Background: Whether improvements in gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms observed with Elexacaftor/Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor (ETI) treatment are sustained in the longer-term requires exploration. This study investigated how GI-symptoms change with longer-term ETI use in pancreatic insufficient adults with cystic fibrosis (awCF).
Methods: Participants completed up to three abdominal symptom questionnaires, employing the validated CFAbd-Score.
Objective: Translating and cross-culturally adapting the CFAbd-Score, Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Abdominal Score, to use in Brazilian spoken Portuguese. The CFAbd-Score is a questionnaire for assessing CF-related abdominal symptoms and their influence on the quality of life (QoL). It comprises 28 questions on five domains: abdominal pain, bowel movements, eating and appetite, gastroesophageal reflux symptoms, and the impact of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms on QoL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: The introduction of highly effective CFTR-modulating therapies (HEMT) has changed the course of the disease for many people with Cystic Fibrosis (pwCF). Attention previously focused on life-threatening conditions of the respiratory system has broadened, bringing the involvement of the digestive system into the clinical and scientific focus. This emphasized the need for sensitive tools to capture and quantify changes in abdominal symptoms (AS), ideally applying patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor (ETI) is a novel, highly effective CFTR modulator combination proven to enhance lung function and body weight in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) carrying a F508del mutation. Recently, we revealed significant reductions in abdominal symptoms (AS) in German, British, and Irish pwCF after 24-26 weeks of ETI using the CFAbd-Score, the first patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) specifically developed and validated for pwCF following FDA guidelines. Notably, many pwCF reported marked changes in their AS during the first days of the new treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: RECOVER is a multicentre post-approval study of Elexacaftor/Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor (ETI) in pwCF in Ireland and the UK. The CFAbd-Score is the first validated CF-specific patient reported outcome measure (PROM) focusing on gastrointestinal symptoms; it comprises 28 items in 5 domains. In a preliminary study, we previously reported reductions in abdominal symptoms (AS) in pwCF after 26 weeks of ETI-therapy using the CFAbd-Score.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) are known to frequently experience gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. In contrast, the impact of cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD) on accentuating GI symptoms in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) is unknown. We sought to examine this.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In cystic fibrosis (CF), acute respiratory exacerbations critically enhance pulmonary destruction. Since these mainly occur outside regular appointments, they remain unexplored. We previously elaborated a protocol for home-based upper airway (UAW) sampling obtaining nasal-lavage fluid (NLF), which, in contrast to sputum, does not require immediate processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Airway infection with pathogens and its associated pulmonary exacerbations (PEX) are the major causes of morbidity and premature death in cystic fibrosis (CF). Preventing or postponing chronic infections requires early diagnosis. However, limitations of conventional microbiology-based methods can hamper identification of exacerbations and specific pathogen detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe novel and highly effective CFTR modulator combination of elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor (ETI) has been shown to improve lung function and body weight in people with Cystic Fibrosis (pwCF) carrying a F508del mutation. However, the impact of these modulators on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms is relatively unknown. Therefore, the CFAbd-Score was developed and validated following FDA recommendations for development of a PROM including focus groups, multidisciplinary CF specialists, people with CF and their families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn cystic fibrosis (CF) therapy, the recent approval of CF-transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channel modulators is considered to be the major breakthrough. However, the current first-line approach based mainly on pulmonary function to measure effects of the novel therapy, tested by forced expiratory volumes in one second (FEV), provides restricted sensitivity to detect early structural damages. Accordingly, there is a need for new sensitive surrogate parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Sweat chloride testing (SCT) is the mainstay for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) and biomarker in the evaluation of CFTR-modifying drugs. To be a reliable and valid tool, analytical variance (CVA) must be minimized. However, external quality assessments have revealed significant deviations in routine clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF