Steroid-Free Deep Remission at One Year Does Not Prevent Crohn's Disease Progression: Long-Term Data From the TAILORIX Trial.

Background & Aims: Crohn's disease (CD) patients included in the Tailored Treatment With Infliximab for Active Crohn's Disease (TAILORIX) trial started infliximab in combination with an immunosuppressant for 1 year. The aim of the present study was to determine the long-term disease course beyond the study period.

Methods: We compared the outcomes of patients who did or did not reach the primary end point of the TAILORIX trial, defined as sustained corticosteroid-free clinical remission from weeks 22 through 54, with no ulcers on ileocolonoscopy at week 54.

The "Fonds Georges Brohée": a longstanding Belgian national initiative to stimulate research in hepatogastroenterology.

The Fonds Brohée/Brohée fund was created in 1964 at the initiative of 16 Belgian physicians, in the memory of Georges Brohée, the founder of the Belgian Society of Gastroenterology in 1928 and of its Journal in 1933, first published under the name "Le Journal Belge de Gastro-entérologie", then until today as "Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica". The goal of the Fonds is to stimulate research in the field of gastroenterology in Belgium, by awarding a young researcher (< 40 years) for an outstanding work in the clinical, translational or fundamental setting. Since 1966, 26 remarkable works have been awarded in various areas of interest in gastrointestinal diseases, whether in IBD, functional disorders, digestive oncology and, last but not least, hepatology.

Effectiveness and persistence of Vedolizumab in patients with inflammatory bowel disease : results from the Belgian REal-LIfe study with VEdolizumab (Be-RELIVE).

Background And Study Aims: Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a gutselective integrin inhibitor used to treat Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). This retrospective study assessed effectiveness and treatment persistence of VDZ in a Belgian reallife cohort of CD and UC patients.

Patients And Methods: CD and UC patients from 15 Belgian centers, who started VDZ between 01/09/2015 and 31/06/2016 and attended ≥1 visit after the first VDZ infusion, were included.

Is Crohn's Disease a Rightly Used Eponym?

In 1932 Burrill B. Crohn, a gastroenterologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, described, together with two surgical colleagues, a series of 14 patients with an inflammatory condition of the terminal ileum. All patients were operated on by Dr Albert Berg, the Chief Surgeon of the hospital, whose name did not appear on the initial publication.

Long-term Clinical Effectiveness of Ustekinumab in Patients with Crohn's Disease Who Failed Biologic Therapies: A National Cohort Study.

Background: Ustekinumab [UST] was recently approved in Europe for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn's disease [CD]. Long-term real-world data are currently scarce for CD patients previously exposed to several biologics.

Methods: This is an observational, national, retrospective multicentre study.

Jejuno-ileal diverticulosis : a review of literature.

Jejunal diverticulosis is a rare entity with variable clinical and anatomical presentations. The majority of cases are discovered incidentally during radiological investigations. Based on a case of a 77 year old woman with jejunal diverticulitis, the current literature about small bowel diverticulosis is reviewed.

Preference for a prefilled syringe or an auto-injection device for delivering golimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis: a randomized crossover study.

Purpose: Simponi (golimumab, MSD) is a fully human monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor alpha administered subcutaneously using an autoinjector or a prefilled syringe. This study examined preference for administration of golimumab by autoinjector or prefilled syringe in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC).

Patients And Methods: This was a multicenter, open-label, randomized crossover trial (EudraCT no 2014-000656-29).

Early Mucosal Healing Predicts Favorable Outcomes in Patients With Moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis Treated With Golimumab: Data From the Real-life BE-SMART Cohort.

Background: Golimumab (GOL) is registered for moderate to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). Data on the use of GOL in daily clinical practice are limited. Currently, it is unclear which factors are predictive of a favorable outcome.

Liver disease late in pregnancy without pre-eclampsia.

We describe the case of a first twin pregnancy in a 27 year old patient, who experienced acute onset epigastric and right upper quadrant pain at a gestational age of 32 weeks and 2 days. She was diagnosed with acute liver and renal failure and possible disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) syndrome without pre-eclampsia. Early labor induction was mandatory to save both mother and foetuses.

Increasing Infliximab Dose Based on Symptoms, Biomarkers, and Serum Drug Concentrations Does Not Increase Clinical, Endoscopic, and Corticosteroid-Free Remission in Patients With Active Luminal Crohn's Disease.

Background & Aims: A combination of infliximab and immunomodulators is the most efficacious treatment for Crohn's disease (CD). Patients have the best outcomes when their serum concentrations of these drugs are above a determined therapeutic threshold. We performed a prospective, randomized trial to determine whether therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to maintain serum levels of infliximab above 3 μg/mL produced higher rates of clinical and endoscopic remission than adapting dose based only on symptoms.

Four patients with Amanita Phalloides poisoning.

Mushroom poisoning by Amanita phalloides is a rare but potentially fatal disease. The initial symptoms of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea, which are typical for the intoxication, can be interpreted as a common gastro-enteritis. The intoxication can progress to acute liver and renal failure and eventually death.

Consecutive fecal calprotectin measurements to predict relapse in patients with ulcerative colitis receiving infliximab maintenance therapy.

Background: This study examined whether fecal calprotectin can be used in daily practice as a marker to monitor patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) receiving infliximab maintenance therapy.

Methods: This prospective multicenter study enrolled adult patients with UC in clinical remission under infliximab maintenance therapy. Fecal calprotectin levels were measured every 4 weeks.

Limitations of extensive TPMT genotyping in the management of azathioprine-induced myelosuppression in IBD patients.

Background And Aims: TPMT deficiency is associated with azathioprine (AZA)-induced myelosuppression (MS). However, in one previous study, only about ¼ of MS episodes in Crohn's Disease patients under AZA can be attributed to TPMT deficiency. Recently, new TPMT mutations have been described and our aim is to investigate their clinical relevance before and after a first MS episode on thiopurine therapy.

The potential role of targeted therapies in the management of neuroendocrine tumours.

The management of gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours is evolving thanks to new TNM-classification, diagnostic and staging procedures and new therapeutic options. Targeting new pathways, mostly angiogenesis, development of novel agents is under way and opens new perspectives in controlling the evolution of these tumours and possibly changing their management. In parallel, new functional imaging techniques and biomolecular markers will be developed to provide adequate tools for the assessment of tumor response according to therapeutic intervention on angiogenesis, proliferation and apoptosis.

The antiproliferative effect of somatostatin analogs: clinical relevance in patients with neuroendocrine gastro-entero-pancreatic tumours.

Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) have an important role in the management of patients with neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas (GEP NETs). These compounds can control the symptoms induced by the production of hormones and peptides. The antiproliferative effects of SSAs and especially tumour shrinkage are less obvious in patients with GEP NETs than in those with acromegaly.

Role of chemotherapy in gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: the end of a story?

Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours (GEP NET) are heterogeneous and rare malignancies although their prevalence is increasing. Multiple therapeutic approaches are available to date for their management, including surgery, hormonal and immune radionucleide therapies and chemotherapy. The purpose of this review is to collect, examine, and analyze data available regarding contemporary chemotherapeutic management of GEP NET in order to determine whether or not chemotherapy still takes place in the therapeutic arsenal of GEP NET.

Locoregional and radioisotopic targeted treatment of neuroendocrine tumours.

Gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP NET) are a heterogeneous group of proliferative disorders whose management dramatically relies on tumour biology. For well-differentiated, low-proliferative index tumours, locoregional treatment and targeted radioisotopic therapies offer an attractive and seemingly efficient alternative to palliative surgical resections. Lack of well-designed, prospective, randomized multicentric studies hinders a balanced evaluation of available locoregional treatment methods: embolization, chemo-embolization, radio-embolization.

The role of surgery and transplantation in neuroendocrine tumours.

Surgery represents the only chance of cure for a patient with a neuroendocrine tumour (NET). The main indications for surgery lie in the risk of developing metastatic disease with increasing tumour diameter and for a functioning NET also in control of the hormonal syndrome. However, only a small minority of patients presents with a potentially resectable primary NET without metastatic disease.

Carcinoid heart disease--a hidden complication of neuroendocrine tumours.

Carcinoid heart disease (CHD) develops in serotonin-producing neuroendocrine tumours (NET) due to fibrotic endocardial plaques with associated valve dysfunction leading most often to right-sided heart failure. The classical carcinoid syndrome usually occurs when serotonin-producing NET metastasize to the liver. Up to 50% of those patients will exhibit carcinoid heart disease.