Idiopathic chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction syndrome is strongly associated with low serum levels of vitamin D.

Idiopathic chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is associated with intestinal inflammation and malabsorption and may cause serum vitamin D deficiency. We aimed to assess whether there is an association between idiopathic CIPO and serum levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D. Consecutive patients with confirmed diagnosis of idiopathic CIPO were prospectively enrolled and matched with healthy controls by gender, age, and BMI. Median serum level of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D of patients with CIPO was compared with that of healthy subjects using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for matched samples. A total of 35 patients with CIPO and 35 matched healthy subjects were enrolled. All patients with CIPO had a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D deficiency with serum levels <12 ng/ml. The median serum level of vitamin D was significantly lower in patients with CIPO than in healthy controls (5.7 vs. 29.7 ng/ml, P  < 0.0001). Serum level of vitamin D was not associated with gender ( P  = 0.27), age ( P  = 0.22), BMI ( P  = 0.95), high (>10 000 × ml) WBC count ( P  = 0.08), or high (>5 mg/l) C-reactive protein ( P  = 0.87) among patients with CIPO. CIPO seems to be strongly associated with low serum levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D.

[Severe small bowel involvement and chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction in systemic sclerosis (scleroderma): Pathophysiological, diagnostic and therapeutic basis, including parenteral nutrition]. / Atteinte sévère de l'intestin grêle et pseudo-obstruction intestinale chronique au cours de la sclérodermie systémique : bases physiopathologiques, diagnostiques et thérapeutiques, dont la nutrition parentérale.

Gastrointestinal involvement in systemic sclerosis can be severe, reaching the critical point of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, secondary to major disorders of small bowel motility. It is associated with some clinical and biological characteristics, in particular the positivity of anti-fibrillarin/U3RNP antibodies. Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is complicated by a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth that requires cyclic antibiotic therapy. CIPO leads to a reduction of the food intake, due to painful symptoms, nausea and vomiting caused by meals, and ultimately to severe malnutrition. Meal splitting is often transiently effective and patients require exogenous nutritional support, mostly parenteral. Systemic sclerosis is not an obstacle to initiation and long-term continuation of parenteral nutrition and central venous catheter implantation is not associated with an increased risk of cutaneous or infectious complications. However, continuation of long-term parenteral nutrition requires monitoring in an expert nutrition center in order to adapt nutritional volumes and intakes and to limit potentially fatal cardiac and hepatobiliary complications. In addition to nutrition, prokinetic treatments, whose side effects must be known, can be associated. Invasive procedures, whose risk-benefit ratio must be carefully assessed, can also be used to treat symptoms exclusively.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction due to adult-onset acquired isolated hypoganglionosis with muscular atrophy in the small intestine: a case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is a rare intestinal disorder characterized by impaired propulsion of the digestive tract and associated with symptoms of intestinal obstruction, despite the absence of obstructive lesions. CIPO includes several diseases. However, definitive diagnosis of its etiology is difficult only with symptoms or imaging findings. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old man was referred to our hospital due to a 3-year history of continuous abdominal distention. Imaging, including computed tomography of the abdomen, and endoscopy revealed marked dilatation of the entire small intestine without any obstruction point. Therefore, he was diagnosed with CIPO. Since medical therapy didn't improve his symptoms, enterostomy and percutaneous endoscopic gastro-jejunostomy were performed. These procedures improved abdominal symptoms. However, he required home central venous nutrition due to dehydration. The pathological findings of full-thickness biopsies of the small intestine taken during surgery revealed decreased number and degeneration of ganglion cells in the normal plexus. These findings led to a final diagnosis of CIPO due to acquired isolated hypoganglionosis (AIHG). CONCLUSIONS: Here, we report the case of a patient with CIPO secondary to adult-onset AIHG of the small intestine. Since AIHG cannot be solely diagnosed using clinical findings, biopsy is important for its diagnosis.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction in adults: A practical guide to identify patient subgroups that are suitable for more specific treatments.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a rare and heterogeneous syndrome characterized by recurrent symptoms of intestinal obstruction with radiological features of dilated small or large intestine with air/fluid levels in the absence of any mechanical occlusive lesion. Several diseases may be associated with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction and in these cases, the prognosis and treatment are related to the underlying disease. Also, in its "primary or idiopathic" form, two subgroups of patients should be determined as they require a more specific therapeutic approach: patients whose chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is due to sporadic autoimmune/inflammatory mechanisms and patients whose neuromuscular changes are genetically determined. In a context of a widely heterogeneous adult population presenting chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, this review aims to summarize a practical diagnostic workup for identifying definite subgroups of patients who might benefit from more specific treatments, based on the etiology of their underlying condition.

