Flexible endoscopic incisional therapy for Zenker's diverticulum (FEIT-Z) is an effective treatment for surgical failures or non-operative patients.

Background: Symptomatic Zenker's diverticulum (ZD) occurs mostly in the elderly, who often have significant comorbidities, and poor neck hyperextension, putting them at high risk for surgical management while also increasing the potential of technical failure. Flexible endoscopic incisional therapy for Zenker's diverticulum (FEIT-Z) offers a safe approach to this problem with high technical and clinical success rates. There are limited data on its use following a failed surgical approach or in patients unfit for a surgical approach.

Treatment of neoplastic colonic lesions using the full-thickness resection device.

Background And Aims: Advanced adenomas and scarred lesions pose difficulties for the endoscopist because of the need for complete resection and accurate pathologic staging, which cannot be afforded by standard resection techniques. Endoscopic full-thickness resection, first described in Europe for treatment of early adenocarcinoma or scarred lesions in the colon, allows potentially curative en bloc resection in patients who may be at a high risk for surgery. We describe our endoscopic approach and histologic outcomes with use of a commercially available endoscopic full-thickness resection device (FTRD) (Ovesco Endoscopy, Tubingen, Germany).

Recent use of NSAID and NOAC medications are associated with a positive CT arteriogram.

Background: Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is a diagnostic modality utilized in patients with suspected active lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. CTA use in clinical practice is limited by the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy, and the loss of patients from direct physician observation while undergoing the test. Identifying clinical predictors of a positive result would be useful in guiding physician utilization of CTA studies.

Diabetes and the Pancreatobiliary Diseases.

Purpose Of Review: The emphasis of this review article is to bring to the forefront the spectrum of pancreatobiliary disorders and their association with diabetes. We hope to systematically discuss the link between diabetes and disorders of the pancreas including acute and chronic pancreatitis, as well as pancreatic cancer. We also hope to review and highlight the literature with respect to other cancers of the biliary tree including gallbladder and cholangiocarcinoma.

Osteopetrosis: A New Cause of Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding.

Osteopetrosis is a genetic disorder of bone remodeling caused by osteoclast dysfunction. Clinical features include short stature, frequent fractures, and recurrent infections. Abnormal bone obliterates the marrow cavity, resulting pancytopenia and extramedullary hematopoiesis in the liver and spleen.

Experience With Anti-TNF-α Biologic Agents in Succession in Patients With Crohn's Disease: A Retrospective Analysis of a Single Center.

Goals: Our aim was to identify and compare the effectiveness of antitumor necrosis factor biologics when used as initial agents and when used in succession for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn's disease (CD).

Background: Studies directly comparing the efficacy of biologics are lacking. When one biologic loses efficacy, patients are often treated with an alternate biologic.

Normal lipase drug-induced pancreatitis: a novel finding.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) in the setting of a normal serum amylase has been previously reported in the literature. Serum lipase on the other hand has a negative predictive value approaching 100% and therefore is an excellent test to rule out AP in the emergency department. The occurrence of AP with a normal lipase is extremely rare and has never been reported in the setting of drug-induced pancreatitis.