Review for 10.1186/s12876-016-0504-6 (2016)

Reviewer ’s report  
Title : A case of IgG4 -related hepatic inflammatory pseudotumor replaced by an abscess af ter 
steroid treatment  
 
Version:  1 Date : 23 May 2016  
 
Reviewer : Jaime  Chu 
 
Reviewer's report:  
Shibata et al. describe "A case of IgG4 -related hepatic inflammatory pseudotumor replaced by an 
abscess after steroid treatment." The contribution of this case report is to present a hepatic 
abscess as an underdescribed complication of steroid treatment for IgG4 -related disease. In this 
revised manuscript, the authors better describe the details of their therapeutic approach. 
However, the timeline is still unclear to me - was the US done "in two months" after completely 
weaning the prednisone to off or tw o months since initial presentation?   Page 5, line 55 - "fever 
and abdominal pain recurred afterward" -- how long after the ultrasound or after prednisone was 
completely stopped?  These are important details to describe if the goal of the paper is to 
describe abscess formation secondary to steroid therapy.  
The manuscript needs to better emphasize the importance of this finding within the field of 
IgG4 -RD.  As a suggestion, the discussion could be improved by focusing on the importance of 
distinguishing bet ween IgG4 -RD abscess versus secondary complication to steroids. There are 
recent reports of IgG4 -RD presenting as an abscess with resolution without steroid treatment. It 
would be important to mention that while IgG4 -RD can present with abscess, this case report 
shows that an abscess may also be a secondary complication from immunosuppression, and 
factors that the authors believe would be important in helping to distinguish between the two.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is req uired in your comments to the authors.  
Unable to assess  
  
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
Unable to assess  
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explai n in your comments to the authors.  
Yes 
Are you able to asse ss any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
Not relevant to this man uscript  
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
Needs some language corrections before being published  
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