Background: There is a dearth of data on Filipino patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). We aimed to describe the demographic and clinical profiles of patients with AIH and to characterize clinical outcomes and treatment responses. Methods: A retrospective cohort study involving patients from two tertiary centers diagnosed with AIH from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2019, was included. Disease remission was defined as the normalization of ALT levels, while failure was defined as an increase in ALT levels over baseline or clinical deterioration. Results: A total of 48 patients were identified between 2007 to 2019. The median age at presentation was 51 (27-79 yrs.). Liver cirrhosis was already present in 37.5% (27.1% decompensated) on diagnosis. Aside from a higher histologic activity index in females (p=0.047), there were no gender-specific differences. Disease remission was achieved in 41.9% of patients at 6 months, while only 9.3% failed. At the final disposition, remission rates had slightly increased to 58%, but failure rates had risen to 12%. Treatment responses at both 6 and 12 months and MELD and Child-Pugh class influenced treatment responses at final disposition. Median overall survival was 102 weeks and was influenced by the presence of liver dysfunction and 12 months and final treatment responses. Conclusion Autoimmune hepatitis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The results of the study highlight the need for immunosuppressive therapy to induce early remission for a higher likelihood of subsequent biochemical remission to reduce the risk of liver-related mortality.
Autoimmune Hepatitis ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Steroids ; Azathioprine

Significance: Accurate detection of Helicobacter pylori (HP) is essential for the diagnosis of HP infection. The use of antibiotics and proton pump inhibitors (PPI) may result in false-negative rapid urease test (RUT) results. We aimed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of RUT compared with histology and assess the detection rate of combined RUT and histology for HP infection. Methodology: Retrospective data collection was performed on 192 patients who were tested for both RUT and histology at the time of upper endoscopy from 2017 to 2018. At least two gastric biopsies (1 from corpus, 1 from antrum) were taken each for RUT and histology. The endoscopy was performed by a single gastroenterologist and a single pathologist was responsible for interpreting the histology with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Giemsa stain. The gold standard test for the diagnosis of HP infection was histology. Demographic profile, RUT and histology results were reviewed. Tests for diagnostic accuracy were computed using SPSSv23. Results: 192 patients were tested for RUT and histology. 52(27.1%) were males and 140(72.9%) were females with a mean age of 54±17 years. Epigastric pain was the most common indication (42.7%). 24(12.5%) patients tested positive for HP infection. Among these; 16(8.3%) tested positive for both RUT and histology(true-positive), while 8(4.2%) tested negative for RUT but had positive histology(false-negative). 6 out of 8(75%) patients with false negative results had PPI use. The sensitivity and specificity of RUT for the diagnosis of HP infection were 66.7 and 98.2%, respectively. While the positive and negative likelihood ratio were 37.3 and 0.34, respectively with a diagnostic odds ratio of 110. Conclusion The HP detection rate of RUT combined with histology increased by 33% compared with RUT alone. RUT is a highly specific test for diagnosing HP infection. Given its modest sensitivity, histology plays an important role in the diagnosis of HP infection, especially in patients taking PPIs. We recommend doing histology when RUT is negative to increase the HP detection rate.
Helicobacter Pylori ; Histology ; Azure Stains

Background: Weight loss, though difficult to attain and sustain over time, remains the cornerstone of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) treatment. We aimed to describe weight changes among NAFLD patients. Methods: This was a retrospective, cohort study of consecutively-identified NAFLD patients with >2 clinic visits from March2007–April2018. Weight changes from baseline were categorized into weight gain, weight loss, and no change. Baseline liver and metabolic biochemistries and non-invasive liver fibrosis tests were correlated with the final weight changes. Succeeding weight changes after the initial follow-up visits were used to determine sustainability of weight loss. Results: Of the 240 patients included, 123 (51.2%), 93 (38.8%), and 24 (10%) had weight gain, weight loss, and no change, respectively. Only 12.5% had >5% weight loss. Duration of follow-up was significantly longer for patients with weight loss (p<0.001). None of the baseline demographic and laboratory data were associated with weight loss. Patients with weight loss also did not have significant changes to their biochemistries and non-invasive liver fibrosis tests compared to patients with weight gain/no change. Compared to patients with weight gain after the initial follow-up, where only 11.8% were able to lose weight on the final visit, 73.1% of patients who lost weight after the initial follow-up were able to sustain their weight loss on the final visit. Conclusions Weight loss is achieved in only a third of NAFLD patients. Although 73% of patients who lost weight initially were able to sustain it, patients who gained weight after the 1st follow-up were unlikely to lose weight on further follow-up.
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ; Weight Loss

In the last two decades gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), initially thought to be a disease only common  in the West, is described  increasingly in Asia, including the Philippines. A recent local report indicated that the prevalence of erosive esophagitis (EE), a common complication of GERD, has more than doubled, i.e., 2.9% to  6.3%,  between the two time periods of 1994-1997 and 2000-2003, respectively. GERD causes recurrent annoying symptoms which are common  reasons  for  clinic  visits  and consultations thus, it is the objective of these guidelines to provide both primary care physicians  (PCPs) and specialists a current, evidence-based, country-specific recommendations for the optimal management  of  GERD.  These  guidelines  are  intended   to   empower   PCPs   to   make   a   clinic-based diagnosis of GERD, to start an empiric acid-suppressive therapy in the appropriate patient,and direct them to select which GERD patient may need to undergo investigations to ascertain further the diagnosis of GERD or to assess outcomes of therapy. We acknowledge that studies published in the future may influence the impact on our confidence on the recommendations enumerated in  these guidelines thus, we commit to update this document when it is deemed appropriate.

Physicians, Primary Care ; Prevalence ; Specialization ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Ambulatory Care ; Esophagitis ;

Background : Quality of life (QoL) is arguably as important as the survival rate in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, very few studies have evaluated the factors that determine good or poor QoL in patients with HCC.Objectives:To correlate baseline QoL (EORTC-QLQC30) with baseline laboratory and clinical parameters among HCC patients.Patients and Method: Thirty nine consecutive newly-diagnosed HCC patients were recruited, Spearman;s rank correlation was used to correlate the QoL scores, which consisted of 15 domians, wirg continous baseline variables while the Mann-Whitney U or kruskal Wallis tests were used for categorial variables.Results: The mean age of the cohort was 61.3 +- 14.5, majority of whom were male(89.7). Majority had childs Pugh Turcott (CPT) score af A (61.5%) and barcelona Clinic Liver cancer (BCLC) stage A-B (76.9%). A third (33.3%) knew of their diagnosis at the time of QoL between the 2 groups (p>0.05). There was no consistent pattern in the correlation between laboratory parameters with QoL, with some running contrary to conventional reasoning (Higher international normalized ratio correlation with better role function[p=0.02] and less pain [0.035]; CPT score A associated with lower global health status compared to CPT B/C [p=0.028]). On the other hand, BCLC staging was a more sensible relection of QoL with BCLC A/B patients having higher physical (p=0.014) and social (p=0.049) function, and lower symptom scores for nausses/vomiting (p=0.041) and dyspnea (p=0.004) than patients with BCLC C/D.Conclusion: baseline EORTC-QLC-C30 of patients with HCC has no consistent correlation with the severity of liver dysfunction. Correlation of some domains of the EORTC-QLQ-C30 with BCLC staging suggests that umor burden is the main determinant of QoL in HCC patients. Further studies are needed to determine whether baseline QoL predicts survival independent of HCC staging.
Hepatocellular Carcinoma