Treatment of relapsing mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis with the probiotic VSL#3 as adjunctive to a standard pharmaceutical treatment: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Objectives: VSL#3 is a high-potency probiotic mixture that has been used successfully in the treatment of pouchitis. The primary end point of the study was to assess the effects of supplementation with VSL#3 in patients affected by relapsing ulcerative colitis (UC) who are already under treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid (ASA) and/or immunosuppressants at stable doses.

Methods: A total of 144 consecutive patients were randomly treated for 8 weeks with VSL#3 at a dose of 3,600 billion CFU/day (71 patients) or with placebo (73 patients).

Effect of lactoferrin supplementation on the effectiveness and tolerability of a 7-day quadruple therapy after failure of a first attempt to cure Helicobacter pylori infection.

Background: Up to 35% of H. pylori-positive patients remain infected after a first eradication attempt. Lactoferrin, a natural anti-bacterial glycoprotein, seems a promising tool in treating H.

Effect of Lactobacillus casei supplementation on the effectiveness and tolerability of a new second-line 10-day quadruple therapy after failure of a first attempt to cure Helicobacter pylori infection.

Background: Probiotics have never been used as second-line treatment in patients resistant to a first course of anti-H. pylori treatment.

Material/methods: 70 consecutive patients with persistent H.

Low-dose balsalazide plus a high-potency probiotic preparation is more effective than balsalazide alone or mesalazine in the treatment of acute mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis.

Background: Balsalazide is well tolerated and effective in treating acute ulcerative colitis. VSL#3 is a probiotic cocktail proven to be effective in preventing flare-ups of chronic pouchitis. We compared the efficacy and safety of low-dose balsalazide (2.

Efficacy and tolerability of ranitidine bismuth citrate plus amoxycillin and clarithromycin as first- or second-line therapy to cure Helicobacter pylori infection.

Background/aims: Ranitidine bismuth citrate has recently been introduced for the treatment of H. pylori infection and obtains good eradication rates; however, eradication failures still appear in a considerable proportion of cases. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of ranitidine bismuth citrate plus amoxycillin and clarithromycin as first- or second-line therapy to cure H.

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance predisposing to Helicobacter pylori-related gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

Gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-associated B-cell proliferation may range from benign to malignant, and Helicobacter pylori is the only identified critical antigenic stimulus to the development of gastric MALT. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is characterized by B-cell hyper-activation and clonal expansion and is know to predispose to B-cell malignancies. We report a patient with MGUS and H.