Automated classification pipeline for real-time in vivo examination of colorectal tissue using Raman spectroscopy.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common malignancy worldwide and one of the leading causes of death in oncological patients with its diagnosis typically involving confirmation by tissue biopsy. In vivo Raman spectroscopy, an experimental diagnostic method less invasive than a biopsy, has shown great potential to discriminate between normal and cancerous tissue. However, the complex and often manual processing of Raman spectra along with the absence of a suitable instant classifier are the main obstacles to its adoption in clinical practice.

Raman spectroscopy in the diagnostics of colon cancer.

Early detection and accurate diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma are crucial for successful treatment, yet current methods can be invasive and even inaccurate in some cases. In this work, we present a novel approach for tissue diagnostics of colorectal carcinoma using Raman spectroscopy. This almost non-invasive technique allows for fast and accurate detection of colorectal carcinoma and its precursors, adenomatous polyps, enabling timely intervention and improved patient outcomes.

Evaluation of IR and Raman spectroscopic markers of human collagens: Insides for indicating colorectal carcinogenesis.

Vibrational spectroscopic methods are widely used in the molecular diagnostics of carcinogenesis. Collagen, a component of connective tissue, plays a special role as a biochemical marker of pathological changes in tissues. The vibrational bands of collagens are very promising to distinguish between normal colon tissue, benign and malignant colon polyps.

Biomarkers of hepatocellular synthesis in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Background And Aim: Since hepatocytes produce majority of serum proteins, patients with cirrhosis display substantial alterations in the serum proteome. The aim of the current study was to characterize these changes and to study the prognostic utility of hepatocellular proteins available in routine clinical testing.

Methods: Sera from 29 healthy controls and 43 patients with cirrhosis were subjected to untargeted proteomic analysis.

Serum concentration of taurochenodeoxycholic acid predicts clinically significant portal hypertension.

Background & Aims: Severity of portal hypertension is usually quantified by measuring the hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG). However, due to its invasiveness, alternative markers are being sought. Bile acids (BA), being synthesized, metabolized, and transported by the liver, seem to have the potential to serve as endogenous markers.

Association of Serum Bilirubin and Functional Variants of Heme Oxygenase 1 and Bilirubin UDP-Glucuronosyl Transferase Genes in Czech Adult Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disorder worldwide. The aim of our study was to assess the role of bilirubin, and the heme oxygenase 1 () and bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyl transferase () promoter gene variants, which are involved in bilirubin homeostasis, in the NAFLD development in adult patients. The study was performed on 84 patients with NAFLD and 103 age/sex-matched controls.

Ex Vivo Vibration Spectroscopic Analysis of Colorectal Polyps for the Early Diagnosis of Colorectal Carcinoma.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common and often fatal cancers in humans, but it has the highest chance of a cure if detected at an early precancerous stage. Carcinogenesis in the colon begins as an uncontrolled growth forming polyps. Some of these polyps can finally be converted to colon cancer.

[Rare manifestation of CMV infection - circular stenosis of the stomach].

This article reports a case of a female patient who presented with epigastric pain. Further investigations confirmed CMV infection as a cause of stenosing gastric ulcer. In this case treatment with a proton pump inhibitor and antivirotic treatment led to a full recovery.

Novel serum markers HSP60, CHI3L1, and IGFBP-2 in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading tumor diagnosis in women and men in the Czech Republic. Patient outcome depends on tumor stage at the time of diagnosis and, in metastatic disease, on the localization and extent of distant metastases. The early detection of metastatic liver disease is an important indication for liver surgery.

Serum levels of TIMP-1 and MMP-7 as potential biomarkers in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Objective: Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) and matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP-7) were reported to have potent growth promoting activity. Lack of balance between MMPs and TIMPs is an important factor in the development of gastrointestinal malignancies.

Methods: We collected serum samples from 97 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and 79 samples from healthy controls.

Growth/differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) as new potential serum marker in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Background: GDF-15 is a protein belonging to the transforming growth factor beta superfamily that has a role in regulating inflammatory and apoptotic pathways. High level GDF-15 in tumor tissues and plasma correlate with an increased risk of recurrence and reduced overall survival.

Objective: The aim of this study was to screen GDF-15 capacity to detecting metastatic CRC and compare it with standard tumor markers CEA and CA19-9.

[Evaluation and treatment of portal hypertension].

Liver cirrhosis is a serious disease shortening the life expectancy. Unavoidable consequence of cirrhosis is portal hypertension, which usually limits the prognosis by its complications. Portal hypertension is a prognostic factor for cirrhosis decompensation, variceal bleeding and even the mortality in cirrhotic patients.

