Identification of people living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) via readily available laboratory records could be a key strategy for macro-elimination, aligning with the WHO elimination goal. Therefore, the ELIMINATE(ELIMINation of HCV in AusTria East) project aimed to systematically re-link people with a 'last-positive' HCV-RNA PCR record to care.
Flexible diverticulotomy is an established procedure for the treatment of Zenker's diverticulum. In a bicentric study, we investigated the development of the procedure since its introduction at the Ordensklinikum Linz Barmherzige Schwestern and Elisabethinen in 2010.All flexible diverticulotomies performed between January 2010 and December 2019 at the above-mentioned clinics were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into two 5-year periods (2010-2014 and 2015-2019) and statistical tests were performed for comparison of data.In all, 69 flexible diverticulotomies were performed. The procedure was technically successful in 93.5% of cases. No lethal outcome was encountered. Only 2 (2.9%) interventions led to serious complications which had to be treated in the intensive care unit. Mild complications occurred in 14.5% of cases. 54 patients were evaluated in the follow-up period; 11 (20.3%) patients experienced relapses of dysphagia. The primary intervention resulted in a significant improvement over the observation period. Patients in the second intervention group had shorter average hospital stays and longer recurrence-free intervals.Flexible diverticulotomy is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of Zenker's diverticulum. However, as the success rate appears to depend on the expertise and experience of the department, flexible diverticulotomy should be performed at centers with high caseloads.Die flexible Divertikulotomie gilt inzwischen als etablierte Behandlungsoption in der Therapie des Zenker-Divertikels. In unserer bizentrischen Studie des Ordensklinikums Linz Barmherzige Schwestern und Elisabethinen untersuchten wir, inwiefern sich dieses Verfahren seit dessen Einführung im Jahr 2010 entwickelt hat.Diese retrospektive Studie umfasst alle endoskopisch-flexiblen Divertikulotomien, die im Zeitraum vom 01.01.2010 bis zum 31.12.2019 in den genannten Kliniken durchgeführt wurden. Die Patienten wurden in 2 sequenzielle 5-Jahres-Intervalle (2010–2014 und 2015–2019) aufgeteilt und statistisch verglichen.Insgesamt wurden 69 konsekutive flexible Divertikulotomien ausgewertet. Ein primärer Eingriffserfolg konnte bei 93,5% erzielt werden. Es kam zu keinem letalen Outcome und bei 2 (2,9%) Eingriffen zu schweren intensivpflichtigen Komplikationen. Leichte Komplikationen traten in 14,5% der Fälle auf. Im Follow-Up konnten 54 Patienten evaluiert werden. Hiervon entwickelten 11 (20,3%) ein Rezidiv. Der primäre Eingriffserfolg zeigte eine signifikante Verbesserung über den Beobachtungszeitraum. Außerdem profitierten Patienten der zweiten Interventionsgruppe im Durchschnitt von einer kürzeren Hospitalisationszeit und einem längeren Rezidiv-freien Intervall.Die flexible Divertikulotomie ist eine sichere und effektive Methode für die Behandlung des Zenker-Divertikels. Die Erfolgsrate scheint aber von der Expertise und Erfahrung der Abteilung abzuhängen, weshalb die flexible Divertikulotomie primär in Zentren mit hohen Fallzahlen durchgeführt werden sollte.
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. It remains a major health burden worldwide, in part due to misdiagnosis. Therefore, improved diagnostic tests allowing the faster and more reliable diagnosis of patients with active TB are urgently needed. This prospective study examined the performance of the new molecular whole-blood test T-Track® TB, which relies on the combined evaluation of IFNG and CXCL10 mRNA levels, and compared it to that of the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Diagnostic accuracy and agreement analyses were conducted on the whole blood of 181 active TB patients and 163 non-TB controls. T-Track® TB presented sensitivity of 94.9% and specificity of 93.8% for the detection of active TB vs. non-TB controls. In comparison, the QFT-Plus ELISA showed sensitivity of 84.3%. The sensitivity of T-Track® TB was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of QFT-Plus. The overall agreement of T-Track® TB with QFT-Plus to diagnose active TB was 87.9%. Out of 21 samples with discordant results, 19 were correctly classified by T-Track® TB while misclassified by QFT-Plus (T-Track® TB-positive/QFT-Plus-negative), and two samples were misclassified by T-Track® TB while correctly classified by QFT-Plus (T-Track® TB-negative/QFT-Plus-positive). Our results demonstrate the excellent performance of the T-Track® TB molecular assay and its suitability to accurately detect TB infection and discriminate active TB patients from non-infected controls.
Background and aims: IFN-free antiviral treatment with DAAs improves liver function in many patients with cirrhosis already at the end of therapy, however, results of long-term follow-up are not yet known. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients' virological and clinical outcomes at follow-up week 48 after interferon-free DAA therapy.
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleedings are a common cause for hospital and are often causing a life-threatening situation. At the beginning of 2018 we started to register every patient with any kind of GI bleeding in a database. In the context of data evaluation, we obtained findings on incidence, prevalence, mortality and morbidity. In addition, this registry serves to evaluate predictive (both clinical and laboratory) parameters for the survival of patients with GI bleeding.
Background Variceal bleeding is a serious complication of portal hypertension in cirrhotic patients. Here we aimed to evaluated the perceptions of Spezialized Gastroenterologists/Hepatologists in regard to the management and prevention of variceal bleeding. Methods We designed a standardized written survey for physicians specialized or currently specializing for Gastroenterology/Hepatology in secondary/tertiary Care Centers in Austria. The physicians were asked to provide their responses spontaneously and anonymously.
We agree on the comments by Kelley et al.1 regarding our article.2 So far, vWF-Ag is not part of the daily routine work-up. Many clinics and laboratories have the ability to determine vWF-Ag, and in fact vWF-Ag can be accessed from the same laboratory probe as, for example, an international normalized ratio (INR). Therefore, the addition of vWF-Ag and VITRO score does not augment inconvenience for the patients, although it will increase costs slightly. However, as it may help not only to predict or rule out cirrhosis but also predict clinical outcomes, we believe that the marginal increased costs might be justified. Despite this, there is still a need for further clinical validation for vWF-Ag and VITRO score. The authors' declarations of personal and financial interests are unchanged from those in the original article.2
