Browsing by Author "Wijewantha, H."

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Early predictors of severe dengue in adults
(Elsevier, 2012) Wijewantha, H.; Premaratna, R.; Mabharana, I.; Nishad, N.; de Silva, A.; de Silva, H.J.
BACKGROUND: Dengue is the main infectious disease causing high morbidity and mortality among adults in dengue endemic regions of Sri Lanka. Prediction of severe illness at an earlier stage of infection helps to arrive at management decisions. Studies to identify predictors of severe dengue in adults are sparse. METHODS: In order to identify predictors of severe dengue by the third day of illness, symptoms, signs and investigation results of first 3 days of illness between two groups A and B (defined below) were compared in a prospective cohort study of consecutive 117 adult patients (age>12 years) with serologically confirmed dengue admitted to the professorial medical unit, Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka over 6 month from 1st of March 2011. Group A (Severe illness): development of ascites or pleural effusions (evidence of fluid leakage), compensated shock and profound shock (as defined by WHO guidelines for Dengue 2010), Group B: all others who did not fall into Group A. Severity of symptoms was assessed by a visual analogue scale, and rest of the clinical parameters, investigation results were documented prospectively. RESULTS: Of the 117 adults (95 males) mean age 31.95years (SD=13.34); 27 fell into Group A and 90 into group B. On the 3rd day of illness, mean Aspartate aminotransferase (AST); Group A 260 iu/L (SD=168.8) vs Group B-145 iu/L (SD=135.11) (p=0.005). Mean Alanine aminotransferase (ALT); Group A-247 iu/L (SD=161.5) vs Group B-105iu/L (SD-91.5) (p=0.002). None of the symptoms, signs and other investigations including platelet count, packed cell volume (PCV) and white blood cell count was significantly different. Analysis of the whole 117, pearson correlation test showed a positive correlation of AST(r=0.3) (p=0.038) and ALT(r=0.3) (P=0.045) with PCV and a negative correlation (r=-0.3) with platelet count (p=0.014). AST(r=0.25) and ALT (r=0.3) on day 3 was positively correlated with development of malena at any stage (p=0.05). CONCLUSION: Higher AST and ALT levels on 3rd day of dengue seems to be useful predictors of severe dengue. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.
INASL-SAASL consensus statements on NAFLD name change to MAFLD
(Elsevier, 2023) Singh, S.P.; Duseja, A.; Mahtab, M.A.; Anirvan, P.; Acharya, S.K.; Akbar, S.M.F.; Butt, A.S.; Dassanayake, A.S.; De, A.; Dhakal, G.P.; Hamid, S.; Madan, K.; Panigrahi, M.K.; Rao, P.N.; Saigal, S.; Satapathy, S.K.; Shalimar; Shrestha, A.; Shukla, A.; Sudhamshu, K.C.; Wijewantha, H.
There is an ongoing debate on the change of terminology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). Experts from the Indian National Association for Study of the Liver (INASL) and the South Asian Association for Study of the Liver (SAASL) involved in diagnosing, managing, and preventing NAFLD met in March 2022 to deliberate if the name change from NAFLD to MAFLD is appropriate, as proposed by a group of experts who published a "consensus" statement in 2020. Proponents of name change to MAFLD opined that NAFLD does not reflect current knowledge, and the term MAFLD was suggested as a more appropriate overarching term. However, this "consensus" group which proposed the name change to MAFLD did not represent the views and opinions of gastroenterologists and hepatologists, as well as perceptions of patients across the globe, given the fact that change of nomenclature for any disease entity is bound to have multidimensional impact on all aspects of patient care. This statement is the culmination of the participants' combined efforts who presented recommendations on specific issues concerning the proposed name change. The recommendations were then circulated to all the core group members and updated based on a systematic literature search. Finally, all the members voted on them using the nominal voting technique as per the standard guidelines. The quality of evidence was adapted from the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation system.
Usefulness of Ileoscopy during Colonoscopy
(American Gastroenterological Association(AGA) Institute, Published by Elsevier Inc., 2011) Wijewantha, H.; de Silva, A.P.; Wijesinghe, N.T.; Kumarasena, R.S.; Dassanayake, A.S.; Hewavisenthi, S.J.; de Silva, H.J.
INTRODUCTION: Ileoscopy during colonoscopy adds only three minutes to total procedure time and has no added complications. However, available evidence for recommending the procedure is contradictory. There are few studies adressing this issue in South Asian populations. Aims: To investigate the usefulness of terminal ileoscopy during colonoscopy in a cohort of Sri Lankan patients attending a tertiary care centre. METHODOLOGY: From January 2007, our unit policy was to perform ileoscopy in all patients undergoing colonoscopy. A retrospective analysis of all patients who underwent colonoscopy in the unit from January 2007 to September 2010 was performed. Data were obtained from endoscopy unit and patient records. We compared usefulness of ileoscopy in patients considered to have specific clinical indications for ileoscopy - right iliac fossa pain, diarrhea, anemia, inflammatory bowel disease and raised inflammatory markers (group A) with those that did not (group B). RESULTS: 789 colonoscopies were performed during the study period, and the terminal ileum was successfully intubated in 638 (80.9%). Reasons for not intubating the ileum were technical difficulty and/or severe patient discomfort. Overall, 108/ 638 (16.9%) patients had macroscopic or microscopic abnormalities of the ileum. 51/638 (8%) of these were considered to be significant ileal pathology: Crohn’s disease (34), tuberculosis (5), ileitis-resolving infection (8) or drug induced (4). The other abnormalities, of doubtful clinical importance and which did not alter management, were backwash ileitis in ulcerative colitis (12), and non-specific ileitis (37). 35 patients with ileal abnormalities (Crohn’s disease 6, non-specific ileitis 29) had no abnormalities in the colon. 66 patients with a macroscopically normal terminal ileum had abnormal microscopy: Crohn’s disease (21), ileitis - resolving infection (3) or drug induced (2), backwash ileitis in ulcerative colitis (4), non-specific ileitis (36). In group A [n=511; mean (SD) age 47.7 (16) years; 53.4% males] 47/511 (9.2%) had significant ileal pathology compared to 4/ 127 (3.15%) in group B [n=127; mean (SD) age 53.2 (16) years; 50.4% males] (x2 4.270, df=1, p=0.038). CONCLUSION: Ileoscopy and biopsy during colonoscopy is a useful investigation which detects significant pathology, in some instances where the rest of the colon is normal and sometimes even when the ileum appears macroscopically normal. The procedure should be recommended, especially for patients with right iliac fossa pain, diarrhea, anemia, inflammatory bowel disease and raised inflammatory markers.