Exacerbated gastrointestinal symptoms and long COVID in IBD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection: A multi-center study from taiwan.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Limited studies have addressed the exacerbation of symptoms and long COVID in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients following non-severe COVID-19 infection, particularly with post-COVID-19 vaccination. We aim to investigate factors associated with exacerbated gastrointestinal symptoms (EGS) and long COVID in IBD patients with non-severe COVID-19, which is most common situation in daily practice. METHODS: This is an observational study by multiple centers in Taiwan from May 2020 to March 2023. We collected clinical manifestation, data, and medication information from IBD patients with non-severe COVID-19. EGS was defined as increased frequency of diarrhea, bloody stool, and abdomen pain within 14 days after SARS-COV-2 infection. Long COVID was defined following the guidelines of the World Health Organization. RESULTS: Out of 90 patients, most of them (88.9%) received at least standard two doses of COVID-19 vaccination and the majority (87.8%) were mild diseases of COVID-19.30% of patients experienced EGS during COVID-19 with higher ESR levels serving as a predictive factor (Odds ratio: 3.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.2-10.5, P = 0.02). 38.1% of those patients developed long COVID. The patients who experienced EGS during COVID-19 and with a history of longer IBD duration showed a significant association with long COVID (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that EGS and long COVID occurred in one third of IBD patients with non-severe COVID-19, even though most of them had received the standard plus booster vaccination. We identified associated factors for EGS and long COVID, emphasizing the importance of post-COVID-19 follow-up in IBD patients.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on inflammatory bowel disease care in Taiwan: A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a great impact on healthcare system and patients. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the perceptions of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). METHODS: This prospective multicenter study was conducted between July 2021 and December 2021. Patients with IBD answered a structured questionnaire, and their degree of anxiety was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after reading educational materials. RESULTS: A total of 225 (47.67%) patients with Crohn's disease, 244 (51.69%) with ulcerative colitis and 3 (0.64%) with indeterminate colitis were enrolled. Common concerns were adverse events from vaccination (20.34%), and higher risks of developing severe COVID-19 (19.28%) and COVID-19 infection (16.31%) than the general population. Medications deemed by the patients to increase the risk of COVID-19 were immunomodulators (16.10%), anti-tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists (9.96%), and corticosteroids (9.32%). Thirty-five (7.42%) patients self-discontinued IBD medication, of whom 12 (34.28%) had worse symptoms. Older age (>50 years) (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.19, p = 0.03), IBD-related complications (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.04-1.28, p = 0.01), education status below senior high school (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.08-1.37, p = 0.001), and residing in north-central Taiwan (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.10-1.34, p < 0.001) were associated with more anxiety. None of the enrolled patients contracted COVID-19. The anxiety VAS score (mean ± SD) improved after reading the educational materials (3.84 ± 2.33 vs. 2.81 ± 1.96, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The medical behavior of IBD patients was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and their anxiety could be mitigated after education.

Efficacy and safety of gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM) for refractory gastroparesis: 3-year follow up results.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Gastroparesis is a common but easily overlooked disease. Gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (G-POEM) is one of the third-space endoscopy techniques to treat gastroparesis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of G-POEM for patients with refractory gastroparesis. METHODS: Between December 2017 and 2020, we consecutively enrolled patients with gastroparesis who failed after the administration of several kinds of medication and repeated admission for nutritional support. All patients underwent gastric emptying scintigraphy and answered a questionnaire on Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI). Demographic data, endoscopic procedure, and post procedural outcome were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 11 (9 women and 2 men) patients with refractory gastroparesis (nine with diabetes mellitus, one systemic lupus erythematosus, and one idiopathic) were enrolled. The mean (±standard deviation (SD)) procedure time was 61.82 (±18.99) min with technical and clinical success rates of 100% and 81.82%, respectively. A statistically significant improvement was observed in the clinical severity (mean GCSI score 36.00 vs. 14.73, p < 0.0001) and gastric emptying time (mean T1/2 341.92 vs. 65.92 min, p = 0.016) after G-POEM. Hospital stay was 7.18 (±4.49) days without mortality. Complications included 4 (36.36%) patients with self-limited postprocedural abdominal pain and 3 (27.27%) patients with intra-procedural pneumoperitoneum. During the mean follow-up period of 554.36 days, one (9.09%) patient had relapsed clinical symptoms after 6 months. CONCLUSION: G-POEM is an efficient and safe pylorus-directed endoscopic therapy for refractory gastroparesis with promising results.

