency was increased in the same population, but did not reach significance after Bonferroni's correction (34 vs. 19%, P = 0.02/P-c = 0.37). Fifty-eight of 207 DILI patients presented positive titres for at least one AAB (predominantly antinuclear antibody 76% and antismooth muscle antibody 28%). There was a tendency towards higher representation of DRB1*14:01 and DQB1*05:03 in DILI AAB(+) compared with DILI AAB- (13.8 vs. 4.0%, P = 0.02/P-c = 0.5; 13.8 vs. 4.7%, P = 0.04/P-c = 0.5). Conclusion The presence of HLA alleles B*08:01, C*07: 01, DRB1*03: 01, DQB1*02: 01 and possibly A*01: 01 enhances the risk of AIH (type 1) in Spanish patients. These alleles form part of the ancestral haplotype 8.1. HLA-DRB1*14:01 and DQB1*05: 03 could potentially increase the risk of positive AAB (particularly antinuclear antibody) in Spanish DILI patients. Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Several pharmaceutical compounds have been shown to exert inhibitory effects on the bile salt export pump (BSEP) encoded by the ABCB11 gene. We analysed the combined effect on drug-induced liver injury (DILI) development of the ABCB11 1331TC polymorphism and the presence of specific chemical moieties, with known BSEP inhibiting properties, in the causative drug.Genotyping using a TaqMan 5' allelic discrimination assay was performed in 188 Spanish DILI patients, 219 healthy controls and 91 sex-, age- and drug-matched controls. A chemical structure analysis was performed for each individual causative drug.The CC genotype was significantly associated with hepatocellular damage [odds ratio (OR) = 2.1, P = 0.001], particularly in NSAID DILI cases (OR = 3.4, P = 0.007). In addition, the CC genotype was found to be significantly linked to DILI development from drugs causing50% BSEP inhibition (OR = 1.8, Pc = 0.011). Of the BSEP inhibitory chemical moieties, 59% of the causative drugs contained a carbocyclic system with at least one aromatic ring, corresponding to 61% of the total cases. The C allele was significantly more frequent in DILI cases containing this chemical moiety, which appear to be conditioned on the ABCB11 1331TC polymorphism in the absence of other BSEP inhibitory structures.Patients carrying the C allele in the ABCB11 1331TC polymorphism are at increased risk of developing hepatocellular type of DILI, when taking drugs containing a carbocyclic system with aromatic rings.

We describe the case of a 64-year-old woman with a previous diagnosis of celiac sprue and no clinical or histological response to gluten withdrawal. The patient presented a history of longstanding recurrent watery diarrhea and was found to have collagenous colitis after further investigation of her diarrhea. Immunological study was incompatible with celiac disease and no other cause of villous atrophy was found. We suggest that this patient may have a separate disease entity unrelated to celiac sprue and consisting of a pan-intestinal inflammatory disorder characterized by the combination of a chronic inflammatory infiltrate in the small and lower bowel together with a subepithelial collagenous band in the colon.

We present the case of a 33-year-old woman who complained of intermittent diarrhea over the previous 8 years and who was diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency. The woman presented antral atrophic gastritis, partial atrophy of the duodenal villi, nodular lymphoid hyperplasia of the small intestine and lymphocytic colitis. We also review the literature.

Hypercoagulability is a extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease, which could provoke thromboembolic phenomena. Central nervous system venous thrombosis is a rare complication and could be unnoticed. We report on a patient with ulcerative colitis who presented cerebral venous sinus thrombosis as the first manifestation of a hypercoagulable state. We review the literature and discuss about the pathogenic mechanisms of such complication.

During blunt abdominal trauma the small bowel and/or its mesentery may be injured; if abdominal trauma occurs after compression by an incorrectly-applied seat belt, underlying viscera may be crushed between the vertebral and the seat belt; ischemia or infarction of the intestinal wall, and delayed fibrosis and stenosis may occur. We present a patient, operated on two months after blunt abdominal trauma, with small bowel obstruction secondary to post-traumatic intestinal fibrosis. Assuming that this condition is rarely suspected, a delayed diagnosis and treatment of these patients may occur.

A case of idiopathic granulomatous vasculitis (disseminated visceral giant cell arteritis) is described in an old woman, the seventh case of this rare disorder reported to date. The main organ affected was the liver and, to our knowledge, this is the first patient to be diagnosed while still alive and the only case to have received medical treatment. It is also the first time that muscular involvement has been documented in this condition. Cyclophosphamide treatment resulted in disappearance of symptoms and increase in weight. The patient died of an unrelated condition.

Galactorrhea as the result of hyperprolactinemia has been described in very rare cases associated to acute outbreaks of intermittent acute porphyria (IAP). In our country, any of such cases have been published or analytically documented. We present the case of a patient admitted in our hospital for the study of abdominal pain and galactorrhea, with latter diagnosis of IAP, supported by the assessment of the activity of the enzyme showing a deficit in the red blood cells.