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Publications (2)4.37 Total impact

  • Article: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in neonatal cholestasis.
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    ABSTRACT: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is not as widely used in children as in adults and is performed in few specialized centers. The aim of the present study was to review the experience of ERCP in children younger than 3 months in a national referral center. A retrospective chart review was performed of all of the babies younger than 3 months who underwent ERCP between 2000 and 2010. Data on demographics, diagnosis, type of anesthesia, treatments, and complications were collected. A total of 27 babies, 14 boys, were examined. Median age was 55 days (range 33-89). Ultrasound was normal in 16 infants, whereas others included small gallbladder (4), biliary stones (3), and dilated bile ducts (3). Thirteen infants underwent earlier liver biopsy, which was inconclusive. ERCP led to the diagnosis of biliary atresia in 13 infants who had subsequent surgery. In others, ERCP showed choledochal cyst (1), biliary stones (2), dilated bile ducts (1), and normal examination (6); there were 5 failures. The final diagnoses in our cohort were extrahepatic biliary atresia (15), biliary stones (5), neonatal hepatitis (4), choledochal cyst (1), paucity of intrahepatic bile duct (1), and congenital hepatic fibrosis (1). Diagnoses in the failed ERCP group included biliary atresia (2), bile duct paucity (1), and biliary stones (2). In 4 (19%) infants with clinical suspicion of extrahepatic biliary atresia, a normal ERCP ruled out the diagnosis and avoided an intraoperative cholangiogram. No complications, including pancreatitis, were reported. ERCP in infants is feasible and has no complications. It may serve as an additional diagnostic tool in neonatal cholestasis in inconclusive cases and may prevent more invasive procedures. ERCP may be part of the algorithm of neonatal cholestasis when it is available and other investigations fail to confirm a diagnosis.
    Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 08/2012; 55(2):142-5. · 2.18 Impact Factor
  • Article: Evidence of intestinal inflammation in patients with cystic fibrosis.
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    ABSTRACT: Treatment with pancreatic enzymes fails to completely correct malabsorption and gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of the present study was to examine the small intestine of patients with CF without overt evidence of gastrointestinal disease using capsule endoscopy (CE). Patients with CF received the agile patency capsule and, depending on the result of that procedure, then underwent standard CE using the PillCam SB capsule (Given Imaging, Yokneam, Israel). A stool specimen was taken on the same day as the CE for determination of the calprotectin level. Forty-two patients with CF ages 10 to 36 years were included; 29 had pancreatic insufficiency. One patient failed to excrete the patency capsule after 36 hours and was withdrawn from the study. Pulmonary function was mild to moderate with FEV1 68.5% +/- 16% predicted. Review of the CE videos showed that most of the patients had varying degrees of diffuse areas of inflammatory findings in the small bowel including edema, erythema, mucosal breaks, and frank ulcerations. There were no adverse events. Fecal calprotectin levels were markedly high in patients with pancreatic insufficiency, 258 microg/g (normal <50). Small bowel mucosal pathology may be detected using CE in most of the patients with CF. The high fecal calprotectin levels found are suggestive of mucosal inflammation, which may correlate with the CE findings. Additional study is required to examine the possible relation of these mucosal lesions, which may be part of a newly identified enteropathy associated with CF, with persistent intestinal malabsorption in many of these patients.
    Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition 09/2010; 51(3):304-8. · 2.18 Impact Factor