Endoscopic evaluation of gastrointestinal tract in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and correlation with their genotypes.

Purpose: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal-dominant vascular dysplasia characterized by telangiectases and arteriovenous malformations. Three causative genes are known: ENG (HHT-1), ACVRL1 (HHT-2), and SMAD4 (mutated in HHT in association with juvenile polyposis). Gastrointestinal bleeding is the most common symptom after epistaxis.

Increased CD8+ intraepithelial lymphocyte infiltration and reduced surface area to volume ratio in the duodenum of patients with ulcerative colitis.

Objective: Recent evidence suggests the involvement of the upper gastrointestinal tract in ulcerative colitis (UC). By conducting a prospective controlled study, we explored the immunological abnormalities in the duodenal mucosa of UC patients.

Methods: Duodenal and colonic biopsies were collected from 24 corticosteroid-free UC patients and 21 controls.

Patient satisfaction after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for biliary stones: a prospective multicenter study in Lombardy.

Aims: To measure patients' satisfaction after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for biliary stones in a large number of unselected endoscopy units.

Methods: A prospective study using a questionnaire (Group Health Association of America-9 [GHAA-9], modified) was administered 24 h and 30 days after the procedure. Patients undergoing endoscopy for biliary stones for the first time were enrolled in a large number of endoscopy units, regardless of their size and workload.

Type or extension of intestinal metaplasia and immature/atypical "indefinite-for-dysplasia" lesions as predictors of gastric neoplasia.

At present, no information exists on the neoplastic potential of the immature hyperproliferative and atypical lesions of the gastric mucosa, which have been recently labeled "indefinite for dysplasia." In addition, uncertainties still exist concerning the risk contribution of intestinal metaplasia (IM) type and extension, as well as Helicobacter pylori infection. In this study, 471 dyspeptic patients showing IM 10% or higher (median, 40; 25th-75th percentile, 20-60) in antral, angulus, or corpus endoscopic biopsies were submitted to repeated examinations (median, 3; 2-5) over 52 (26-85) months of follow-up, during which 44 neoplastic cases were recorded.

Defining a proper setting for endoscopy in coeliac disease.

Objective: As it has been demonstrated that a careful duodenal inspection during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy may be useful in predicting coeliac disease, we tried to define the usefulness of endoscopy in detecting unsuspected coeliac patients.

Design And Methods: We considered all the first diagnoses of coeliac disease from 1992 to 2001, i.e.