Background/Aims: Cholangiogram interpretation is not used as a key performance indicator (KPI) of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) training, and national societies recommend different minimum numbers per annum to maintain competence. This study aimed to determine the relationship between correct ERCP cholangiogram interpretation and experience. Methods: One hundred fifty ERCPists were surveyed to appropriately interpret ERCP cholangiographic findings. There were three groups of 50 participants each: “Trainees,” “Consultants group 1” (performed >75 ERCPs per year), and “Consultants group 2” (performed >100 ERCPs per year). Results: Trainees was inferior to Consultants groups 1 and 2 in identifying all findings except choledocholithiasis outside the intrahepatic duct on the initial or completion/occlusion cholangiogram. Consultants group 1 was inferior to Consultants group 2 in identifying Strasberg type A bile leaks (odds ratio [OR], 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77–0.96), Strasberg type B (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74–0.95), and Bismuth type 2 hilar strictures (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.69–0.95). Conclusions This investigation supports the notion that cholangiogram interpretation improves with increased annual ERCP case volumes. Thus, a higher annual volume of procedures performed may improve the ability to correctly interpret particularly difficult findings. Cholangiogram interpretation, in addition to bile duct cannulation, could be considered as another KPI of ERCP training.

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a common cause of infection in newborns and in early infants. However, GBS infection in an infant older than three months is infrequently reported in the literature. We reported a case of an apparently well six-month-old infant who died of sudden death due to GBS pneumonia, diagnosed at autopsy. The six-month-old, apparently well male infant was brought in dead to the Emergency Department. He underwent medicolegal autopsy four hours after death, as part of an overall sudden unexpected death in infancy investigation (SUDI). Apart from whitish froth oozing out of both nostrils, he appeared to be well-nourished infant without any deformity, syndromic features or obvious suspicious marks of injury externally. Internal examination showed generalized hyperinflated with patchy consolidation of upper and middle lobes of bilateral lung. Multiple matted mesenteric lymphadenopathy were also detected. Blood and lung tissue specimens collected under aseptic technique yielded growth of GBS. Post-mortem histology from consolidated lungs confirmed pneumonic features while mesenteric lymph nodes showed reactive changes inkeeping with underlying infective process. Death was attributed to GBS pneumonia. This case highlights the importance of a detailed autopsy in sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) and the crucial role of post-mortem microbiological study in such cases. Relevant autopsy protocols that need to be employed during microbiological sampling are briefly discussed.

Purpose: Previous report from the ASCEND-8 trial showed consistent efficacy with less gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-rearranged (ALK+) advanced/metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with ceritinib 450-mg with food compared with 750-mg fasted. In this subgroup analysis, we report outcomes in Asian patients of the ASCEND-8 trial. Materials and Methods: Key efficacy endpoints were blinded independent review committee (BIRC)–assessed overall response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR) evaluated per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1. Other efficacy endpoints were investigator-assessed ORR and DOR; BIRC- and investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS) and disease control rate; overall survival (OS). Safety was evaluated by frequency and severity of adverse events. Results: At final data cutoff (6 March 2020), 198 treatment-naïve patients were included in efficacy analysis, of which 74 (37%) comprised the Asian subset; 450-mg fed (n=29), 600-mg fed (n=19), and 750-mg fasted (n=26). Baseline characteristics were mostly comparable across study arms. At baseline, more patients in 450-mg fed arm (44.8%) had brain metastases than in 750-mg fasted arm (26.9%). Per BIRC, patients in the 450-mg fed arm had a numerically higher ORR, 24-month DOR rate and 24-month PFS rate than the 750-mg fasted arm. The 36-month OS rate was 93.1% in 450-mg fed arm and 70.9% in 750-mg fasted arm. Any-grade GI toxicity occurred in 82.8% and 96.2% of patients in the 450-mg fed and 750-mg fasted arms, respectively. Conclusion Asian patients with ALK+ advanced/metastatic NSCLC treated with ceritinib 450-mg fed showed numerically higher efficacy and lower GI toxicity than 750-mg fasted patients.