A review on the current status and definitions of activity indices in inflammatory bowel disease: how to use indices for precise evaluation.

Many clinical trials have been conducted for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), so various clinical indices (CIs) and endoscopic indices (EIs) have also been evaluated. However, recently, with the progress of IBD management, review of established indices from previous studies, and establishment of new indices, the landscape of the use of indices in clinical trials have changed. We investigated the number and frequency of the indices adapted in recent clinical trials for ulcerative colitis (CI and EI) and Crohn's disease (CI, EI, index related to magnetic resonance imaging, index for evaluating patient-reported outcomes, and health-related quality of life).

Gastrectomy with limited surgery for elderly patients with gastric cancer.

Background/objective: Elderly patients with gastric cancer can receive standard gastrectomy or gastrectomy with reduced nodal dissection, i.e., limited surgery, in order to prevent postoperative complications.

Risk factors for surgical site infection in Japanese patients with ulcerative colitis: a multicenter prospective study.

Purpose: A prospective, multicenter, observational study was performed to investigate the risk factors of surgical site infection (SSI) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: From 2009 to 2010, perioperative clinicopathological data were collected from patients who had undergone surgery for UC within the research period, for up to 6 consecutive months in 13 hospitals in Japan. The primary outcome was the development of SSI.

Selective up-regulation of claudin-1 and claudin-2 in colorectal cancer.

Background: To understand the molecular and morphological alterations in the tight junction in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues, the expression of eight tight junction proteins in normal and cancer colorectal tissues were compared.

Patients And Methods: Adenocarcinoma tissues and paired normal mucosa were resected from surgical specimens of CRC patients. The expression of occludin, ZO-1, ZO-2, and claudin-1 -5 was analyzed at the mRNA level by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and at the protein level by immunohistochemistry.

A clinicopathological investigation of "tumor nodules" in colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Tumor nodules (tn) have been histologically identified within the fatty tissue or the detached fatty tissue around dissected lymph nodes, or else picked up as lymph nodes from resected specimens with no lymph node components. The TNM classification of malignant tumors provides a description of how to deal with tn, but there has so far been no description within the Japanese classification of colorectal carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine whether we should regard tn as metastatic lymph nodes from the viewpoint of prognosis.