IS ENDOSCOPIC SUBMUCOSAL DISSECTION STILL LIMITED TO FEW TERTIARY CENTERS IN THE WEST? RESULTS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY IN BRAZIL.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) enables en bloc excision of superficial neoplasms. Although ESD is widely practiced in Eastern countries like Japan, South Korea and China, its use in the West is supposed to be still limited to few tertiary centers.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the clinical practice of ESD in Brazil by means of an electronic questionnaire elaborated by the Brazilian Society of Digestive Endoscopy (SOBED).

Immune response and gene polymorphism profiles in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Background: Polymorphisms in genes linked to the innate and adaptive immune response may be involved in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis. Our aim was to investigate associations among IL1B-511, IL1B-31, IL1RN, TNFA-307, TLR-2, TLR-4, IL2-330, NOD2 G908R, NOD2 L1007fsinsC polymorphisms and both Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in a Brazilian population.

Methods: We studied 43 patients with CD, 42 with UC, and 541 blood donors.

Isolation of Helicobacter pylori from the intestinal mucosa of patients with Crohn's disease.

Background: Helicobacter species are associated with inflammatory bowel disease in rodents and in nonhuman primates. Therefore, we prospectively investigated the presence of Helicobacter species in the intestinal mucosa of patients with and without Crohn's disease by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays.

Materials And Methods: Mucosal fragments were obtained from the ileum, different colon regions, and rectum of 43 patients with Crohn's disease and of 74 patients without inflammatory bowel disease.

Helicobacter species in the intestinal mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis.

In a search for Helicobacter species in the intestinal mucosae of 42 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 74 without UC, only H. pylori was found. Although the bacterium was detected in UC patients by culture (7.