Publications by authors named "Benjamin Misselwitz"

Background: The treatment options for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have been greatly expanded due to a better understanding of the underlying pathogenesis. A total of five classes of advanced treatment are available.

Objective: A practical overview of advanced treatment of IBD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bilberries are effective in inducing clinical, endoscopic, and biochemical improvement in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of anthocyanin-rich extract (ACRE), the bioactive ingredient of bilberries, in a controlled clinical trial in moderate-to-severe UC. A multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study with a parallel group was conducted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccines are recommended for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, many patients rely on pre-existing immunity by original vaccines or prior infections.

Aim: To assess whether such immunity sufficiently combats the highly immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 JN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The review discusses primary benign mesenchymal tumors of the pancreas, which are very rare and often diagnosed only after surgery.
  • These tumors are usually identified through postoperative histology, leading to significant pancreatic surgery even for benign cases.
  • The summary includes limited findings from abdominal imaging and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), with some case reports demonstrating modern ultrasound techniques used for diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Although increasingly appreciated, little is known about the prevalence of fecal urgency, fecal incontinence and differences between patients' and physicians' perception in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: We performed an online patient and physician survey to evaluate the assessment, prevalence and impact of fecal urgency and incontinence in IBD.

Results: A total of 593 patients (44.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This review categorizes and discusses rare malignant mesenchymal tumors of the pancreas, emphasizing their imaging characteristics.
  • It highlights that these tumors may present differently than the more common pancreatic cancers, like ductal adenocarcinoma or neuroendocrine tumors.
  • The overview consolidates existing data to provide a clearer understanding of these less common pancreatic tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The gut microbiota has been implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD), with alterations observed in microbial composition and reduced microbial species richness, which may influence gastrointestinal symptoms in PD patients. It remains to be determined whether the severity of gastrointestinal symptoms correlates with microbiota variations in PD patients treated pharmacologically or with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) therapy. This study aims to explore how these treatments affect gut microbiota and gastrointestinal symptoms in PD, identifying specific microbial differences associated with each treatment modality.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Colonoscopy-based screening provides protection against colorectal cancer (CRC), but the optimal starting age and time intervals of screening colonoscopies are unknown. We aimed to determine an optimal screening schedule for the US population and its dependencies on the objective of screening (life years gained or incidence, mortality, or cost reduction) and the setting in which screening is performed. We used our established open-source microsimulation model CMOST to calculate optimized colonoscopy schedules with one, two, three or four screening colonoscopies between 20 and 90 years of age.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * It highlights the importance of correlating ultrasound results with pathological features for better differential diagnosis, especially in high-risk populations where point-of-care ultrasound can serve as an initial screening tool.
  • * The review cautions that while ultrasound can aid in sample collection for tuberculosis testing, a diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis cannot be confirmed solely through ultrasound, as many findings are non-specific.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Liver steatosis is the most frequent liver disorder and its advanced stage, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), will soon become the main reason for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. The "multiple hits hypothesis" suggests that progression from simple steatosis to NASH is triggered by multiple factors including the gut microbiota composition. The Epstein Barr virus induced gene 2 (EBI2) is a receptor for the oxysterol 7a, 25-dihydroxycholesterol synthesized by the enzymes CH25H and CYP7B1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aims: Childlessness and infertility represent a frequent and important issue in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Nevertheless, until now epidemiological data remains scarce. Therefore, main objectives of this study were to evaluate the rate of childlessness and the cumulative probability of reproduction in female and male IBD patients within the Swiss Inflammatory Bowel Disease Cohort Study (SIBDCS), a large prospective multicenter nationwide cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the gastrointestinal tract, caused by complex interactions between gut bacteria, immune responses, and genetic factors, which are not fully understood.
  • - Treatment options for CD have expanded beyond traditional steroids to include advanced therapies like TNF inhibitors (infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol), interleukin inhibitors (ustekinumab, risankizumab), and Janus kinase inhibitors (upadacitinib).
  • - While surgery can effectively manage localized cases of CD, especially for perianal complications, CD remains chronic and incurable, with only a subset of patients responding to current treatments, highlighting the need for ongoing
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) effectively controls HIV; however, chronic low-level viremia and gut microbiota dysbiosis remain significant drivers of gut and systemic inflammation. In this study, we explored the relationship between gut microbiota composition, intestinal inflammation, microbial translocation, and systemic inflammation in women on cART in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: We conducted a study in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected lactating women followed up at 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum in Harare, Zimbabwe.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Microbiota composition is fundamental to human health with the intestinal microbiota undergoing critical changes within the first two years of life. The developing intestinal microbiota is shaped by maternal seeding, breast milk and its complex constituents, other nutrients, and the environment. Understanding microbiota-dependent pathologies requires a profound understanding of the early development of the healthy infant microbiota.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Vaccine-elicited immune responses are impaired in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with anti-TNF biologics.