Current insights on chronic intestinal dysmotility: pseudo-obstruction and enteric dysmotility.

Chronic intestinal dysmotility is a rare and debilitating digestive disorder characterized by symptoms of mechanical obstruction without an organic lesion. It has diverse causes and involves various pathological mechanisms. Small bowel manometry is the preferred diagnostic method, particularly for patients with severe and progressive symptoms. The condition can be categorized as intestinal pseudo-obstruction and enteric dysmotility, both entities share abnormal small bowel motility, but with important differences in prognosis and management.

Study of the predictive factors affecting outcomes of patients undergoing transperitoneal laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.

PURPOSE: We aim to study the preoperative and intraoperative factors and compare against specific outcomes in patients undergoing transperitoneal laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and see if we could find what were the predictive factors for these outcomes. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study done in a single high-volume transplant center. 153 kidney donors were evaluated over a period of 1 year. The preoperative factors such as age, gender, smoking status, obesity, visceral obesity, perinephric fat thickness, number of vessels, anatomic abnormalities, comorbidities, and side of kidney and intraoperative factors such as lay of colon on the kidney, height of splenic or hepatic flexure of colon, loaded or unloaded colon, and sticky mesenteric fat were compared against specific outcomes such as duration of surgery, duration of hospital stay, postoperative paralytic ileus, and postoperative wound complications. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression models were used to study the variables of interest against the various outcomes. There were three positive risk factors for increased hospital stay, which were perinephric fat thickness and height of splenic or hepatic flexure of colon and smoking history. There was one positive risk factor for postoperative paralytic ileus which is lay of colon with relation to kidney and there was one positive risk factor for postoperative wound complication which was visceral fat area. CONCLUSION: The predictive factors for adverse postoperative outcomes after transperitoneal laparoscopic donor nephrectomy were perinephric fat thickness, height of splenic or hepatic flexure, smoking status, lay or redundancy of colon with relation to kidney and visceral fat area.

Acute intestinal pseudo-obstruction secondary to Sjogren's syndrome in pregnancy: a case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal pseudo-obstruction (IPO) is a rare disease, and its clinical manifestations can resemble mechanical intestinal obstruction leading to unnecessary and potentially harmful surgery. Certain autoimmune diseases have been associated with IPO, however, cases secondary to Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) are especially rare. CASE PRESENTATION: We described the first case of SjS-associated acute IPO in pregnancy, which was successfully treated with combined immunosuppressive therapy and resulted in an uneventful caesarean delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Women with SjS is likely to experience more complications during pregnancy, and IPO rather than the classic symptoms could be the first sign of SjS flares. IPO should be suspected in patients with unrelenting symptoms of small bowel obstruction, and a multidisciplinary approach can provide optimal management of such high-risk pregnancies.

Early Postoperative Outcomes of Lung Transplant Recipients With Abdominal Adverse Events.

INTRODUCTION: Patients undergoing lung transplantation (LT) are at high risk of developing serious abdominal complications, which can lead to higher rates of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and spectrum of these complications when they develop during the first 30 days after LT, as well as their possible association with possible risk factors. METHODS: A retrospective study of 552 patients undergoing LT between 01/02/2006 and 06/03/2021 was carried out. A descriptive and analytical evaluation of the patients who experienced complications and those who did not was performed comparatively. Data related to patient characteristics and the lung transplantation procedure were collected. RESULTS: Overall, 8.2% of patients developed severe abdominal complications during the first 30 days; paralytic ileus was the most frequent (31.1%), closely followed by visceral perforation (26.7%). The percentage of patients who required an invasive procedure to manage post-transplant complications was 57.8%. Surgical intervention was required in 39.8%. The variables that showed a significant relationship with the development of severe short-term abdominal complications in the univariate analysis were the time of surgery, the use of ECMO/ ECC and red blood cell transfusion during or after surgery. In the multivariate study, however, only duration of surgery remained significant (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: The incidence of severe short-term abdominal complications after LT period was 8%. The commonest complications were paralytic ileus and intestinal perforation. Most patients did not require surgery. The only risk factor found associated with these complications was the duration of the surgical intervention.

