Appropriateness of colonoscopy in a digestive endoscopy unit: a prospective study using ASGE guidelines.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Appropriate indications for colonoscopy (C) are essential for a rational use of resources. The aim of this study is to evaluate the appropriateness of indication for C according to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) guidelines and to evaluate whether appropriate use was correlated with the diagnostic yield of C.

Methods: We analysed 677 consecutive C performed over an 11-month period in a digestive endoscopy unit with an open access system.

Serum ferritin as a predictor of treatment outcome in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Objectives: Antiviral treatment in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) involves ribavirin, a hemolytic agent. We planned a prospective study to evaluate whether drug-induced iron perturbation is clinically relevant as it relates to therapeutic outcome.

Methods: Iron variables were sequentially assessed in 206 CHC patients undergoing antiviral therapy and were correlated with pretreatment iron status and histology, hemolysis, and therapeutic outcome.

Natural endogenous ligands for benzodiazepine receptors in hepatic encephalopathy.

Benzodiazepines of natural origin (NBZDs) have been found in human blood and brains as well as in medicinal plants and foods. In plasma and brain tissue there are i.e.

CagA and VacA Helicobacter pylori antibodies in gastric cancer.

Background: Infection with different genotypes of virulent Helicobacter pylori strains (cytotoxin-associated gene A [CagA]- and/or vacuolating cytotoxin A [VacA]-positive) can play a role in the development of atrophic gastritis, duodenal ulcer (DU) and gastric cancer (GC).

Objective: To determine whether patients with GC and H pylori-negative histological staining had previously been infected with H pylori CagA- and/or VacA-positive virulent strains.

Methods: Twenty-three GC patients with a mean (+/- SD) age of 68.

Intermittent gastric outlet obstruction due to a gallstone migrated through a cholecysto-gastric fistula: a new variant of "Bouveret's syndrome".

Bouveret's syndrome, defined as gastric outlet obstruction due to a large gallstone, is still one of the most dramatic biliary gallstone complications. Although new radiological and endoscopic techniques have made pre-surgical diagnosis possible in most cases and the death rate has dropped dramatically, "one-stage surgery" (biliary surgery carried out at the same time as the removal of the gut obstruction) should be still considered as the gold standard for the treatment of gallstone ileus.In this case, partial gastric outlet obstruction resulted in an atypical and insidious clinical presentation that allowed us to perform the conventional one-stage laparatomic procedure that completely solved the problem, thus avoiding any further complications.