Ulcerative Colitis Patients Continue to Improve Over the First Six Months of Vedolizumab Treatment: 12-Month Clinical and Mucosal Healing Effectiveness.

Background: Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a humanized monoclonal IgG1 antibody which inhibits leukocyte vascular adhesion and migration into the gastrointestinal tract through α4β7 integrin blockade.

Aims: We retrospectively assessed the 12-month, real-world efficacy and safety of VDZ as induction and maintenance therapy in adult patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: The rates of clinical remission (CR, partial Mayo score < 2), steroid-free clinical remission (SFCR), and mucosal healing were assessed with nonresponder imputation analysis.

Pouchitis: diagnosis and management.

Purpose Of Review: Pouchitis is the most common complication in patients who undergo ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA), occurring more frequently in patients with ulcerative colitis. Pouchitis - the inflammation of the pouch - can be due to idiopathic or secondary causes. Chronic antibiotic-dependent pouchitis (CADP) and chronic antibiotic-resistant pouchitis (CARP) are the most difficult forms of chronic idiopathic pouchitis to treat.

Associations between quantitative evaluation of bowel wall microvascular flow by contrast-enhanced ultrasound and indices of disease activity in Crohn's disease patients using both bolus and infusion techniques.

Purpose: The aim is to investigate whether baseline contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) correlates with indices of activity in Crohn's disease (CD) and can predict response to medical treatment.

Methods: In this prospective study, symptomatic CD patients underwent baseline CEUS performed with Definity using both bolus and infusion methods. Time-intensity curves (TIC), peak intensity (PI), and area under curve (AUC) from a region of interest over the diseased bowel were calculated for both bolus and infusion acquisitions.

The clinical significance of indeterminate pulmonary nodules in melanoma patients at baseline and during follow-up chest CT.

Objective: This study aims to determine an appropriate timeline to monitor indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPN) in melanoma patients to confirm metastatic origin.

Materials And Methods: 588 clinically non-metastatic melanoma patients underwent curative intent surgery during 3 years. Patients with baseline chest CT and at least one follow-up (FU) CT were retrospectively analyzed to assess for IPN.

Web-based learning in inflammatory bowel diseases: General truths and current specifics.

In a field rapidly evolving over the past few years, the management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is becoming increasingly complex, demanding and challenging. In the recent years, IBD quality measures aiming to improve patients' care have been developed, multiple new medical therapies have been approved, new treatment goals have been set with the "treat-to-target" concept and drug monitoring has been implemented into IBD clinical management. Moreover, patients are increasingly using Internet resources to obtain information about their health conditions.