Rapid improvement of systemic sclerosis-associated intestinal pseudo-obstruction with intravenous immunoglobulin administration.

OBJECTIVES: SSc is an autoimmune disease characterized by excessive fibrosis in multiple organs, including the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. GI symptoms of SSc such as intestinal pseudo-obstruction (IPO) are often refractory to conventional intervention and can result in longer in-hospital stay or even increased mortality. We aimed to summarize the insights to date regarding the efficacy of IVIG against GI symptoms of SSc to unveil what we should focus on in future studies. METHODS: Herein we report the response of GI symptoms in three cases with SSc-myositis overlap who received IVIG administration. We also conducted a systematic literature review to summarize previous reports regarding the efficacy of IVIG upon the GI manifestations of SSc, according to the PRISMA 2020 guideline. RESULTS: The case series demonstrated remarkable and rapid improvement of GI symptoms, including IPO, after IVIG administration. The literature review revealed that previous reports also support the efficacy and safety of IVIG against GI manifestations of SSc. However, they were all retrospective studies and lacking description of the short-term outcome after IVIG administration with objective and quantitative metrics. CONCLUSION: IVIG seems to be a promising therapeutic option for the management of GI symptoms in SSc, including IPO. Investigators should focus more on short-term outcomes to properly assess the therapeutic benefit of IVIG, ideally using reliable quantitative measures in a multicentre randomized placebo-controlled setting.

Generation of an induced pluripotent stem cell line (FDCHi008-A) from an infant with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO) is a rare condition characterized by intestinal obstruction without any restriction or occlusion, that represents the most severe form of gastrointestinal dysmotility. Here we established the induced pluripotent stem cell line FDCHi008-A from PBMCs of a 4-month infant with CIPO, which provides a patient-specific in vitro model to explore the underlying pathogenesis of pediatric intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

Vitamin B12 deficiency presenting as intestinal pseudo-obstruction in short bowel syndrome: A case report.

Bowel obstruction and nutrient deficiencies are commonly encountered complications seen during follow-up of patients with short bowel syndrome. It is rare to see vitamin B12 deficiency among micronutrient deficits. The onset of B12 deficiency can be insidious, with autonomic features preceding other symptoms. In this study, we report a case in which vitamin B12 deficiency presented with intestinal dysmotility mimicking mechanical bowel obstruction.

Anastomotic Leak Rate and Prolonged Postoperative Paralytic Ileus in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Surgery for Colo-Rectal Cancer After Placement of No-Coil Endoanal Tube.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common gastrointestinal tumor in men and the third in women. Left-hemicolectomy (LC) and low anterior resection (LAR) are considered the gold standard curative treatment. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the presence or absence of post-operative complications, in all patients who underwent Video-laparoscopic (VLS) LAR/LC with No Coil trans-anal tube positioning, and compared the data with the current literature on the topic. METHODS: Thirty-nine patients diagnosed with CRC of the descending colon, splenic flexure, sigma, and rectum were recruited. LC was performed for sigmoid and descending colon cancers, while LAR was applied for tumors of the upper two-thirds of the rectum. The No Coil trans-anal tube (SapiMed Spa, Alessandria, Italy) was placed in all patients of the study at the end of surgical treatment. RESULTS: Eighteen patients received a LAR-VLS (46%) and 21 patients received a LC-VLS (54%). The average length of hospital stay after surgery was 7 days. PPOI occurred in only one in 39 patients (2.6%) who had undergone LAR-VLS. As for complications, in no patient of the study did AL (0%) occur. CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing LAR-VLS and LC-VLS, we performed colorectal anastomosis and in the same surgical operation we introduced the No-Coil device. Although this is a preliminary study and subject to further investigation, we believe that the No Coil tube positioning may reduce the time of presence of first flatus and feces and the risk of AL.