Publications by authors named "Mark Korsten"

Background: Effect of biofeedback on improving anorectal manometric parameters in incomplete spinal cord injury is unknown. A short-term biofeedback program investigated any effect on anorectal manometric parameters without correlation to bowel symptoms.

Methods: This prospective uncontrolled interventional study comprised three study subject groups, Group 1: sensory/motor-complete American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) A SCI (n = 13); Group 2 (biofeedback group): sensory incomplete AIS B SCI (n = 17) (n = 3), and motor-incomplete AIS C SCI (n = 8), and AIS D SCI (n = 6); and Group 3: able-bodied (AB) controls (n = 12).

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Goal: We sought to quantify the independent effects of age, sex, and race/ethnicity on risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced neoplasia (AN) in Veterans.

Study: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study of Veterans aged 40 to 80 years who had diagnostic or screening colonoscopy between 2002 and 2009 from 1 of 14 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Natural language processing identified the most advanced finding and location (proximal, distal).

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Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) have neurogenic bowel disorders characterized by difficulty with evacuation (DWE), fecal incontinence, and discoordination of defecation. Six medically stable in-patients with SCI with a mean age of 57 ± 10 years (range: 39-66 years) and time since injury of 18 ± 17 years (range: 3-47 years) were investigated. Standard of care (SOC) for bowel care was followed by two weeks of SOC plus neostigmine (0.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study is a prospective, observational research focusing on the effects of exoskeletal-assisted walking (EAW) on bowel function in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).
  • Conducted in a tertiary care hospital, participants aged 18-65 with thoracic paraplegia underwent EAW training and reported their bowel function and quality of life (QOL) before and after the sessions.
  • Results showed that 50-80% of participants experienced improvements in bowel management, including fewer accidents and better stool consistency, indicating EAW may help alleviate bowel issues associated with SCI, warranting further research.
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Study Design: Phase I Clinical Trial.

Objectives: In this proof-of-principle study, the effectiveness and safety of transdermal administration of neostigmine/glycopyrrolate to elicit a bowel movement was compared to intravenous administration in patients with spinal cord injury.

Setting: James J.

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Goal: The goal of this study was to evaluate the safety of propofol when used by gastroenterologists in patients who have an inadequate response to standard sedation (narcotics and benzodiazepines).

Background: Many patients fail to achieve adequate sedation from narcotics and benzodiazepines during colonoscopy. The administration of propofol for colonoscopy is increasing, although its use by gastroenterologists is controversial.

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Gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility is a severe, and common complication in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Current therapeutic methods using acetylcholine analogs or laxative agents have unwanted side effects, besides often fail to have desired effect. Various ion channels such as ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel, calcium ions (Ca(2+))-activated potassium ions (K(+)) channels, voltage-sensitive Ca(2+) channels and chloride ion (Cl(-)) channels are abundantly expressed in GI tissues, and play an important role in regulating GI motility.

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Background: An accurate system for tracking of colonoscopy quality and surveillance intervals could improve the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and surveillance. The purpose of this study was to create and test such a system across multiple institutions utilizing natural language processing (NLP).

Methods: From 42,569 colonoscopies with pathology records from 13 centers, we randomly sampled 750 paired reports.

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Background: Poor preparation for elective colonoscopy is exceedingly common in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). This unsatisfactory outcome is likely due to long-standing difficulty with evacuation and decreased colonic motility, which may result in inadequate responses to conventional bowel preparation regimens. We determined whether the addition of neostigmine to MoviPrep before elective colonoscopy produced a higher percentage of acceptable bowel preparations in patients with SCI.

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Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a rare tumor comprising 0.1-0.3% of all gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies.

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Background: Poor preparation for elective colonoscopy is common in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). This unsatisfactory outcome is likely due to long-standing difficulty with evacuation and decreased colonic motility. Our objective was to determine the most effective preparation for elective colonoscopy applying a novel and traditional approach to bowel cleansing.

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Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) have secondary medical consequences of paralysis and/or the consequences of extreme inactivity. The metabolic changes that result from reduced activity include insulin resistance with carbohydrate disorders and dyslipidemia. A higher prevalence of coronary artery calcification was found in persons with SCI than that in matched able-bodied controls.

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Introduction: Hepatic encephalopathy is usually suspected in patients who are cirrhotic with neuropsychiatric manifestations. We present a case of suspected hepatic encephalopathy that did not respond to standard empiric therapy and was eventually diagnosed as non-convulsive status epilepticus of complex partial type. Our patient responded dramatically to anti-convulsive therapy.

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A 78-year-old, retired Caucasian male presented in emergency room with 3 days history of progressive watery diarrhoea. Two weeks earlier, he received intravenous levofloxacin for community acquired pneumonia. The patient was diagnosed as severe Clostridium difficile infection based on clinical presentation, labs and imaging studies.

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Aim: To investigate the presence or absence of high amplitude propagating contractions (HAPC), as well as the other measures of colonic motility, in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods: Prolonged colonic ambulatory manometric studies were performed on 14 male volunteers: 8 with SCI (mean age, 59 ± 13 years; mean duration of injury, 13 ± 4 years) and 6 healthy able-bodied controls (mean age, 57 ± 10 years). A solid-state manometry catheter was endoscopically clipped to the splenic flexure.

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Objectives: There is controversy regarding the sensitivity of fecal occult blood tests (FOBT) for detecting colorectal cancer. Many of the published studies failed to correct for verification bias which may have increased the sensitivity.

Methods: A meta-analysis of published studies evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of chemical-based FOBT for colorectal cancer was performed.

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Article Synopsis
  • People with spinal cord injuries sometimes have trouble going to the bathroom because their body isn't sending the right signals to their colon.
  • A study tested a medicine called neostigmine, with another medicine called glycopyrrolate, to see if it could help these patients have easier bowel movements.
  • The results showed that this combination of medicines helped reduce the time it took to go to the bathroom, making it easier for the patients compared to when they got a placebo (a fake treatment).
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Various complications have been related to laparoscopic cholecystectomy but most occur shortly after the procedure. In this report, we present a case with very late complications in which an abscess developed within the gallbladder fossa 6 years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The abscess resolved after treatment with CT-guided extrahepatic aspiration.

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Background: Difficulty with evacuation (DWE) is a major problem after spinal cord injury (SCI). Stimulation of the anal canal and lower rectum, accomplished using a gloved finger (so-called digital rectal stimulation or DRS) is often used as an adjunct to laxatives and enemas to facilitate bowel evacuation. However, the basis for the efficacy of DRS is not known.

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Introduction: Published studies have reported a wide range of sensitivities and specificities for computed tomographic (CT) colonography for polyp detection, generating controversy regarding its diagnostic accuracy.

Methods: A meta-analysis of published studies comparing the accuracies of CT colonography and colonoscopy for polyp detection was performed. The pooled per-patient sensitivities and specificities were calculated at various thresholds for polyp size.

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This is a case report on a 45-year old African-American female with newly diagnosed hypertension, who was started on a combination pill of amlodipine/benazapril 10/5 mg. The very next day, she presented at the emergency room (ER) with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Physical exam, complete metabolic panel, and hemogram were in the normal range.

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