Aim During the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020, elective gastrointestinal endoscopy services were abbreviated for fear of viral transmission. However, urgent suspected colorectal cancer (CRC) referrals continued. Serendipitously, a national study suggested that a new faecal immunochemical test (FIT) might be helpful in triaging patients with colorectal alarm symptoms. Methods This was a single centre observational study of patients referred using NG12 criteria between March and August 2020. Patients were triaged to the urgent cancer pathway for FIT ≥ 10 μg/g and investigated using the latest National Health Service England guidance. Demographic data, method of investigations, cancer and polyp detection rates were compared to patients referred in the 6 months prior to the use of FIT as a triage tool. Results In all, 1192 patients (median age 70) were referred using NG12 guidelines during the pandemic period, compared with 1592 patients (median age 72) in the previous 6 months. CRC detection was similar in both groups ( n = 45, 2.8% vs. n = 38, 3.5%; P = 0.248). Two patients with a negative FIT (0.36%) had CRC. Using FIT as a triage tool resulted in a significant reduction in the use of endoscopy ( n = 477, 43.6% vs. n = 1186, 74.5%; P > 0.001) with a significant increase in CT scanning ( n = 696, 63.6% vs. n = 750, 47.1%; P < 0.001). Conclusion The use of FIT in NG12 patients triaged during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic reduced endoscopy but not CT scanning and did not compromise CRC detection rates. It is a safe method that aids in reducing the burden on services greatly. A negative FIT test does not absolutely exclude CRC.

Background: Iron deficiency is a cause of anemia in many hemodialysis patients. It remains under diagnosed in patients with kidney diseas and it leads to inappropriate response to erythropoietin. Early diagnosis of this anemia before usage of erythropoietin is important, to prevent prescription of expensive erythropoietin and unnecessary costs to the patient and the health care system. This study was conducted to determine prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in hemodialysis patients. Methods: This study was cross-sectional comparative study and was conducted at National Institute of Kidney Disease. Sheikh Zayed hospital nephrology department after taking permission from concerned department. Informed consent was taken from patients also. We measured serum ferritin, serum iron, Total iron binding capacity, complete blood count, hemoglobin in 140 hemodialysis patients. Serum samples were taken, processed and assessed for ferritin levels using commercially available ELISA kits. P value less than ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 140 hemodialysis patients, 34 had Iron deficiency anemia . (IDA). Conclusion: Iron deficiency anemia was observed in 24.2 % of hemodialysis patients

Objective: To find out the Modified Marsh type of celiac disease (CD)patients on histopathological examination of duodenal (D2) biopsies and to correlate it withtissue transglutaminase IgA levels. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place of Study:Histopathology laboratory (Department of Pathology), Isra University Hospital and AsianInstitute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Hyderabad. Duration of Study: July 2013 to December2013. Materials and Methods: 96 patients with a history of malabsorption or atypical symptomswith clinical suspicion of CD were subjected to endoscopy. Endoscopic duodenal (D2) biopsieswere taken regardless of age and gender. D2 biopsies were processed for histopathologicalexamination under light microscopy. Results: Out of 96 patients, 45 (46.9%) patients hadmoderate type of lamina propria inflammation along with highly significant p-value (0.0001).CDtype 3a was observed in 34 patients (35.4%). In this study the comparison of serological level oftissue Transglutaminase IgA (tTGA) and histological severity revealed significant correlation. AllModified Marsh types of CD with tTGA level seen in our study were highly significant (p-value0.001). Conclusion: In this study strong correlation was observed between the serologicaltTGA level and histological findings by Modified Marsh classification along with lamina propriainflammation of duodenal mucosa in CD patients.

Aim We aimed to evaluate optimal random biopsy criteria are being followed in our institution to increase the diagnostic yield of a subsequent histopathological examination and to reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies in which histopathology is unlikely to deliver clinically useful information and causing a burden on health resources in terms of cost and manpower. Method Our study was a retrospective on 419 random colonoscopy biopsies performed over 6 months. Data collection included variables such as age, gender, indications, request of urgency, and histology findings. Data analysis was done descriptively. Results Out of 419 random biopsies, only 10.02% had positive findings. The total number of histology results with microscopic colitis was 10. The main indication of the random colonic biopsy was a change in bowel habits (328 cases) followed by significant diarrhea greater than 50 years in 20 cases. In patients with a change in bowel habits, 2.44% of histopathology specimens revealed microscopic colitis. The percentage of random colonic biopsy histology in patients greater than 50 years with significant diarrhea showed microscopic colitis was 10%. Conclusions Our study revealed random biopsy during colonoscopy should only be done in selected patients otherwise it has low diagnostic yields biopsy and should only be reserved for patients with risk factors for optimum utilization of health resources and to reduce the cost burden. A scoring system may be helpful to risk-stratify patients in low and high risk for MC to determine which patients qualify for RCB.