Training in Ultrasound for Resident Physicians in Gastroenterology: a survey and training project by the Spanish Association of Digestive Ultrasound (Asociación Española de Ecografía Digestiva - AEED).

Background: the training program of the gastroenterology specialty that is mandatory for resident physicians, obliges them to be proficient in diagnostic and therapeutic digestive ultrasound tools.

Methodology: the Asociación Española de Ecografía Digestiva (AEED) performed a survey of the 93 Departments of Gastroenterology with training programs for resident physicians in gastroenterology, in order to assess the exact situation of training in digestive ultrasound in Spain.

Results: only 31 of the 93 (33%) Departments of Gastroenterology were able to provide training in Digestive Ultrasound.

Healing of autoimmune hepatitis associated with hepatitis C virus infection treated with direct-acting antivirals.

The use of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) has yielded a significant improvement in the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) associated with HCV infection. Interferon was the cornerstone of HCV therapy before the introduction of these agents into the clinical practice. Herein, we report the case of an HCV-infected patient who developed an interferon-induced AIH and since then, has received immunosuppressive therapy.

Switching from endoscopic submucosal dissection to salvage piecemeal knife-assisted snare resection to remove a lesion: A preoperative risk score from the beginning.

Background And Aims: endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in the Western setting remains a challenge. Therefore, other simplified techniques such as knife-assisted snare resection (KAR) have been reported to overcome this issue.

Methods: patients who underwent an ESD for the treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms were included in a retrospective cross-sectional observational study.

Esophageal motor disorders are frequent during pre and post lung transplantation. Can they influence lung rejection?

Background: lung transplantation (LTx) is a viable option for most patients with end-stage lung diseases. Esophageal motor disorders (EMD) are frequent in candidates for LTx, but there is very little data about changes in esophageal motility post-LTx.

Aim: the aim of our study was to assess esophageal motor disorders by high resolution manometry (HRM) both pre-LTx and six months post-LTx in patients with and without organ rejection.

Cholestasis after TIPS placement in a patient with primary sclerosing cholangitis: an uncommon complication.

We present the case of a patient with primary sclerosing cholangitis who presented a rapidly evolving cholestatic syndrome, with severe hyperbilirubinemia after placing a TIPS. It was resolved with a biliary prosthesis inserted by ERCP. To date, no similar cases have been described in the literature, as it is a rare complication and, on the other hand, the experience with TIPS in patients with PSC is limited.

Extrinsic esophageal compression by the vertebral body.

A 78-year-old woman with hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and revascularized ischemic heart disease was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma in 2011, with suspected bilateral adrenal metastatic disease, and was treated with subtotal gastrectomy and palliative chemotherapy. A follow-up gastroscopy in 2015 identified a protruding, erosive mid-esophageal lesion suggestive of extrinsic compression or ulcerated submucosal lesion, which had not been described previously. Follow-up was advised, and the lesion persisted after three months.

How the Body Position Can Influence High-resolution Manometry Results in the Study of Esophageal Dysphagia and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

Background/aims: The body position can influence esophageal motility data obtained with high-resolution manometry (HRM). To examine whether the body position influences HRM diagnoses in patients with esophageal dysphagia and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Methods: HRM (Manoscan) was performed in 99 patients in the sitting and supine positions; 49 had dysphagia and 50 had GERD as-sessed by 24-hour pH monitoring.

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of antral subepithelial lesion suspected of malignancy.

Subepithelial gastric tumours comprise a heterogeneous group of lesions. Endoscopic ultrasonography with fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a useful approach but cannot always offer a definitive diagnosis to guide future therapeutic decisions. In the case we describe, biopsy samples of an antral subepithelial lesion and cytological analysis obtained with an EUS-FNA suggested the diagnosis of an adenocarcinoma.

How useful is esophageal high resolution manometry in diagnosing gastroesophageal junction disruption: causes affecting this disruption and its relationship with manometric alterations and gastroesophageal reflux.

Background: High-resolution manometry (HRM) is a breakthrough in the morphological study of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) and its degrees of disruption.

Objectives: a) Assessment of risk factors involved in the disruption of the GEJ in patients with gastroesophageal reflux (GER) symptoms; b) the relationship between the type of GEJ and GER demonstrated by 24 hours pH-monitoring; and c) identification of the alterations in the manometric parameters related to the morphology of the GEJ.

Methods: One hundred and fifteen patients with symptoms of GER studied with HRM and classified by the type of GEJ (type I: Normal; type II: Sliding; type III: Hiatal hernia).

Reactivation of hepatitis B virus infection after cytotoxic chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapy.

Reactivation of hepatitis B is defined as the recurrence or an abrupt rise in hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication, often accompanied by an increase in serum transaminase levels, and both events occurring in a patient with a previous inactive hepatitis B infection. This reactivation can occur in situations in which the ratio of HBV replication and immune response is altered. It can happen during the treatment of hemato-oncological malignancies with chemotherapy and in immunosuppression of autoimmune diseases.

[Quality of life and its association with the severity of fecal incontinence].

Background: Wexner's score is widely used to assess the severity of fecal incontinence (FI). The 36-item short form health survey (SF-36) and the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life Scale (FIQLS), a disease-specific scale, are instruments measuring quality of life that have been validated into Spanish.

Aim: To evaluate quality of life in patients with FI by using the FIQL and SF-36 scales to correlate the results with the Wexner's score.