Reviewer's report
Title:Arsenic, vinyl chloride, viral hepatitis, and hepatic angiosarcoma: A
hospital-based study and review of literature in Taiwan
Version: 3Date:12 August 2011
Reviewer: Steven Lamm
Reviewer's report:
Review:
This paper is worthy of publication. It succeeds in doubling the detailed case
report numbers for HAS from Taiwan and thus makes a contribution. Major
interest in HAS was thirty years ago and subsequently case series have been
infrequent. This paper is of importance since the authors have sought histories of
the three causes of HAS was demonstrated thirty years ago and have found
none for either arsenic or VCM. This suggests that the exposure controls that
have been subsequently introduced have been effective. This is important
information. The quality of written English is quite satisfactory.
There are a few errors in the statistical presentation that should be corrected.
>0.95 should be reported as 1.00 in Tables 2 and 3. In Table 2, the p-value for
pathology and for hepatitis should be 1.00. The statistical comparison is between
the 6 male and the 3 female cases, which allows statistical significance only in
the extremes (exposures of 5 or 6 vs 0). I would suggest a comparison between
these
9 cases and the previously published 9 cases. The one potentially causal
exposure that is noted here is HCV as 2 of the 9 cases have such a history. It
may be feasible to compare whether the frequencies of the viral hepatitis and of
the medical conditions are greater than would be age expected. These rates
could also be compared with the rest of the literature.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Reviewer's report
Title:Arsenic, vinyl chloride, viral hepatitis, and hepatic angiosarcoma: A
hospital-based study and review of literature in Taiwan
Version: 3Date:12 August 2011
Reviewer: Steven Lamm
Reviewer's report:
Review:
This paper is worthy of publication. It succeeds in doubling the detailed case
report numbers for HAS from Taiwan and thus makes a contribution. Major
interest in HAS was thirty years ago and subsequently case series have been
infrequent. This paper is of importance since the authors have sought histories of
the three causes of HAS was demonstrated thirty years ago and have found
none for either arsenic or VCM. This suggests that the exposure controls that
have been subsequently introduced have been effective. This is important
information. The quality of written English is quite satisfactory.
There are a few errors in the statistical presentation that should be corrected.
>0.95 should be reported as 1.00 in Tables 2 and 3. In Table 2, the p-value for
pathology and for hepatitis should be 1.00. The statistical comparison is between
the 6 male and the 3 female cases, which allows statistical significance only in
the extremes (exposures of 5 or 6 vs 0). I would suggest a comparison between
these
9 cases and the previously published 9 cases. The one potentially causal
exposure that is noted here is HCV as 2 of the 9 cases have such a history. It
may be feasible to compare whether the frequencies of the viral hepatitis and of
the medical conditions are greater than would be age expected. These rates
could also be compared with the rest of the literature.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Arsenic, vinyl chloride, viral hepatitis, and hepatic angiosarcoma: A
hospital-based study and review of literature in Taiwan
Version: 3Date:12 August 2011
Reviewer: Steven Lamm
Reviewer's report:
Review:
This paper is worthy of publication. It succeeds in doubling the detailed case
report numbers for HAS from Taiwan and thus makes a contribution. Major
interest in HAS was thirty years ago and subsequently case series have been
infrequent. This paper is of importance since the authors have sought histories of
the three causes of HAS was demonstrated thirty years ago and have found
none for either arsenic or VCM. This suggests that the exposure controls that
have been subsequently introduced have been effective. This is important
information. The quality of written English is quite satisfactory.
There are a few errors in the statistical presentation that should be corrected.
>0.95 should be reported as 1.00 in Tables 2 and 3. In Table 2, the p-value for
pathology and for hepatitis should be 1.00. The statistical comparison is between
the 6 male and the 3 female cases, which allows statistical significance only in
the extremes (exposures of 5 or 6 vs 0). I would suggest a comparison between
these
9 cases and the previously published 9 cases. The one potentially causal
exposure that is noted here is HCV as 2 of the 9 cases have such a history. It
may be feasible to compare whether the frequencies of the viral hepatitis and of
the medical conditions are greater than would be age expected. These rates
could also be compared with the rest of the literature.
Level of interest: An article of importance in its field
Quality of written English: Acceptable
Statistical review: Yes, and I have assessed the statistics in my report.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests
assistant