Gastroenterology Research and Practice

AIMS: To evaluate the value of endoscopic screening during endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in the detection of synchronous multiple early gastric cancer (SMEGC) and the risk factors for missed diagnosis of SMEGC. METHODS: We conducted gastric endoscopic screening during ESD operation in 271 patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) referred for ESD, and endoscopic follow-up within 1 year after the operation. The detection and characteristics of SMEGC were analyzed in three stages: before ESD, during ESD operation, and within 1 year after ESD...

BACKGROUND: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is often associated with exaggerated activation of inflammatory response. Astaxanthin has been shown in studies to have a positive and advantageous effect on anti-inflammatory response. Hence, it is of great significance to study the protective effect of astaxanthin in NEC disease and its molecular mechanism. OBJECTIVE: The present study was to investigate whether astaxanthin attenuates NEC rats and to explore its potential mechanism...

Liver fibrosis is a wound-healing response to chronic injury, which may result in cirrhosis and liver failure. Studies have been carried on the mechanisms and pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. However, the potential cell-specific expressed marker genes involved in fibrotic processes remain unknown. In this study, we combined a publicly accessible single-cell transcriptome of human liver with microarray datasets to evaluate the cell-specific expression patterns of differentially expressed genes in the liver. We noticed that EMP1 (epithelial membrane protein 1) is significantly active not only in CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride)-treated mouse liver fibrosis but also in BDL (bile duct ligation)-induced liver fibrosis and even in human fibrotic liver tissues such as alcoholic hepatitis, NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), and advanced stage liver fibrosis...

BACKGROUND: On September 5, 2019, British Columbia announced a new policy (the Biosimilars Initiative) to switch from originator to biosimilar infliximab for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. OBJECTIVE: To monitor the impacts of the policy on the use of medications and health services during the first year of the policy. METHODS: In this population-based cohort study, we used administrative health data to construct three historical cohorts and one policy cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases who used the originator infliximab...

OBJECTIVES: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become a well-established treatment method for gastric submucosal tumors (SMTs). However, there existed some challenges to perform ESD for prepyloric SMTs on account of the special location. Recently, submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER) provided a novel option for prepyloric SMTs. This study aimed to make a comprehensive comparison between prepyloric STER (P-STER) and ESD for the treatment of prepyloric SMTs. METHODS: Patients with prepyloric SMTs undergoing P-STER treatment between January 2016 and October 2021 were retrospectively reviewed and individually matched at 1 : 1 ratio with those with ESD treatment according to lesion size, lesion location, pathologic diagnosis, lesion origin, and surgery date, forming P-STER and ESD group, respectively...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Most patients develop adhesions after abdominal surgery, some will be hospitalized with small bowel obstruction (SBO), and some also require surgery. The operations and follow-up are expensive, but recent data of costs are scarce. The aim of this study was to describe the direct costs of SBO-surgery and follow-up, in a population-based setting. The association between cost of SBO and peri- and postoperative data was also studied. METHODS: In a retrospective cohort study, all patients ( n = 402) operated for adhesive SBO in Gävleborg and Uppsala counties (2007-2012) were studied...

BACKGROUND: There is controversy regarding whether patients with single hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) should be offered radiofrequency ablation (RFA) as a first-line treatment option. Thus, this study compared overall survival after surgical resection (SR) and RFA for single HCC. METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was used for this retrospective study. The study included 30- to 84-year-old patients diagnosed with HCC from 2000 to 2018...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Currently sedation is a common practice in colonoscopy to reduce pain of patients and improve the operator satisfaction, whereas its impact on examination quality, especially adenoma detection rate (ADR) is still controversial. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association of sedation with ADR. METHODS: Consecutive patients receiving colonoscopy between January 2017 and January 2020 at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, China, were collected...

BACKGROUND: Primary esophageal lymphoma (PEL) is a rare disorder. The objective of this study was to document the clinicopathological features of PEL at two tertiary hospitals in the western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: All PELs diagnosed between May 2002 and June 2022 were retrieved. Histopathological and immunohistochemical slides were reviewed. Additional immunohistochemistry stains were performed in selected cases. Follow-up data were collected...

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal dysfunction is one of the most common non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). The exact mechanisms behind these symptoms are not clearly understood. Studies in the well-established 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats of PD have shown altered contractility in isolated circular and longitudinal smooth muscle strips of distal colon. Contractile changes in proximal colon and distal ileum are nevertheless poorly studied. Moreover, segments may serve as better tissue preparations to understand the interplay between circular and longitudinal smooth muscle...

