The peritoneum is a cavity which has been successfully utilized by nephrologists to perform peritoneal dialysis (PD) in patients with renal failure. The physiologic characteristic of the peritoneal cavity not only helps remove toxic metabolites from the body, but also provides a useful portal of entry in the body for several pharmacological agents. Several medications such as antibiotics are given via the intraperitoneal (IP) route in PD patients to treat episodes of peritonitis. More recently the IP route has been used for chemotherapy in patients with intra-abdominal malignancies, i.e. gynecological and gastrointestinal cancers and has shown very promising results. In patients with peritoneal surface malignancies, perioperative IP chemotherapy has been used with good results. The rate and amount of drug transfer in the peritoneum are dependent on several factors. Factors such as peritoneal inflammation, surface area, peritoneal blood flow, time of contact, etc, influence the drug transfer. This review discusses the usefulness of IP drug therapy and the factors influencing it, as well as strategies to increase the efficacy, and conclude that IP route is an alternate route to the more conventional drug delivery routes, and can be successfully used when the target is within the peritoneal cavity or adjacent tissue.

No abstract

Summary. Objective: We sought to evaluate deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis compliance according to time of admission in a medical intensive care unit (MICU). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study at a closed tertiary MICU. We classified patients into three groups (week days, weekends, and week nights), according to time of admission. An unweighted risk factor score (RFS) was calculated from 20 known risk factors. We defined DVT prophylaxis compliance as any type of prophylaxis (mechanical or pharmacologic) for RFS £ 3 or both types of prophylaxis for RFS > 3. Noncompliance was defined as no prophylaxis or single-type prophylaxis for RFS > 3. Results: We analyzed 105 admissions. Eighty (76.19%) patients received compliant DVT prophylaxis, and 25 (23.81%) patients received non-compliant regimens of whom 11 (10.48%) were not on any prophylaxis. DVT prophylaxis compliance was not different across the three admission groups. The non-compliant DVT prophylaxis group had a higher RFS (3.48 ± 2.1 vs. 2.25 ± 1.5; P = 0.011), a trend towards fewer female patients (40% vs. 60%; P = 0.079), and a higher percentage of admissions by interns at the first postgraduate year (PGY) level (28% vs. 5.4%; P = 0.01). Logistic regression revealed that only RFS and PGY level were independent predictors for compliance (P = 0.015 and 0.005 respectively). Time of admission was not a significant factor. Conclusions: Time of admission did not influence DVT prophylaxis compliance. Compliance improved with higher PGY level and lower RFS. A higher level of knowledge probably explains the association with PGY level; however, we cannot explain the inverse relationship between RFS and compliance.

We report a case of tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) in a patient with gallbladder carcinoma. TLS has not been reported in association with this type of tumor. TLS typically occurs in cases of highly proliferative hematological malignancies and small cell carcinoma. Two factors that may have contributed to TLS in this case include multifactorial mild acute renal failure shortly before the administration of chemotherapy and the aggressive morphology of the gallbladder carcinoma, which was a poorly differentiated sarcomatoid variant. This case raises concern for the development of TLS in certain types of patients with solid tumors.

No abstract