By using a large, national, pathology database spanning the first 4 years during which these recommendations appeared (2006-2009), we assessed adherence to these proposed guidelines. To determine the diagnostic yield of the recommendation to submit ≥4 specimens, we investigated the association between adherence to this standard and the proportion of patients with the finding of
a new diagnosis of CD. We also aimed to identify patient and procedure-related factors associated with the submission of ≥4 specimens. In so doing, this study elucidates how a guideline plays out in clinical practice, both in terms of adherence to the recommendation as well as the incremental yield of adherence. The GI pathology division of Caris Life Sciences (Irving, Texas) is a specialized pathology Venetoclax in vitro laboratory that receives specimens from outpatient GI endoscopy centers in 43 states throughout the United States
as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Caris Life Sciences maintains a database of all patients who had endoscopic procedures in which a specimen was submitted to the laboratory. Patients and providers were de-identified in the preparation of the database for this analysis. For each specimen, selleck the following is available: sex and age of the patient; procedure year, location, and provider; summary of the clinical history; endoscopic impressions; and histopathologic findings. For a subset of procedures, more detailed information on the indication for the examination and endoscopic findings are exported from the endoscopy report and are retrievable via free-text search. In this laboratory, biopsies are interpreted by a group of GI pathologists who share a common approach to biopsy evaluation and use a predetermined approach to specimen handling, diagnostic criteria, and terminology. Pathologic abnormalities of the duodenum Chlormezanone in this laboratory are grouped in accordance with the classification developed by Marsh16 and Oberhuber et al.17
As in a previous analysis of yield of duodenal biopsy according to indication by using a subset of this data,18 the following classification of outcomes was used: normal duodenal mucosa; duodenal intraepithelial lymphocytosis, as defined as >25 intraepithelial lymphocytes per 100 enterocytes, with or without crypt hypertrophy (equivalent to Marsh I or II lesions); blunted villi (Marsh IIIA); or flat villi (Marsh IIIB/C). Other recorded pathologic abnormalities include gastric metaplasia of the duodenal mucosa, regardless of the presence of Helicobacter pylori (“peptic duodenopathy” or “peptic duodenitis”), 19 and mild intraepithelial lymphocytosis (as indicated by the presence of intraepithelial lymphocytes not meeting the threshold for Marsh I).