Ten and eight-day sequential therapy in comparison to standard triple therapy for eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection: a randomized controlled study on efficacy and tolerability.

Background: Sequential therapy (SQT) is effective in the eradication of Helicobacter pylori and could become an alternative to standard triple therapy (STT).

Aim: To compare the efficacy and tolerability of SQT, for either 8 or 10 days, with a 7-day STT.

Methods: A total of 270 naive H.

Look out before polypectomy in patients with diverticular disease--a case of a large, inverted diverticulum of the colon resembling a pedunculated polyp.

Diverticular disease of the colon may be responsible for abdominal symptoms requiring colonoscopy, which may reveal the presence of concomitant polyps. A polyp found during colonoscopy in patients with colonic diverticular disease may be removed by endoscopic polypectomy with electrosurgical snare, a procedure associated with an incidence of perforation of less than 0.05%.

IL-21 is highly produced in Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric mucosa and promotes gelatinases synthesis.

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is associated with gastric inflammation and ulceration. The pathways of tissue damage in Hp-infected subjects are complex, but evidence indicates that T cell-derived cytokines enhance the synthesis of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) that contribute to mucosal ulceration and epithelial damage. In this study, we have examined the role of the T cell cytokine IL-21 in Hp-infected gastric mucosa and evaluated whether IL-21 regulates MMP production by gastric epithelial cells.

Local injection of infliximab in the postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease.

Background: Local injection of infliximab in Crohn's disease (CD) lesions may reduce the risk of rare side effects, reduce the dose, and increase the efficacy of the drug. The objective was to prospectively assess the feasibility and the safety of local injection of infliximab for the postoperative recurrence of patients with CD who were followed for at least 1 year.

Methods: In a pilot, open-label study, 8 patients with CD (3 men; median age 48 years, range 35-82 years) undergoing ileocolonoscopy were prospectively enrolled.

Virtual colonoscopy compared with conventional colonoscopy for stricturing postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease.

Background: The place of virtual colonoscopy (VC) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) requiring endoscopic follow-up after surgery is unknown. The authors compared findings from VC versus conventional colonoscopy (CC) for assessing the postoperative recurrence of CD.

Methods: Sixteen patients with ileocolonic anastomosis for CD were prospectively enrolled from January 2001 to January 2002.

Fecal alpha 1-antitrypsin clearance as a marker of clinical relapse in patients with Crohn's disease of the distal ileum.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) shows a chronic relapsing course but no marker of relapse is currently available. However, fecal alpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha 1-AT) clearance (alpha 1-ATCl) is an indicator of protein loss and increases during active inflammation. We assessed the usefulness of fecal alpha 1-ATCl in predicting clinical relapse in patients with inactive ileal CD.