Tarek Saadi MD, Johad Khoury MD, Widad Toukan MD, Rimma Krimasky, Ella Veitsman MD, Yaacov Baruch MD, Diana Gaitini MD, and Nira Beck-Razi MD
Background: Point shear-wave elastography (pSWE) is a new method to assess the degree of liver fibrosis. It has been shown to be effective in detecting stiffness in viral hepatitis.
Objectives: To determine the feasibility of pSWE for assessing liver stiffness and fibrosis in liver diseases of different etiologies.
Methods: This prospective single-center study included a population of adult patients with chronic liver diseases from different etiologies, who were scheduled for liver biopsy, and a control group of healthy adults who prospectively underwent pSWE. Ten consecutive pSWE measurements of the liver were performed using a Philips iU22 ultrasound system. Stiffness degree was compared to liver biopsy results. Fibrosis degree was staged according to METAVIR scoring system.
Results: The study group was comprised of 202 patients who underwent liver biopsy and pSWE test and a control group consisting of 14 healthy adults who underwent pSWE for validation. In the study group, the median stiffness was 5.35 ± 3.37 kilopascal (kPa). The median stiffness for F0–1, F2, F3, and F4 as determined by liver biopsy results were 4.9 kPa, 5.4 kPa, 5.7 kPa, and 8 kPa, respectively. The median stiffness in the control group was 3.7 ± 0.6 kPa. Subgroup analyses were conducted for viral hepatitis vs. non-viral hepatitis and steatohepatitis vs. non-steatohepatitis groups.
Conclusions: pSWE is a reproducible method for assessing liver stiffness and is in a linear relationship with fibrosis degree as seen in pathology. Compared with patients with non-significant fibrosis, healthy controls showed significantly lower values
Alona Bin-Nun MD, Cathy Hammerman MD, Francis B Mimouni MD, Netanel Wasserteil MD, and Yair M. Kasirer MD
Background: Many countries have adopted a mandatory routine pulse oximetry screening of newborn infants to identify babies with otherwise asymptomatic critical congenital heart disease (CCHD).
Objectives: To describe the current status of pulse oximetry CCHD screening in Israel, with a special emphasis on the experience of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
Methods: We review the difficulties of the Israeli Medical system with adopting the SaO2 screening, and the preliminary results of the screening at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, both in terms of protocol compliance and CCHD detection.
Results: Large scale protocol cannot be implemented in one day, and regular quality assessment programs must take place in order to improve protocol compliance and identify the reasons for protocol failures.
Conclusions: Quality control reviews should be conducted soon after implementation of the screening to allow for prompt diagnosis and quick resolution
Uri Gabbay MD MPH, Doron Carmi MD MHA, Aviva Mimouni-Bloch MD, Bat El Goldstein MD, Lital Keinan-Boker MD MPH, and Joseph Meyerovitch MD
Background: Evaluation of children's anthropometrics poses challenges due to age-related changes. The main focus is on height and weight. However, since weight is height-dependent, body mass index (BMI) is the best surrogate measurement of adiposity. Israel has not developed national growth tables; therefore, researchers and clinicians utilize either World Health Organization (WHO) or U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tables as benchmarks.
Objectives: To evaluate the anthropometrics of Israeli children benchmarked by CDC and WHO tables.
Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of the 1987–2003 birth cohort (age 4–18 years) from Clalit Health Services databases. Anthropometrics were retrieved twice: at study entry and one year later. We evaluated them as separate cohorts. Gender-specific age-matched median height and BMI were compared with CDC and WHO height and BMI tables.
Results: The study consisted of 15,650, mean age at study entry 9.5 years (range 4–18). Gender-specific median heights of the Israeli children were similar to CDC and WHO values at younger ages, but were slightly shorter than the age-matched CDC and WHO toward the age of final height in both cohorts. However, gender-specific median BMI was considerably and statistically significant higher compared to CDC and WHO values consistently along the entire age range in both cohorts.
Conclusions: Israeli children were slightly shorter toward the age of final height, compared to WHO and CDC. However, BMI in Israeli children was significantly higher compared to the CDC and WHO consistently along the age range, which raises an alarm regarding obesity patterns
Maged Makhoul MD, Roberto Lorusso MD, Elham Bidar MD, Rashad Zayad MD, and Ehsan Natour MD
Rana Halloun MD and Ram Weiss MD PhD
Said Abozaid MD, Saray Sity MD, Wael Nasser MD, Avi On MD, and Avi Peretz PhD
Galya Tanay MD and Amir Tanay MD
Fabiola Atzeni MD PhD, Francesca Marino MD, Mariateresa Cirillo MD, Elisabetta Gerratana MD, Fausto Salaffi MD PhD, and Alessandra Alciati MD
Berko Sikirov MD, Bernard Werner MD, Oren Kaufman MD, Anton Steinberg MD, Victor Gershuni MD, Fredrich Maizlin MD, Yitzhak Yochilis MD, Eliahu Soleiman MD, Bruno Ostfeld MD, Gideon Shapira MD, and Michail Chester MD