Food-Related Quality of Life and Its Predictors in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with dietary restrictions and food- and drink-driven daily life limitations. Food-related quality of life (FR-QoL) is still an under-addressed issue in IBD.

Aim: We aimed to study determinants of FR-QoL in an IBD cohort, namely objective measures of disease activity.

Thiopurines have no impact on outcomes of Crohn's disease patients beyond 12 months of maintenance treatment with infliximab.

Background: The emergence of new treatments the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) raised questions regarding the role of older agents, namely thiopurines.

Aims: To clarify the benefits of combination treatment with thiopurines on Crohn's disease (CD) patients in the maintenance phase of infliximab.

Methods: In this analysis of the 2-year prospective multicentric DIRECT study, patients were assessed in terms of clinical activity, faecal calprotectin (FC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and infliximab pharmacokinetics.

Targeted intervention to achieve waste reduction in gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Objective: Endoscopy is healthcare's third largest generator of medical waste in hospitals. This prospective study aimed to measure a single unit's waste carbon footprint and perform a pioneer intervention towards a more sustainable endoscopy practice. The relation of regulated medical waste (RMW; material fully contaminated with blood or body fluids or containing infectious agents) versus landfill waste (non-recyclable material not fully contaminated) may play a critical role.

The new simplified MARIA score applies beyond clinical trials: A suitable clinical practice tool for Crohn's disease that parallels a simple endoscopic index and fecal calprotectin.

Background: A simplified magnetic resonance enterography (MRe) index (sMARIA) for Crohn's disease (CD) was recently developed and validated.

Objective: Our aims were (a) to assess sMARIA's accuracy in a sample other than the validation cohort; (b) to evaluate its correlation with a simpler endoscopy index (SES-CD) and fecal calprotectin (FC); and (c) to assess the need of an expert radiologist to reliably use sMARIA.

Methods: Patients with CD who underwent MRe, ileocolonoscopy and FC within 2-4 weeks had their MRe retrospectively reviewed by two blinded raters.

Therapeutic drug monitoring of CT-P13: a comparison of four different immunoassays.

Background: The commercialization of CT-P13, an infliximab (IFX) biosimilar, has the potential to decrease health-related costs and enhance access to biological therapies. This study aimed to address the accuracy and inter-assay agreement of the CT-P13 quantification using four different assays initially developed to assess IFX.

Methods: The four different methods, one in-house method and three commercially available kits, were used to quantify exogenously-spiked samples and the sera from 185 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients on CT-P13 therapy.

Clinical performance of an infliximab rapid quantification assay.

Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)-based algorithms can be used to guide infliximab (IFX) adjustments in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. This study aimed to explore a rapid IFX-quantification test from a clinical perspective.

Methods: This manuscript describes a prospective cohort study involving 110 ulcerative colitis (UC) patients on the maintenance phase of IFX.

Calprotectin and the Magnitude of Antibodies to Infliximab in Clinically-stable Ulcerative Colitis Patients are More Relevant Than Infliximab Trough Levels and Pharmacokinetics for Therapeutic Escalation.

Although infliximab (IFX) is an efficient therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, a considerably high rate of therapeutic failures still occurs. This study aimed at a better understanding of IFX pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics among clinically-asymptomatic UC patients. This was a multicentric and prospective study involving 65 UC patients in the maintenance phase of IFX therapy.

Impact of Early Surgery and Immunosuppression on Crohn's Disease Disabling Outcomes.

Background And Aims: The definition of early therapeutic strategies to control Crohn's disease aggressiveness and prevent recurrence is key to improve clinical practice. This study explores the impact of early surgery and immunosuppression onset in the occurrence of disabling outcomes.

Methods: This was a multicentric and retrospective study with 754 patients with Crohn's disease, who were stratified according to the need for an early surgery (group S) or not (group I) and further divided according to the time elapsed from the beginning of the follow-up to the start of immunosuppression therapy.

Development and Validation of Risk Matrices for Crohn's Disease Outcomes in Patients Who Underwent Early Therapeutic Interventions.

Introduction: The establishment of prognostic models for Crohn's disease [CD] is highly desirable, as they have the potential to guide physicians in the decision-making process concerning therapeutic choices, thus improving patients' health and quality of life. Our aim was to derive models for disabling CD and reoperation based solely on clinical/demographic data.

Methods: A multicentric and retrospectively enrolled cohort of CD patients, subject to early surgery or immunosuppression, was analysed in order to build Bayesian network models and risk matrices.

Health-related quality of life and utilities in gastric premalignant conditions and malignant lesions: a multicentre study in a high prevalence country.

Background And Aims: A recent review of economic studies relating to gastric cancer revealed that authors use different tests to estimate utilities in patients with and without gastric cancer. Our aim was to determine the utilities of gastric premalignant conditions and adenocarcinoma with a single standardized health measure instrument.

Methods: Cross-sectional nationwide study of patients undergoing upper endoscopy (n=1,434) using the EQ-5D-5L quality of life (QoL) questionnaire.

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the most distal rectum: a dilemma in origin and management.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the rectum is a rare malignant entity that has been classically managed with a surgery-based approach, which included abdominoperineal resection for distal lesions. Recently there have been reports on the favourable outcomes achieved with the non-surgical management of these patients. We report a case of a 52-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a stage IIIa SCC located on the distal rectum.

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhosis: varix or no varix?

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding from variceal origin is a frequent complication in the cirrhotic population. Duodenal variceal haemorrhage, however, is infrequent and the endoscopic management of such lesions is not straightforward. Non-endoscopic options include vasoactive drugs, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), transvenous obliteration and surgery as rescue therapy.