Aims: To assess vaccination efficacy against the novel omicron sublineages BQ.1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: While the detrimental impact of negative emotions on the clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and quality of life has been extensively investigated, evidence for a potential impact of positive emotions is scarce.

Objectives: We aim to analyse contributing factors of positive affect and their predictive value for disease course in IBD patients.

Design: In this retrospective cohort study, epidemiological, psychosocial and IBD disease characteristics of Swiss IBD cohort study patients were analysed longitudinally.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is a powerful tool for studying bacterial communities in their natural habitats or sites of infection, without the need for cultivation. However, low microbial signals in metagenomic sequencing can be overwhelmed by host DNA contamination, resulting in decreased sensitivity for microbial read detection. Several commercial kits and other methods have been developed to enrich bacterial sequences; however, these assays have not been tested extensively for human intestinal tissues yet.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) severely damages the epithelial cells of the gut lining leading to an inflamed leaky gut, translocation of microbial products, and dysbiosis resulting in systemic immune activation. Also, microbiota composition and maternal gut function can be altered in pregnancy through changes in the immune system and intestinal physiology. The aim of this study was to investigate the gut microbiota in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected pregnant women and to compare and identify the association between gut microbial composition and adverse birth outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Marginal zone lymphoma can be accompanied by symptoms of small intestinal disease including abdominal pain and malabsorption. However, the best diagnostic approach for suspected marginal zone lymphoma is unknown and intestinal biopsies are frequently negative. We describe the case of a patient with symptoms of small bowel involvement where marginal zone lymphoma could only be detected upon peripheral lymph node resection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The human distal small intestine (ileum) has a distinct microbiota, but human studies investigating its composition and function have been limited by the inaccessibility of the ileum without purging and/or deep intubation. We investigated inherent instability, temporal dynamics, and the contribution of fed and fasted states using stoma samples from cured colorectal cancer patients as a non-invasive access route to the otherwise inaccessible small and large intestines. Sequential sampling of the ileum before and after stoma formation indicated that ileostoma microbiotas represented that of the intact small intestine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) experience increased risk of vaccine-preventable diseases such as COVID-19.

Aims: To assess humoral and cellular immune responses following SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination in immunosuppressed IBD patients and healthy controls.

Methods: In this prospective, multicentre, case-control study, 139 IBD patients treated with biologics and 110 healthy controls were recruited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Little is known about the impact of ostomy formation in inflammatory bowel disease patients on course of disease, psychological well-being, quality of life and working capacity.

Methods: We analyzed patients over a follow-up of up to 16 years in the Swiss inflammatory bowel disease cohort study (SIBDCS) with prospective data collection. We compared Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patients with and without ostomy as well as permanent and closed stoma formation before and after surgery, investigating disease activity, psychological wellbeing and working capacity in a case-control design.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The gut-brain axis is recognized for its role in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), but the impact of personality traits on IBD remains underexplored.
  • In a study involving over 4,000 participants, specific personality traits, particularly self-reproach and negative affect, were linked to higher disease activity and developed into a risk score that correlated with clinical and psychological outcomes in IBD patients.
  • The findings indicated that a higher personality risk score predicted worse clinical outcomes and psychological issues like depression, although the personality traits of IBD patients were largely similar to those in the general population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF