Endoscopic ultrasound in gastric cancer staging before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A comparison with PET-CT in a clinical series.

Background: Treatment of gastric cancer is based on accurate staging. Emerging methods, such as PET-CT, are increasingly being used for this purpose. Our aim was to analyze the results of EUS and PET-CT in staging and restaging our patients with gastric cancer, comparing both of them with the histological results.

Comparison of AIMS65, Glasgow-Blatchford score, and Rockall score in a European series of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding: performance when predicting in-hospital and delayed mortality.

Objective: AIMS65 is a score designed to predict in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and costs of gastrointestinal bleeding. Our aims were to revalidate AIMS65 as predictor of inpatient mortality and to compare AIMS65's performance with that of Glasgow-Blatchford (GBS) and Rockall scores (RS) with regard to mortality, and the secondary outcomes of a composite endpoint of severity, transfusion requirements, rebleeding, delayed (6-month) mortality, and length of stay.

Methods: The study included 309 patients.

The role of Toll-like receptor polymorphisms in acute pancreatitis occurrence and severity.

Objectives: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are damage-associated molecular patterns receptors, which are essential in the activation of the inflammasome cascade, required for the initiation of inflammation. We hypothesized that changes in the function of these receptors caused by genetic polymorphisms in their encoding genes could determine acute pancreatitis (AP) incidence or severity.

Methods: Two hundred sixty-nine patients and 269 controls were included.

Wireless capsule endoscopy: perspectives beyond gastrointestinal bleeding.

Wireless capsule endoscopy (CE) is a technology developed for the endoscopic exploration of the small bowel. The first capsule model was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001, and its first and essential indication was occult gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Over subsequent years, this technology has been refined to provide superior resolution, increased battery life, and capabilities to view different parts of the GI tract.

Gastroenterologist-guided sedation with propofol for endoscopic ultrasonography in average-risk and high-risk patients: a prospective series.

Objective: Only a few reports have addressed non-anesthesiologist-administered propofol for endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), but none specifically in high-risk patients. Our aim was to study the application of a propofol sedation protocol for EUS in average-risk and high-risk patients.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study including 446 patients referred for EUS.