The effectiveness and safety of vedolizumab induction for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis for Asia patient: A real practice observational study.

BACKGROUND: The use of biologic agents has become the cornerstone of therapy for moderate to severe IBD. Few studies have investigated the efficacy of vedolizumab (VDZ) induction for ulcerative colitis (UC) in Asian patients in a real practice setting. AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of VDZ induction therapy for moderate to severe UC in Taiwan. METHODS: This was a retrospective and observational study. Selected moderate to severe UC patients received VZD 300 mg i.v. at weeks 0, 2, and 6 as induction therapy. Mayo scores were calculated to evaluate the efficacy. RESULTS: A total of 37 patients with UC who received VDZ and completed the induction therapy at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (2017/10-2021/5) were included. The mean age was 46.5 year-old and the male to female ratio was 1:1 (19/18). 81.8% of the patients were biologic-naive. At weeks 8-10, a clinical response, clinical remission and endoscopic remission with VDZ induction therapy were achieved in 56.8% (21/37), 32.4% (12/37) and 58.3% (7/12) of the patients, respectively. 54.1% (20/37) were able to taper off at week 8. Overall, only 10.8% (4/37) of the patients were primary non-responders during induction therapy. No obvious VDZ-related severe adverse events were noted. Overall, 58.9% (11/19) of the patients relapsed after stopping VDZ, and the relapse rate after VDZ discontinuation was 42.1% (8/19) within first 6 months and 52.6% (10/19) within the first year. CONCLUSION: In real-world experience, induction therapy with VDZ showed promising clinical benefits and safety profile for patients with UC.

Case 296: Phlebosclerotic Colitis.

History A 55-year-old woman without systemic underlying disease, such as diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, or chronic kidney disease, presented with generalized dull abdominal pain of 1-week duration. She had ingested herbal medicine for physical conditioning for several years. Laboratory findings, including biochemistry, electrolyte levels, and complete blood count, were all within normal limits, except for elevated serum C-reactive protein level (7.719 mg/dL; normal range, <1 mg/dL). The patient underwent initial evaluation with conventional abdominal radiography. She underwent subsequent evaluation with noncontrast CT of the abdomen and colonoscopy.

Case 296.

History A 55-year-old woman without systemic underlying disease, such as diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, or chronic kidney disease, presented with generalized dull abdominal pain of 1-week duration. She had ingested herbal medicine for physical conditioning for several years. Laboratory findings, including biochemistry, electrolyte levels, and complete blood count, were all within normal limits, except for elevated serum C-reactive protein level (7.719 mg/dL; normal range,<1 mg/dL). The patient underwent initial evaluation with conventional abdominal radiography (Fig 1). She underwent subsequent evaluation with noncontrast CT of the abdomen (Figs 2, 3) and colonoscopy (Fig 4).

