Abstract Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), a locoregional therapy, is widely recommended as first-line treatment for intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several prognostic indices have been used to predict overall survival in HCC patients undergoing the procedure. A total of 73 patients with HCC, candidate for TACE attending to HCC clinic, Specialized Medical Hospital, Mansoura University, were subjected to full history taking, physical examination, laboratory profile and testing for interleukin (IL)-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α polymorphisms. Aggressiveness index is calculated for all patients and followed-up for 4 weeks after TACE to asses response. According to IL-10 and TNF-α polymorphisms results, patients were divided into groups and compared. The aggressiveness index is significantly higher in the TT/AT haplotype of IL-10 and GG haplotype of TNF-α in comparison with the other haplotypes. The TT/AT haplotype of IL-10 and GG haplotype of TNF-α are significantly associated with less favorable outcome after TACE, wherein 64.3 and 56.25% of patients showed residual active tumor tissue, respectively. The TT/AT haplotype of IL-10 and GG haplotype of TNF-α are associated with more aggressive pattern of HCC and less favorable outcome after TACE; hence, these patients must be treated as early as possible.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the commonest primary liver neoplasm that usually develop in the background of cirrhosis. Hepatitis C virus is endemic in Egypt and is the major cause of cirrhosis. Studying the characteristics of patients with HCC may help in clarifying the schedule for screening of high-risk patients for an early detection of HCC. The 492 patients attending the hepatology and HCC clinics in Specialized Medical Hospital, Mansoura University for follow up of liver cirrhois and HCC were subjected to full history, physical examination, laboratory profile, and imaging studies needed for the diagnosis. Data were collected and analyzed. According to the radiological results, patients were divided into three groups (fibrosis, cirrhosis, and HCC) and compared. The study included 336 males and 156 females. Patients with HCC were mainly males with a mean age of 58 years. A statistically significant difference between HCC group and the other groups with respect to hemoglobin level, white blood cells count, platelet count, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, albumen level, serum bilirubin, international normalized ratio, and α-fetoprotein (AFP) was found. The sensitivity and specificity of AFP in differentiating HCC cases are 81.1 and 71.9%, respectively. Logistic regression for prediction of HCC showed that males with age greater than 58 years, hypoalbuminaemia, and AFP greater than 11.2 ng/dl have a 76.3% positive predicted value. Cirrhotic patients with age greater than 58 years, males, hypoalbuminaemia, and AFP greater than 11.2 ng/dl are at a higher risk to develop HCC more than other patients and should be monitored at close quarters with better contrast-enhanced technique either contrast-enhanced ultrasound or computed tomography scan.

Background The stage of liver fibrosis is the most important predictive factor for initiation and duration of antiviral treatment, where patients with early fibrosis stages respond to treatment better with a higher sustained virologic response rate. Several noninvasive tests to stage the degree of fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have been used. No single test is known to have high accuracy and the results of each test must be carefully interpreted. The objective of the study is to evaluate the value of serum fibronectin (FN) as a noninvasive predictor for the assessment of HCV-induced liver fibrosis. Patients and methods A total of 100 patients with chronic HCV infection proved by HCV antibodies and HCV RNA preparing for antiviral treatment were exposed to full history, physical examination, and laboratory assessment. Serum FN level and fibroscan were done for all patients. According to the results of fibroscan, the patients were divided into four groups of liver fibrosis and compared. Results All patients were proved to have HCV viremia with average PCR of 1990.52 ±3144.29 copies/ml. A statistically significant difference was found as regards FN, fibroscan, and APRI score between patients with fibrosis in comparison to patients without fibrosis. According to fibroscan results, 20 patients were found with fibrosis stage 0, 24 patients with stage 1, 24 patients with stage 2, eight patients with stage 3, and 24 patients with stage 4 (cirrhosis). On comparison of different stages of fibrosis as regards FN level, we found no statistically significant difference between stages. FN have a sensitivity of 67.5% and a specificity of 47.4% with 84.4% positive predictive value. Conclusion FN is a good noninvasive marker for the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic HCV. Larger scale multicenter studies are needed to assess its validity in the detection of fibrosis caused by causes other than HCV.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer that usually develops in a background of cirrhosis. It is usually diagnosed at advanced stages and abdominal pain may be the first presentation where it represents a significant cause of morbidity. Celiac plexus neurolysis (CPN) demonstrated good results in the relief of pain as a result of upper abdominal malignancy. Dexmedetomidine is an α2 adrenoreceptor highly selective agonist approved for procedural sedation use.Patients and methods Fifty patients who were divided into two groups with hepatocellular carcinoma-associated abdominal pain in need of opioid analgesics underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided CPN using bupivacaine 0.5% alone with alcohol for the first group and bupivacaine 0.5% plus dexmedetomidine in the second one. Patients give their abdominal pain a score according to the numeric rating scale-11 before, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, and 24 week after the procedure.Results The study have included 50 patients who were divided in two groups: 32 men and 18 women with a mean age of 60.12±5.07 years for group 1 and 58.32±5.03 years for group 2. There were no significant difference between the two groups as regards medical, laboratory, or tumor characteristics. The median pain score decreases from 8.32±0.75 before the procedure to 3.75±3.72 24 week after the procedure in group 1 and from 8.08±0.86 before to 1.67±2.3 24 week after the procedure in group 2. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the median pain score during the first 4 weeks of follow-up. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups as regards the median survival time.Conclusion The addition of dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine 0.5% in endoscopic ultrasound-CPN demonstrated beneficial effects as regards the degree and duration of pain relief with negligible effect on patient survival.