Long noncoding RNAs are a novel class of regulators in human cancers. It has been reported that small nucleolar RNA hostgene 7 (SNHG7) can sponge microRNAs to regulate colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. Given its important regulatory role in cancer biology, we wondered whether SNHG7 is involved in drug resistance to anlotinib (ATB) in CRC. To answer this, we quantified the expression of SNHG7 by quantitative real-time PCR. We performed the Cell Counting Kit-8 and Colony formation assay, flow cytometric analysis, RNA pull-down, RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation assay, and Luciferase reporter assay to confirm the interaction among SNHG7, miR-181a-5p, and GATA6...

Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiodrainage (PTCD) and percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting (PTBS) may be used as a palliative treatment for inoperable patients with malignant biliary obstruction (MBO) to improve the prognosis and their quality of life. However, acute pancreatitis is a common and severe complication that cannot be ignored after PTCD and PTBS in patients with MBO. A few cases may develop severe pancreatitis with a higher mortality rate. In this study, we summarize the known risk factors for acute pancreatitis after percutaneous biliary interventional procedures and investigate possible risk factors to reduce its occurrence by early identifying high-risk patients and taking appropriate measures...

INTRODUCTION: Saudi Arabia (SA) is one of the top countries in the world when it comes to the number of bariatric procedures performed each year. There is still some debate on whether to do regular or selective upper endoscopy during the preoperative examination. The purpose of this study was to explore various endoscopic findings and Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients having laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) prior to surgery. METHODS: We investigated a cohort of 132 patients referred to the endoscopy unit from the bariatric surgery outpatient clinic for prebariatric esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) as a part of preoperative LSG...

BACKGROUND: The severity of endoscopic recurrence during the first year after intestinal resection for Crohn's disease is predictive of clinical recurrence. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of the implementation of an ileocolonoscopy during the first year after surgery on surgical recurrence. METHODS: All patients who underwent a first intestinal resection for Crohn's disease between 1992 and 2018 at the University Hospital of Liège were retrospectively included...

BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common and potentially life-threatening inflammatory disease that can cause various complications, including systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), pleural effusion, ascitic fluid, myocardial infarction, and acute kidney injury (AKI). However, there is still a lack of rapid and effective indicators to assess the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of high serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels with AP severity and systemic complications...

Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) infection is chronic and etiologically linked to gastric cancer (GC) derived from gastric epithelium. The potential mechanism is complex, covering chronic inflammation, epithelial senescence, NF- κ B activation, the cytotoxin-associated gene A protein translocation, and related abnormal signaling pathways. In clinical practice, the test-and-treat strategy, endoscopy-based strategy, and (family-based) screen-and-treat strategy are recommended to detect H. pylori and prevent GC...

Aim: To explore the correlations between the expression of zinc finger protein 521 (ZNF521) with immune invasion and prognosis of gastric cancer. Methods: Expression of ZNF521 was examined by immunohistochemistry in gastric cancer cases. Kaplan-Meier plotter was used to determine the relationships between ZNF521 and prognosis. TIMER and GEPIA were used to analyze the correlation between ZNF521 expression and gene markers of immune cell infiltration. Results: The expression of ZNF521 was up-regulated in gastric cancer samples...

Background: Magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy has been shown to be feasible for the examination of gastric diseases. However, there may be problems, such as low image quality, incomplete esophageal observation, and capsule retention. We developed a novel magnetically controlled cable capsule endoscopy (MCCCE) system and evaluated its feasibility through in vitro experiments. Methods: Three experienced endoscopists performed MCCCE on the plastic stomach model and the excised porcine stomach model 5 times, respectively...

Pancreatitis usually presents with characteristic abdominal pain, radiological findings, and elevated lipase. The presence of jaundice may hint at a biliary etiology; however, it is not always present. We hypothesized that the presence of jaundice is associated with worse outcomes in patients admitted with pancreatitis. We conducted a retrospective analysis using the National Inpatient Sample, inquiring about patients admitted with pancreatitis with and without jaundice between October 2015 and December 2017...

INTRODUCTION: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal emergency, and effective management depends on early risk stratification. The Glasgow-Blatchford and Rockall scores are commonly used prognostic measures for UGIB, although these scoring systems are relatively difficult to apply in early emergency settings. AIMS65 with five items, albumin, international normalized ratio, mental status, systolic blood pressure, and age (>65 years), showed efficacy in predicting long-term hospitalization and mortality...