A clinically interpretable convolutional neural network for the real-time prediction of early squamous cell cancer of the esophagus: comparing diagnostic performance with a panel of expert European and Asian endoscopists.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Intrapapillary capillary loops (IPCLs) are microvascular structures that correlate with the invasion depth of early squamous cell neoplasia and allow accurate prediction of histology. Artificial intelligence may improve human recognition of IPCL patterns and prediction of histology to allow prompt access to endoscopic therapy for early squamous cell neoplasia where appropriate. METHODS: One hundred fifteen patients were recruited at 2 academic Taiwanese hospitals. Magnification endoscopy narrow-band imaging videos of squamous mucosa were labeled as dysplastic or normal according to their histology, and IPCL patterns were classified by consensus of 3 experienced clinicians. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained to classify IPCLs, using 67,742 high-quality magnification endoscopy narrow-band images by 5-fold cross validation. Performance measures were calculated to give an average F1 score, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. A panel of 5 Asian and 4 European experts predicted the histology of a random selection of 158 images using the Japanese Endoscopic Society IPCL classification; accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated. RESULTS: Expert European Union (EU) and Asian endoscopists attained F1 scores (a measure of binary classification accuracy) of 97.0% and 98%, respectively. Sensitivity and accuracy of the EU and Asian clinicians were 97%, 98% and 96.9%, 97.1%, respectively. The CNN average F1 score was 94%, sensitivity 93.7%, and accuracy 91.7%. Our CNN operates at video rate and generates class activation maps that can be used to visually validate CNN predictions. CONCLUSIONS: We report a clinically interpretable CNN developed to predict histology based on IPCL patterns, in real time, using the largest reported dataset of images for this purpose. Our CNN achieved diagnostic performance comparable with an expert panel of endoscopists.

Peroral endoscopic tumor resection (POET) with preserved mucosa technique for management of upper gastrointestinal tract subepithelial tumors.

BACKGROUND: Third space endoscopy technique facilitates therapeutic endoscopy in subepithelial space. This study aimed to investigate peroral endoscopic tumor resection (POET) with preserved mucosa technique for upper gastrointestinal tract subepithelial tumors (UGI-SETs) removal. METHODS: Between February 2011 and December 2019, consecutive patients with SETs of esophagus and stomach who underwent POET for enlarging size during follow-up, malignant endoscopic ultrasound features or by patient's request were enrolled. Demographic, endoscopic and pathological data were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Totally 18 esophageal (mean ± SD age, 55.23 ± 4.15 year-old, 38.89% female) and 30 gastric (52.65 ± 2.43 year-old, 53.33% female) SETs in 47 patients (one with both esophageal and gastric lesions) were resected. The mean (± SD) endoscopic/pathological tumor size, procedure time, en-bloc/complete resection rate, and hospital stays of esophageal and gastric SET patients were 12.36 (± 7.89)/11.86 (± 5.67) and 12.57 (± 6.25)/12.35 (± 5.73) mm, 14.86 (± 6.15) and 38.21 (± 15.29) minutes, 88.89%/94.44% and 86.77%/93.30%, and 4.14 (± 0.21) and 4.17 (± 0.20) days, respectively. The overall complication rate was 18.75%, including 6 self-limited fever and 3 pneumoperitoneum relieved by needle puncture. There was no mortality or recurrence reported with mean follow-up period of 23.74 (± 4.12) months. CONCLUSIONS: POET is a safe and efficient third space endoscopic resection technique for removal of UGI-SETs less than 20 mm. Long term data are warranted to validate these results.

Clinicopathological features and outcome of esophageal neuroendocrine tumor: A retrospective multicenter survey by the digestive endoscopy society of Taiwan.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Esophageal neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are very rare and mostly carcinomic, carrying poor prognosis. There is still no guideline or consensus on the treatment for esophageal NET. METHODS: Patients with histologically-proven esophageal neuroendocrine tumor were recruited from 9 hospitals in Taiwan between 2002 and 2017. Clinical, laboratory, radiological, endoscopic, pathological data, treatment strategies, follow-up periods, and survivals were collected retrospectively. RESULTS: In total, 39 esophageal NET were analyzed and 38 were neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). Sixteen (41%) patients had mixed components with either adenocarcinoma (N = 9, 23%) or squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) (N = 7, 18%). 64.1% of the patients experienced dysphagia and ulcerative mass was the most comment endoscopic finding. There was a higher proportion of drinkers (54.1%), betel chewers (21.6%) and smokers (64.9%) among the patients than in the general population in Taiwan. Five patients (12.8%) had been diagnosed with other cancers. Definite chemoradiotherapy (N = 14, 35.9%) and surgery (N = 7, 17.9%) were the major treatment. Patients with Ki-67% above the median level (50%) in the tumors tended to have worse survival (P = 0.06). However, presence of mixed component was not a significant survival predictor in our study (P = 0.56). CONCLUSION: Mixed component of an esophageal NET is commonly observed. Staged workup and the principle of treatment can follow that for the common cancer type of esophagus. The risk factors and behaviors of esophageal NEC in Taiwan seem to be similar to that of esophageal SCC.

Endoscopic management of strictures in patients with Crohn's disease - A multi-center experience in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that causes relapsing inflammation and severe mucosal damage in the intestine. Crohn's disease (CD)-related stricturing complications are a major cause of surgery, disability, and reduced quality of life. Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) has been shown to reliably delay or prevent surgery in patients with stricturing CD. However, cases of EBD performed for stricture in CD in Taiwan are rare. In this study, we want to evaluate the experiences regarding EBD for stricturing CD in Taiwan. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 9 medical centers in Taiwan. Patients with CD-related strictures who were treated with EBD were included and analyzed. RESULTS: In nine medical centers, a total of 26 CD patients (19 male, 7 female, mean disease duration 75.4 ± 65.2 months) underwent 42 EBD procedures during the study period. Among the subjects, an 83.3% (35/42) EBD success rate was seen, but 26.9% (7/26) patients underwent surgery after ineffective EBD. In the surgery group, the the small bowel strictures was high compared with the non-surgery group (p = 0.01). There were no significant differences in disease phenotype, disease duration or history of fistulizing disease. In the surgery group, immunosuppressant use was high, and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) use was low compared with the non-surgery group. After EBD, the physicians tended to change the drugs, especially increasing the use of biologic agents. CONCLUSION: EBD is a safe and effective procedure for CD-related stricture, with a 83.3% success rate in Taiwan.

Esophageal Metal Stents with Concurrent Chemoradiation Therapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer: Safe or Not?

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to review the risks and benefits of concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) with esophageal self-expandable metal stents (SEMS) for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2014 and December 2016, the data from 46 locally advanced esophageal cancer patients who received CCRT at our institution were retrospectively reviewed. Eight patients who received CCRT concomitant with SEMS placement (SEMS plus CCRT group) and thirty-eight patients who received CCRT without SEMS placement (CCRT group) were identified. The risk of developing esophageal fistula and the overall survival of the two groups were analyzed. RESULTS: The rate of esophageal fistula formation during or after CCRT was 87.5% in the SEMS plus CCRT group and 2.6% in the CCRT group. The median doses of radiotherapy in the SEMS plus CCRT group and the CCRT group were 47.5 Gy and 50 Gy, respectively. SEMS combined with CCRT was associated with a greater risk of esophageal fistula formation than CCRT alone (hazard ratio [HR], 72.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.62-606.12; p < .001). The median overall survival times in the SEMS plus CCRT and CCRT groups were 6 months and 16 months, respectively. Overall survival was significantly worse in the SEMS plus CCRT group than in the CCRT group (HR, 5.72; 95% CI, 2.15-15.21; p < .001). CONCLUSION: CCRT concomitant with SEMS for locally advanced esophageal cancer results in earlier life-threatening morbidity and a higher mortality rate than treatment with CCRT alone. Further prospective and randomized studies are warranted to confirm these observations. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Patients treated with SEMS placement followed by CCRT had higher risk of esophageal fistula formation and inferior overall survival rate compared with patients treated with CCRT alone. SEMS placement should be performed cautiously in patients who are scheduled to receive CCRT with curative intent.

Identification of risk factors for neoplastic colonic polyps in young adults with bloody stool in comparison with those without symptom.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The incidence and disease burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young adults were increasing. However, there was a dearth of advice on how to identify young population at risk for neoplastic colonic polyps (NCPs) and CRC. We aimed to identify risk factors for NCPs and CRC in young adults presenting with bloody stool. METHODS: A total of 1496 subjects younger than 40 years old who underwent colonoscopy due to bloody stool from 2005 to 2014 were enrolled in this retrospective study as the study group, and 1481 age-matched and gender-matched asymptomatic subjects who underwent colonoscopy for health checkup from 2011 to 2016 were enrolled as the control group at a tertiary center hospital. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis results showed that increasing age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.15, P < 0.001), higher body mass index (BMI) (OR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1.03-1.12, P = 0.001), diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.80, 95%CI: 1.06-7.42, P = 0.038), and positive family history of CRC (OR = 13.28, 95%CI: 5.70-30.97, P < 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for NCPs in study group. The best cut-off values by receiver operating characteristic curve for age and BMI were 32 years old and 24.8 kg/m2 , respectively. More risk factors were associated with the higher risk for NCPs (OR = 2.17 every increasing one risk factor, P < 0.001). In the control group, no independent risk factors were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Adults aged ≤ 40 years with bloody stool who had increasing age (> 32 years old), higher BMI (> 24.8 kg/m2 ), diabetes mellitus, and positive family history of CRC had a higher detection rate of NCPs and CRC.

A training program of a new simplified classification of magnified narrow band imaging for superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Optimal staging of the invasion depth of superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is vital before endoscopic treatment. A new simplified magnified narrow-band imaging (M-NBI) classification system based on vascular architecture has recently been developed by the Japan Esophageal Society; however, its validity remains uncertain. METHODS: A total of 11 experienced and 11 inexperienced endoscopists were invited to join an endoscopic training program, which was composed of pretest, educational section, and post-test. The pretest and post-test sections included a set of endoscopic photos from 40 subjects with superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with various invasion depths. Each subject appeared twice in the test, one with white-light imaging (WLI) only and the other with both WLI and M-NBI. The educational section included lectures and video demonstrations. RESULTS: The accuracy of WLI alone and combined with M-NBI at baseline were 0.53, 0.57 and 0.43, 0.41 for the experienced and inexperienced endoscopists, respectively, which then improved to 0.57, 0.63 and 0.49, 0.52 after training. Inter-observer agreement (k-value) of WLI alone and combined WLI and M-NBI for the experienced and inexperienced endoscopists also improved from 0.61, 0.61, and 0.61, 0.53 to 0.68, 0.71, and 0.71, 0.59, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that the educational course but not experience in endoscopy, NBI, or magnification significantly improved the diagnostic accuracy. M-NBI had a significant additional benefit to WLI, with an improvement in accuracy from 36% to 56% for the cases with m3/sm1 cancers (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A well-designed training program can improve the diagnostic accuracy in evaluating cancer invasion depth, with substantial agreement.

Small bowel tumors: A digestive endoscopy society of Taiwan (DEST) multicenter enteroscopy-based epidemiologic study.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Small bowel (SB) accounts for the majority of gastrointestinal tract but its tumors are rare and always overlooked. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of SB tumors. METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study utilized endoscopy database from 2006/11 to 2016/07. Baseline demographic characteristics, clinical, radiologic and endoscopic findings were collected. RESULTS: Totally 103 (34 benign, 69 malignant lesions) patients with SB tumors in 1070 enteroscopic examinations were enrolled. There were male preponderance (56.3% males, 43.7% females), both in benign (52.9%, 49.1%) and malignant (58.0%, 42.0%) lesions, except for subtype gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) (31.6%, 68.4%). The age (mean ± SD) at diagnosis in malignant SB tumors (62.2 ± 15.6) was older than those with benign tumors (50.7 ± 21.4) (p < 0.01). Bleeding (43.7%), abdominal pain (40.8%) and ileus (10.7%) were the most common clinical presentations. Hamartoma (32.4%) and adenoma (14.7%) were the most common benign histology. Four major malignant histological subtypes were lymphomas (29.0%), GISTs (27.5%), adenocarcinomas (26.1%) and metastatic cancers (14.5%). SB adenocarcinoma patients (>60-year-old, 77.8%) were older than lymphomas (60%) and GISTs (50%). Proximally location rates of lymphomas, GISTs, adenocarcinomas were 25.0% (5/20), 84.2% (16/19), and 88.9% (16/18), respectively. CONCLUSION: This endoscopy-based study revealed the most common histology of benign SB tumors were hamartoma and adenoma, and malignant ones were lymphomas, GISTs, adenocarcinomas and metastatic cancers. Most of them were male gender, except for GISTs, and with proximal location, except for lymphomas. Further large-scale investigation efforts are warranted to elucidate the epidemiology of SB tumors.

Differences of microbiota in small bowel and faeces between irritable bowel syndrome patients and healthy subjects.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies suggested that colonic microbiota have impacts on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients. However, the knowledge about the association of small intestine (SI) microbiota with IBS is limited. We aimed to investigate the gut microbiota composition of SI and stool in IBS patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Biopsies of jejunum mucosa by balloon-assisted enteroscopy and faecal samples from 28 IBS patients and 19 healthy controls were analysed by next-generation sequencing method. RESULTS: The three major phyla in SI microbiota of case/control groups were Proteobacteria (32.8/47.7%), Bacteroidetes (25.2/15.3%), and Firmicutes (19.8/11.2%), and those of stool were Bacteroidetes (41.3/45.8%), Firmicutes (40.7/38.2%), and Proteobacteria (15.4/7.1%). Analysis based on the family level, IBS patients had a higher proportion of Veillonellaceae (mean proportion 6.49% versus 2.68%, p = 0.046) in stool than controls. Prevotellaceae was more abundant in IBS patients than in control group (14.27% versus 6.13%, p = 0.023), while Mycobacteriaceae (0.06% versus 0.17%, p = 0.024) and Neisseriaceae (6.40% versus 8.94%, p = 0.038) was less abundant in IBS patients' jejunal mucosa than those in controls. This less abundant jejunal Neisseriaceae was associated with more severe IBS (p = 0.03). The ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes in the stool of IBS-diarrhoea type patients was approximately three-fold higher, and the ratio of Firmicutes to Actinobacter in SI of IBS-mixed type patients was about nine-fold higher than healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: Higher abundance of colonic Veillonellaceae and SI Prevotellaceae, and lower amount of oral cavity normal flora in proximal SI were found in IBS patients. We may manipulate these bacteria in IBS patients in future studies (ClinicalTrial.gov Number NCT01679730).

Stress ulcer prophylaxis in patients being weaned from the ventilator in a respiratory care center: A randomized control trial.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: No data has been available on prophylaxis for stress ulcer development during the process of weaning patients off mechanical ventilators. We conducted a randomized study to evaluate the efficacy of stress ulcer prophylaxis with lansoprazole OD in patients being weaned from mechanical ventilators. METHODS: A total of 120 patients were randomly allocated into two groups using blocked randomization, with 60 patients in each group. Group A was the treatment group, receiving lansoprazole OD 30 mg from a nasogastric tube for 14 days, while Group B, the control group, received no proton pump inhibitors or other medications for treating peptic ulcers. The primary end point of our study was apparent upper gastrointestinal bleeding within 2 weeks of enrollment. RESULTS: Apparent upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurred in zero patients and five patients in Groups A and B, respectively (Group A: 0% vs. Group B: 8.3%, p = 0.057). There was no significant difference between the two groups in ventilator-associated pneumonia (Group A: 6.7% vs. Group B: 10.0%, p = 0.509) and 30-day survival rates (Group A: 96.7% vs. Group B: 100%, p = 0.496). CONCLUSION: Stress ulcer prophylaxis with lansoprazole in patients being weaned from mechanical ventilators led to a lower but not statistically significant incidence of apparent upper gastrointestinal bleeding. There was no significant increase of incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia in the prophylaxis group. Further larger scale studies are needed to clarify the benefit of stress ulcer prophylaxis in such patients.

Similar rebleeding rate in 3-day and 7-day intravenous ceftriaxone prophylaxis for patients with acute variceal bleeding.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Although prophylactic antibiotics have been recommended for cirrhotic patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, the duration of its use remains an inconclusive issue. We designed this study to investigate the duration of antibiotic prophylaxis for cirrhotic patients with acute esophageal variceal bleeding. METHODS: We enrolled those patients suffering from acute esophageal variceal bleeding and receiving band ligation. They were randomly allocated to two groups to receive prophylactic antibiotics; Group I: receiving intravenous ceftriaxone 500 mg every 12 hours for 3 days, and Group II: same regimen for 7 days. We used rebleeding rate within 14 days as the primary end point and also evaluated the survival rate within 28 days and the amount of transfusion during admission. RESULTS: There were 38 patients in Group I and 33 patients in Group II that completed the study course for analysis. Overall, there was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics between these two groups. There were three patients both in Group I and Group II who developed rebleeding within 14 days (8% vs. 9%, p > 0.99). There was also no difference between Group I and Group II in transfusion amount (2.71 ± 2.84 units vs. 3.18 ± 4.07, p = 0.839) and survival rate in 28 days (100 vs. 97%, p = 0.465). CONCLUSION: Our small scale study demonstrated that there was no difference in the rebleeding rate between 3-day and 7-day ceftriaxone prophylaxis for cirrhotic patients with acute esophageal variceal bleeding. There was also no difference in 28 day survival rate between these two groups.

Advanced hepatic fibrosis and steatosis are associated with persistent alanine aminotransferase elevation in chronic hepatitis C patients negative for hepatitis C virus RNA during pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy.

BACKGROUND: Clinical implications of persistent alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation and associated factors in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients who achieved undetectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA during pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (peg-IFN/RBV) therapy remain unknown. METHODS: A total of 1113 CHC patients with undetectable HCV RNA during peg-IFN/RBV therapy were enrolled. Baseline characteristics associated with persistent on-treatment ALT elevation (POAE), and its impact on treatment outcomes, were investigated. RESULTS: Of 1113 CHC patients, 254 (22.8%) had POAE. Among patients with HCV genotype 1 (HCV-1) who had complete early virologic response (EVR) and received 48 weeks of therapy, patients with POAE had a lower rate of sustained virologic response (SVR) than those without POAE (44.1% vs 74.0%; P = .0002). Multivariate analyses showed that body mass index ≥ 27 kg/m(2), ALT level ≥3 times the upper limit of normal, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index score ≥1.5, hepatic fibrosis ≥F3, and hepatic steatosis ≥S2 were independent factors associated with POAE after viral clearance. CONCLUSIONS: POAE is common in CHC patients during therapy. HCV-1 patients with POAE have a lower SVR rate to 48-week therapy if they achieve complete EVR. Advanced hepatic fibrosis, obesity, and steatosis are factors associated with POAE in these patients.

Increasing biopsy number and sampling from gastric body improve the sensitivity of rapid urease test in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies demonstrated that the sensitivity of rapid urease test (RUT) for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection decreased during peptic ulcer bleeding. AIM: We designed this study and tried to find a better method to improve the detection rate of H. pylori infection at the same session of endoscopic diagnosis of peptic ulcer bleeding. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 116 patients with peptic ulcer bleeding. These patients received intravenous proton pump inhibitor and then received upper gastrointestinal endoscopy within 24 h after arrival. We took one piece of biopsy from gastric antrum (Group 1), four pieces from gastric antrum (Group 2), and one piece from the gastric body (Group 3) for three separate RUTs, respectively. (13)C-urease breath test was used as gold standard for diagnosis of H. pylori infection. RESULTS: There were 74 patients (64 %) with positive (13)C-urease breath test. Among these 74 patients, 45 patients had positive RUT (sensitivity: 61 %) in Group 1; 55 patients had positive RUT (sensitivity: 74 %) in Group 2; 54 patients had positive RUT (sensitivity: 73 %) in Group 3. There were significant differences between Group 1 and Group 2 (p = 0.02) and between Group 1 and Group 3 (p = 0.022). CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity of RUT was 61 % during peptic ulcer bleeding. The sensitivity of RUT can be increased significantly by increased biopsy number from gastric antrum or biopsy from gastric body.