Circulating Fibroblast Activation Protein as Potential Biomarker in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

A major concern in the management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is the absence of accurate and specific biomarkers to drive diagnosis and monitor disease status timely and non-invasively. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) represents a hallmark of IBD bowel strictures, being overexpressed in stenotic intestinal myofibroblasts. The present study aimed at evaluating the potential of circulating FAP (cFAP) as an accessible blood biomarker of IBD.

Risk of COVID 19 in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases compared to a control population.

Background: It is unclear whether patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of COVID-19.

Objectives: This observational study compared the prevalence of COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosis and hospitalization in IBD patients with a control population with non-inflammatory bowel disorders.

Methods: This multicentre study, included 2733 outpatients (1397 IBD patients and 1336 controls), from eight major gastrointestinal centres in Lombardy, Italy.

Outcomes of COVID-19 in 79 patients with IBD in Italy: an IG-IBD study.

Objectives: COVID-19 has rapidly become a major health emergency worldwide. Patients with IBD are at increased risk of infection, especially when they have active disease and are taking immunosuppressive therapy. The characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with IBD remain unclear.

Use, effectiveness and tolerability of budesonide-MMX in ulcerative colitis: A real-life experience.

Background: Budesonide-MMX has an established role in the management of relapsing mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. Data regarding effectiveness and tolerability in real-life clinical practice are limited.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the use of budesonide-MMX in ulcerative colitis, as well as short-term effectiveness and tolerability in real-life practice.

The PROSIT Cohort of Infliximab Biosimilar in IBD: A Prolonged Follow-up on the Effectiveness and Safety Across Italy.

Background: We report a prospective, nationwide cohort evaluating the safety and effectiveness of CT-P13.

Methods: A structured database was used to record serious adverse events (SAEs), clinical remission/response, inflammatory biomarkers (CRP and calprotectin), and endoscopic findings.

Results: Eight hundred ten patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (452 Crohn's disease [CD]) were enrolled.

Totally laparoscopic, multi-stage, restorative proctocolectomy for inflammatory bowel diseases. A prospective study on safety, efficacy and long-term results.

Background: Laparoscopic ileo-pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) has been reported as having low morbidity and several advantages.

Aims: To evaluate safety, efficacy and long-term results of laparoscopic IPAA, performed in elective or emergency settings, in consecutive unselected IBD patients.

Methods: All the patients received totally laparoscopic 2-stage (proctocolectomy and IPAA - stoma closure) or 3-stage (colectomy - proctectomy and IPAA - stoma closure) procedure according to their presentation.

The Time Course of Diagnostic Delay in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Over the Last Sixty Years: An Italian Multicentre Study.

Background And Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] patients are still under-diagnosed or diagnosed with serious delay. We examined whether diagnostic delay [DD] in IBD has changed over the last 60 years, and explored the risk factors of longer DD.

Methods: In total, 3392 IBD patients recorded in the registry of four IBD Italian centres were divided according to the year of diagnosis into a historical cohort [HC: 1955-84] and modern cohort [MC: 1985-2014].

The PROSIT-BIO Cohort: A Prospective Observational Study of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treated with Infliximab Biosimilar.

Background: Few data are available on the safety and efficacy of infliximab biosimilar CT-P13 in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Methods: A prospective, multicenter, cohort study using a structured database.

Results: Consecutive patients (313 Crohn's disease and 234 ulcerative colitis) were enrolled from 31 referral centers; 311 patients were naive to anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha, 139 had a previous exposure to biologics, and the remaining 97 were switched to CT-P13 after a mean of 18 ± 14 infusions of infliximab.

Oxidative stress and thromboxane-dependent platelet activation in inflammatory bowel disease: effects of anti-TNF-α treatment.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at higher risk of venous thromboembolism and coronary artery disease despite having a lower burden of traditional risk factors. Platelets from IBD patients release more soluble CD40 ligand (CD40L), and this has been implicated in IBD platelet hyper-activation. We here measured the urinary F2-isoprostane 8-iso-prostaglandin (PG)2α (8-iso-PGF2α), urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane (TX) B2 (11-dehydro-TXB2) and plasma CD40L in IBD patients, and explored the in vitro action of anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α antibody infliximab on IBD differentiating megakaryocytes.

Overview of biological therapy in ulcerative colitis: current and future directions.

The treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) has changed over the last decade. It is extremely important to optimize the therapies which are available nowadays and commonly used in daily clinical practice, as well as to stimulate the search for more powerful drugs for the induction and maintenance of sustained and durable remission, thus preventing further complications. Therefore, it is mandatory to identify the patients' prognostic variables associated with an aggressive clinical course and to test the most potent therapies accordingly.

Serum hepcidin in inflammatory bowel diseases: biological and clinical significance.

Background: Hepcidin, a peptide produced by hepatocytes, regulates body iron homeostasis. Inflammation increases serum hepcidin, and its determination can be useful in the differential diagnosis of anemias during inflammatory diseases.

Methods: We measured serum hepcidin-25 and hepcidin-20 isoforms in 54 patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and 54 reference subjects (36 healthy controls and 18 anemic patients without inflammation or renal failure).

Mucosal healing predicts late outcomes after the first course of corticosteroids for newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis.

Background & Aims: It is uncertain whether mucosal healing after the first course of corticosteroids therapy predicts outcome in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). We evaluated whether early clinical and endoscopic responses to this therapy are associated with late outcomes in UC.

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed UC who were prescribed corticosteroid therapy (n = 157) were followed up for 5 years.

Peripheral regulatory T cells and serum transforming growth factor-β: relationship with clinical response to infliximab in Crohn's disease.

Background: CD4(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells (Treg) inhibit T-cell proliferation in vitro and are effective in suppressing colitis in mouse models. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, which is centrally involved in Crohn's disease (CD) pathogenesis, also impairs Treg function. Here we investigated the influence of anti-TNF therapy on Treg frequency and function in CD.

Prevalence and pathogenesis of anemia in inflammatory bowel disease. Influence of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha treatment.

Background: Anemia is a common complication of inflammatory bowel disease, but its epidemiology may be changing due to earlier diagnosis and improved treatments. We investigated the prevalence and pathogenesis of anemia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Design And Methods: In a cross-sectional study 263 out-patients with inflammatory bowel disease (165 with Crohn's disease, 98 with ulcerative colitis) were investigated.

Maintenance treatment with azathioprine in ulcerative colitis: outcome and predictive factors after drug withdrawal.

Objectives: Whether the duration of maintenance treatment with azathioprine (AZA) affects the outcome of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unclear. We investigated clinical outcomes and any predictive factors after withdrawal of AZA in UC.

Methods: In this multicenter observational retrospective study, 127 Italian UC patients, who were in steroid-free remission at the time of withdrawal of AZA, were followed-up for a median of 55 months or until relapse.

Isolated ampullary adenoma causing biliary obstruction.

This is an interesting case of an isolated ampullary adenoma causing biliary obstruction that required surgical excision. We describe a patient who presented with a six month history of recurrent attacks of typical biliary pain radiating from the right upper quadrant of the abdomen to the back, nausea and vomiting, which we attributed to a large pedunculated tubulovillous adenoma. Abdominal ultrasound and endoscopic ultrasonography provided useful information in the diagnostic assessment of ampullary adenoma.

Prevalence and clinical significance of sonographic evidence of mesenteric fat alterations in Crohn's disease.

Background: Mesenteric adipose tissue hypertrophy is a frequent sonographic finding in Crohn's disease (CD). This study assessed its sonographic prevalence, the correlation with the degree of clinical or biochemical activity of the disease, and its impact on disease outcome in CD patients.

Methods: In all, 185 consecutive CD patients underwent bowel ultrasound to assess the presence of mesenteric fat tissue alteration as well as thickness and echopattern of the bowel wall, site and extent of CD, and presence of stenosis, fistulas, and abscesses.

Appropriateness and diagnostic yield of colonoscopy in the management of patients with ulcerative colitis: a prospective study in an open access endoscopy service.

Background: Colonoscopy is frequently performed in ulcerative colitis (UC), but its benefit in the management of the disease is a matter of debate. The objective was to determine the clinical impact of colonoscopy in UC.

Methods: Consecutive patients with UC undergoing colonoscopy were studied.

New onset of atrial fibrillation after introduction of azathioprine in ulcerative colitis: case report and review of the literature.

Case Report: We present the case of a 52-year-old man with steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis, needing immunosuppressive therapy with azathioprine. The drug had been started 3 years earlier, but stopped after a few months because the patient reported palpitations, lipothymia, nausea and vomiting. Given the continued steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis and the lack of clinical documentation about a reaction with a dubious relationship to azathioprine, we decided to rechallenge the patient with the drug under clinical monitoring and after informed consent.