Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and the risk of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: the hidden danger.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been identified as risk factor for several diseases; however, its association with post endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis (PEP) has not been studied.

Aims: To assess whether NAFLD is a risk factor for the development of PEP.

Methods: We performed a retrospective multicenter study.

Colonoscopy in Nonagenarians Is Safe and May Be Associated with Clinical Benefit.

Objectives: Data regarding colonoscopy in patients older than 90 years old is scarce. Yet the number of colonoscopies done on nonagenarians is rising. We aimed to determine the yield, safety, and therapeutic benefits of colonoscopy in these patients.

Chronic Use of Statins and Their Effect on Prevention of Post-Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Pancreatitis.

Post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) is one of the major complications of ERCP. Thus, several non-invasive as well as invasive strategies have been investigated as preventative therapies for PEP with various efficacy. We enrolled any patients who underwent ERCP both at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and EMMS Nazareth hospital.

Hearing Loss in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background And Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has many characteristics of autoimmune diseases. Sensorineural hearing loss has been reported in many autoimmune diseases. Little is known about hearing loss in patients with IBD.

Radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of radiation proctitis.

Background And Study Aims: The main endoscopic therapy for radiation proctitis is argon plasma coagulation (APC); however treatment is not always successful. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a possible treatment for radiation proctitis but data are scarce. The aim of this study was to report on the safety and efficacy of RFA in the treatment of radiation proctitis.

Unexpected FDG-PET uptake in the gastrointestinal tract: endoscopic and histopathological correlations.

Aim: To investigate the nature and significance of unexpected positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) uptake within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

Methods: Patients with unexpected FDG-PET findings in the GIT were evaluated. All patients had a previous confirmed malignancy, either solid or lymphoproliferative.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in neonatal cholestasis.

Background: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is not as widely used in children as in adults and is performed in few specialized centers. The aim of the present study was to review the experience of ERCP in children younger than 3 months in a national referral center.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed of all of the babies younger than 3 months who underwent ERCP between 2000 and 2010.

Effects of guided imagery with relaxation training on anxiety and quality of life among patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) impacts quality of life (QoL). Psychological factors influence the course of the disease and should be targeted for intervention.

Methods: Our study was a prospective, randomised control trial.

Losartan reduces trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid-induced colorectal fibrosis in rats.

Background: Intestinal fibrosis is a challenging clinical condition in several fibrostenosing enteropathies, particularly Crohn's disease. Currently, no effective preventive measures or medical therapies are available for intestinal fibrosis. Fibrosis, due to an abnormal accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins, is a chronic and progressive process mediated by cell⁄matrix⁄cytokine and growth factor interactions, but may be a reversible phenomenon.

The effect of restraint stress on the normal colon and on intestinal inflammation in a model of experimental colitis.

Stress may induce development of inflammation in animal models of colitis. The effects of restraint stress on oxidative damage and on antioxidants in the normal colonic mucosa were studied. The effect of stress on the severity of indicators of inflammation, as well as the importance of mucosal substance P (SP) as a mediator of this effect were investigated in the TNBS-colitis model.

Should stored serum of patients previously tested for celiac disease serology be retested for transglutaminase antibodies?

Introduction: Tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies are currently recognized as a highly sensitive indicator of celiac disease (CD). Although a high concordance rate between tTG antibodies and anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) has been reported up to a third of known CD patients are positive for only one of these antibodies.

Aim: To determine whether in laboratories in which serum samples previously examined for CD serology markers had not been discarded, these samples should be tested for tTG antibodies.

Prophylactic administration of topical glutamine enhances the capability of the rat colon to resist inflammatory damage.

Glutamine is an important nutrient for the GI tract and has been shown to exert a protective effect on the bowel. Nonetheless, in the context of IBD, data demonstrating a therapeutic role for glutamine has been inconclusive. IBD is associated with oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species.

Prevention of fibrosis in experimental colitis by captopril: the role of tgf-beta1.

Background & Aims: There is a body of evidence to suggest that the local activation of angiotensin II (ANG II) plays a pivotal role in fibrogenic response involving the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver. In such conditions, fibrosis is mediated, at least partially, through ANG II induction of the cytokine transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1). Both ANG II and TGF-beta1 also seem to be involved in intestinal fibrosis and stenosis, particularly in Crohn's disease.

Familial dysautonomia: deep sedation and management in endoscopic procedures.

Objectives: Familial dysautonomia is a rare genetic disorder that affects the development of the central nervous system, causing GI dysfunction. Because of an improved prognosis, elective surgical procedures are more common and present a unique problem to the anesthesiologist. All patients reported in the literature underwent these interventions under general anesthesia in the operating theater.