Impact of direct-access IBD physician delivered endoscopy on clinical outcomes: a pre-implementation and post-implementation study.

Introduction: Patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) referred from primary care often face diagnostic and treatment delays. This study aimed to compare a novel direct-access IBD endoscopy pathway with the traditional care model.

Method: Single centre real-world study analysing primary care referrals with suspected IBD.

Endoscopic management of intentional foreign body ingestion: experience from a UK centre.

Objective: We report on the increasing incidence and outcomes from intentional foreign body ingestion (iFoBI) presenting to our hospital over a 5-year period. The aim was to assess the impact on services and to identify ways to safely mitigate against this clinical challenge.

Design/method: We performed a retrospective observational study of all patients presenting to a university hospital between January 2015 and April 2020 with iFoBI with a focus on objects swallowed, timing of endoscopy and clinical outcomes.

Improving outpatient services: the Southampton IBD virtual clinic.

The follow-up of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is challenging due to the relapsing remitting nature of the diseases, the wide spectrum of severity and complexity as well as the need for monitoring of long-term complications and drug treatments. Conventional outpatient follow-up lacks flexibility for patients and there are competing pressures for clinic time. Alternative follow-up pathways include telephone clinics, self-management programmes or discharging patients.

Improving outpatient services: the Southampton IBD virtual clinic.

The follow-up of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is challenging due to the relapsing remitting nature of the diseases, the wide spectrum of severity and complexity as well as the need for monitoring of long-term complications and drug treatments. Conventional outpatient follow-up lacks flexibility for patients and there are competing pressures for clinic time. Alternative follow-up pathways include telephone clinics, self-management programmes or discharging patients.

Acute abdominal pain: An unusual medical cause.

Lyme disease is an infectious illness that arises from the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted via a bite by Ixodid ticks. There were 768 cases in the United Kingdom (incidence 1.46/100,000) identified by the Health Protection Agency in 2006.

Prognostic significance of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in patients with surgically resectable adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus.

Background: COX-2 expression in tumour cells has been associated with poor prognosis in gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal cancers. The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that higher levels of COX-2 expression are prognostically related to poor clinico-pathologic features in adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus.

Methods: We reviewed the records of 100 consecutive patients undergoing resection for adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus to collect data on T-stage, N-stage, tumour recurrence and survival.

Oesophageal scintigraphy for the investigation of dysphagia: in ans out of favour - underused when available.

Oesophageal scintigraphy has been used for more than 25 years and allows quantifiable, safe, rapid, non-invasive and well-tolerated assessment of oesophageal transit time and function. As technology improves, more complex image analysis is becoming possible. Many studies have addressed its usefulness in assessing oesophageal dysmotility using manometry as the gold standard: this literature is reviewed with reference to both the sensitivity and the specificity of the test as well as its application and effectiveness in various disease states.