Publications by authors named "Jean Jacques Houben"

Between 2021 and 2023, the Scientific Council of Dietplus, a group specialized in overweight and obesity management, conducted a clinical study on 170 volunteer subjects with a BMI > 29 Kg/m consecutively recruited. The Dietplus program comprises nutritional education, intensive, personalized coaching, and consuming food supplements rich in plant derivatives. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the Dietplus program on biometric, behavioral, and biological parameters.

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Background: Laparoscopic surgery is the gold standard for many abdominal surgeries. Laparoscopic programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and in sub-Saharan Africa face many constraints, although its use is safe, feasible, and clinically beneficial. The authors assessed patient-reported outcomes and the experience of patients operated on at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK).

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BACKGROUND Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common condition that may be refractory to medical treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication is the recommended surgical treatment for GERD and is safe and effective. This report is of a rare case of internal gastroduodenal hernia as a late complication of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for the management of GERD in a 19-year-old woman.

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Although pericardial effusion (PE) is common after cardiac surgery, late and recurrent cardiac tamponade that occurs more than 5-7 days after coronary artery bypass grafting is an infrequent complication. Moreover, the treatment of PE resistant to medical therapy, percutaneous drainage and pleuro-pericardial window remains a therapeutic challenge. We report the case of a recalcitrant PE with high-daily volume outflow drainage, finally treated with success, with a transdiaphragmatic pleuro-peritoneal shunting by laparoscopic approach.

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Splenic cysts are rarely observed in young patients. We report three cases of splenic cysts. The management and the surgical procedure, if needed, are discussed.

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Background: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is currently being extensively studied in clinical trials for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). Only marginal effects have, however, been reported, and the dose-response curve was bell-shaped contrasting with the reported data from in vitro experiments.

Aim: To use another in vitro model to analyze the effect of rhIL-10 and rhIL-4 on the spontaneous mucosal TNF-alpha secretion in patients with CD, and to characterize the phenotype of the cells targeted by rhIL-10.

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The aim of this prospective study is to report our experience in the multimodal management of locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (LAESC; stage III cTNM), focusing on the results of chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery. These findings were compared to the results of a standard group of patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma (LAEC; stage III pTNM) treated in our center with surgery alone. Sixty-one patients with LAESC underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy (5-fluorouracil + cisplatin) with concomitant 45 Gray radiotherapy in a 5-week course.

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