Diagnosing colitis: a prospective study on essential parameters for reaching a diagnosis.

Background And Study Aims: It is generally believed that making a correct histological diagnosis of colitis at colonoscopy requires segmental mucosal biopsies, information on the endoscopic features, and clinical data. This prospective study was carried out to determine the essential parameters required for an accurate diagnosis of colitis.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred consecutive patients with suspected or established colitis who underwent colonoscopy were prospectively examined.

Forceps biopsy and brush cytology during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography for the diagnosis of biliary stenoses.

Background: For evaluating pancreaticobiliary stenoses during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) tissue sampling techniques may be important. Brush cytology and forceps biopsy during ERCP are two potential, but so far only incompletely evaluated, tools for the diagnosis of malignant biliary or pancreatic stenoses.

Methods: Between 1992 and 1995 we acquired 133 cytologic and/or histologic samples from 119 patients who underwent ERCP because of biliary duct stenoses.

Two cases of fractured esophageal nitinol stents.

We report here on two cases of fractured nitinol stents in the esophagus. In case 1, the correctly inserted stent broke spontaneously shortly after insertion. In a second case, a nitinol stent broke after laser application due to tumor ingrowth with massive bleeding.