Pathogen-Negative Sepsis-An Opportunity for Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Sepsis is a common reason for empiric antibiotics among hospitalized patients. We found that the median duration of empiric antibiotics (interquartile range) was 6 (4-9) days among 1047 survivivors with pathogen-negative sepsis. These findings suggest that patients with pathogen-negative sepsis could represent an important opportunity for antimicrobial stewardship.

Older age is associated with increased early mortality after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt.

Introduction & Aim: The role of age as a predictor of mortality after transjugular intra hepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is controversial. Age has been found to be an important predictor of post-TIPS mortality in some, but not all, studies and is not a component of the MELD score. The purpose of this study was to compare the 90-day survival of subjects with cirrhosis age ≥ 70 years with younger subjects undergoing TIPS.