Background: Thromboembolic events (TEEs) are recently described complications in thalassemia patients. Many mechanisms were postulated for thrombosis. Conflicting results of natural anticoagulants values were reported in previous studies. Our aim was to investigate protein C and anti-thrombin-III (AT-III) levels in thalassemics and to detect risk factors for their decrement. Methods: A cross-sectional study for 60 beta-thalassemia patients (35 major and 25 intermedia) and 35 healthy children were tested for protein C and AT-III levels, liver function tests and Sr. ferritin. Results: A significant reduction in protein C and AT-III levels was noticed in patient group compared to healthy children (82.50% (32 - 175) vs. 104% (60 - 204), P = 0.041 and 237.52 +/- 53.19 mg/L vs. 322.99 +/- 56.57 mg/L, P value <= 0.001, respectively). Protein C was lower among older patients (> 10 years) than younger patients (< 10 years), and splenectomized category than non-splenectomized one (P = 0.02 and 0.011, respectively). AT-III was significantly lower among splenectomized patients as compared to those who did not undergo splenectomy (P = 0.04). Significant correlations were found between protein C and AT-III with older age and liver functions. Conclusions: Protein C and AT-III were significantly lower among thalassemics with the main risk factors for their deficiencies being: splenectomy and increasing age. This allows establishment of early prophylactic policy against TEE for the vulnerable group.

Background Overall, 20–50% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) present at advanced stage where palliative treatment is the only reasonable management. Pain in HCC is a significant factor of morbidity, and celiac plexus neurolysis demonstrated good results in relief of pain as a result of pancreatic cancer; however, there are no studies concerning its use in management of HCC. Patients and methods A total of 30 patients with advanced stage HCC complaining of moderate to severe abdominal pain, requiring opioid analgesics to control, scored their abdominal pain according to the Numeric Rating Scale-11 before the procedure and were re-assessed every 2 weeks for 2 months. Results This study included 30 patients, comprising 24 men and six women, with a mean age of 61.73±7.9 years. A significant correlation between older age and better BCLC staging and pain reduction was found (P=0.045 and 0.08, respectively), whereas there is no significant correlation between pain reduction and clinical manifestations and medical history. There is a significant reduction in pain score after the procedure. Median pain score was significantly lower than pre-endoscopic median pain score, with a P value less than 0.001. Conclusion Endoscopic ultrasound-celiac plexus neurolysis should be a potential choice in patients with moderate to severe abdominal pain in patients with HCC who are not considered for therapeutic intervention.

Background: Proper postoperative pain management, which can be advanced using a multimodal approach, results in pain relief with minimal side effects. Newer recovery protocols, along with minimally invasive surgeries add to the better management of post-operative complication. Many factors play a role in failure of proper postoperative pain management, which mainly include insufficient education, fear of complications associated with analgesic drugs, poor pain assessment and inadequate staffing. Methodology: we conducted this review using a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE fromJanuary 1987 toMarch 2017. The following search terms were used: post-operative pain mechanism, post-operative pain management, non-opioid pain management Aim of the work: In this study we aimed to understand the mechanism and the management of post-operative pain, along with shining some light upon the recent advances. Conclusion: Various combinations and modalities of pain management exist, and their use depends largely on the case, the patients, and their perception of pain. Enhanced recovery protocols have significantly improved perioperative and postoperative pain management, making the decrease in opioids need a priority.

Background Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is an infection of the ascitic fluid in the absence of other intra-abdominal sources. The risk is high in those with concomitant gastrointestinal bleeding, low ascitic fluid protein, or a previous attack of SBP. Norfloxacin is used widely in the primary prophylaxis of SBP but resistance usually develops where rifaximin was introduced. Patients and methods A total of 80 patients with advanced liver cirrhosis attending the Hemostasis Unit, Emergency Hospital, Mansoura University, with upper gastrointestinal bleeding were subjected to full history, clinical examination, laboratory assessment, and ascitic fluid analysis. The patients were divided into two groups: the first group received rifaximin plus norfloxacin and the second group received norfloxacin only and the two groups were followed up for 1 year. Results The study enrolled 80 patients, 51 men and 29 women with a mean age of 58.83±5.02 years for group 1 and 58.35±4.95 years for group 2. There were no statistically significant difference between the two groups as regards the clinical or laboratory characteristics except for the presence of focal lesions that was significantly present in group 2. A significant increase in the incidence of SBP in group 2 was present with P=0.014. The median time of developing SBP was significantly shorter in the second group. Conclusion The addition of rifaximin to norfloxacin decreased the incidence rates of SBP in patients with variceal bleeding with significant improvement in patient survival.