Osteopontin: A non-invasive parameter of portal hypertension and prognostic marker of cirrhosis.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between osteopontin plasma concentrations and the severity of portal hypertension and to assess osteopontin prognostic value.

Methods: A cohort of 154 patients with confirmed liver cirrhosis (112 ethylic, 108 men, age 34-72 years) were enrolled in the study. Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement and laboratory and ultrasound examinations were carried out for all patients.

Trefoil factor family (TFF) proteins as potential serum biomarkers in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Trefoil factor family (TFF) is composed of three secretory proteins (TFF1, TFF2 and TFF3) that play an important role in mucosal protection of gastrointestinal tract. Their overexpression in colorectal tumors seems to be associated with more aggressive disease. We collected serum samples from 79 healthy controls and 97 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer at the time of diagnosis or at progression.

Use of non-invasive parameters of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis in daily practice--an exploratory case-control study.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of a metabolic syndrome. To date, liver biopsy has been the gold standard used to differentiate between simple steatosis and steatohepatitis/fibrosis. Our aim was to compare the relevance of serum non-invasive parameters and scoring systems in the staging of liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in patients with NAFLD.

The prevalence of nonalcoholic liver steatosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Czech Republic.

Aims: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with components of the metabolic syndrome (MS) but the prevalence of NAFLD in the Czech Republic is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the latter in patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2) and to compare the noninvasive fibrosis scores with ultrasound findings in those patients.

Methods: 180 consecutive patients with DM2 (mean age 64.

[Hepatic cein catheterisation - selected assessment aspects].

Introduction: Hepatic vein catheterisation and portal hypertension assessment using the value of portal hepatic gradient (HVPG) is currently a method of choice.

Methodology: In our paper we shall compare HVPG with the so called direct gradient -  using the difference in pressure in the portal vein and free hepatic vein in 5 groups of patients with liver cirrhosis.

Results: Hepatic vein catheterisation is reliable for assessing the portal hypertension in the group of patients with liver cirrhosis of ethylic etiology.

[Liver disorders in diabetic patients].

There is a mutual relationship between diabetes and liver disorders. Diabetic patients suffer from liver disorders more frequently and, vice versa, patients with liver disorders are at a higher risk of developing diabetes. Diabetes is probably the most common cause of chronic liver disorders in developed countries.

Anemia as a predictor of response to antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis C.

Background: The standard therapy for chronic HCV infection is the administration of pegylated interferons in combination with ribavirin. Anemia is a dose-dependent side-effect of ribavirin administration. The degree of anemia could be indicative of the individual exposure to ribavirin.

Functional variants of eNOS and iNOS genes have no relationship to the portal hypertension in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Objective: Nitric oxide is an important vasoactive mediator. Changes in NO production, caused by functional variants of both endothelial and inducible NO synthase (eNOS, iNOS), might play a role in portal hypertension. The aim was to study the significance of functional eNOS and iNOS gene variants in cirrhotic patients and their interrelationship to both inflammatory and endothelial activation parameters.

Alcoholic liver disease.

Alcohol use disorders affect millions of individuals worldwide. Alcohol consumption is directly associated with liver disease mortality and accounts for elevated social and economic costs. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) may take the form of acute involvement (alcoholic hepatitis) or chronic liver disease (steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis).

Decreased serum antioxidant capacity in patients with Wilson disease is associated with neurological symptoms.

Background & Aims: Wilson disease (WD) is an inherited disorder of copper disposition caused by an ATP7B transporter gene mutation, leading to copper accumulation in predisposed tissues. In addition to a genetic predisposition, other factors are likely to contribute to its clinical manifestation. The aim of the study was to assess whether oxidative stress affects the phenotypic manifestation of WD.

Endoscopic variceal band ligation compared with propranolol for prophylaxis of first variceal bleeding.

Administration of nonselective beta-blockers in prophylaxis of first variceal bleeding is not suitable for all patients. Thus, we evaluated endoscopic variceal band ligation (EVBL) in primary prevention of bleeding in patients with cirrhosis and large esophageal varices. A total of 73 consecutive patients with liver cirrhosis and large esophageal varices without a history of gastrointestinal bleeding were randomized to receive either EVBL or propranolol and were followed for up to 18 months.

Long-term follow-up of Wilson disease: natural history, treatment, mutations analysis and phenotypic correlation.

Background And Aims: Wilson disease (WD) is an inherited disorder of copper metabolism. When treated, the outcome can be excellent, although the long-term survival has yet to be well documented. The aim of this study was to describe the long-term outcome of a cohort of patients with WD and to assess those factors affecting the phenotypic manifestation of WD.