Over the past 20 years, the number of new cancer diagnoses has risen steadily, partly due to the aging of the population. In 2021, 74,998 new diagnoses were recorded in Belgium. At the same time, improved screening techniques and advances in oncology treatments have increased patient survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Autoimmune pancreatitis [AIP] is rarely associated with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. The long-term outcomes of AIP and IBD in patients with coexisting AIP-IBD and predictors of complicated AIP course have rarely been reported.
Methods: An ECCO COllaborative Network For Exceptionally Rare case reports project [ECCO-CONFER] collected cases of AIP diagnosed in patients with IBD.
Background And Aim: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia [PJP] is a very rare, potentially life-threatening pulmonary fungal infection that occurs in immunocompromised individuals including patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. Our aim was to describe immunosuppressive treatment exposure as well as the outcome in IBD patients with PJP.
Methods: PJP cases were retrospectively collected through the COllaborative Network For Exceptionally Rare case reports of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation.
Background And Aims: There is a need to evaluate the benefit-risk ratio of current therapies in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients to provide the best quality of care. The primary objective of I-CARE (IBD Cancer and serious infections in Europe) was to assess prospectively safety concerns in IBD, with specific focus on the risk of cancer/lymphoma and serious infections in patients treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor and other biologic monotherapy as well as in combination with immunomodulators.
Methods: I-CARE was designed as a European prospective longitudinal observational multicenter cohort study to include patients with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or IBD unclassified established at least 3 months prior to enrollment.
Background And Aims: Advanced therapies for inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] could potentially lead to a state of immunosuppression with an increased risk of opportunistic infections [OIs]. We aimed to provide an update on the incidence of OIs among adult IBD patients in randomized controlled trials [RCTs] of approved biologics and small-molecule drugs [SMDs]. Also, we aimed to describe OI definitions utilized in RCTs, to ultimately propose a standardized definition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Fatigue is highly prevalent among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and only limited treatment options are available. Based on the hypothetical link between low serum tryptophan concentrations and fatigue, we determined the effect of 5-hydroxytryptophan supplementation on fatigue in patients with inactive IBD.
Methods: A multicenter randomized controlled trial was performed at 13 Belgian hospitals, including 166 patients with IBD in remission but experiencing fatigue, defined by a fatigue visual analog scale (fVAS) score of ≥5.
Background And Aims: There are concerns regarding the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. We report on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in a European prospective cohort study of patients with IBD.
Patients And Methods: We prospectively collected data from 5457 patients with IBD nested in the ongoing I-CARE project and still followed up in April 2020, with monthly online monitoring of clinical activity, treatment, imaging and endoscopy.
Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) is a biological marker used to diagnose and monitor the progression of various cancers. Elevated CA 19-9 has also been sporadically observed in Helicobacter pylori infected patients. Similar to H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have emerged in discrete waves. We explored temporal trends in the reporting of COVID-19 in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.
Methods: The Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SECURE-IBD) is an international registry of IBD patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
Background And Aims: Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are exposed to drug-related nephrotoxicity and kidney-related extra-intestinal manifestations (EIMs). Patients should be monitored but guidance is lacking in current international recommendations. The objective of the Kidney Function Monitoring in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (MONITORED) initiative was to achieve an expert consensus about monitoring kidney function in IBD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnited European Gastroenterol J
December 2021
Background And Aims: Few data are available regarding the combination of biologics or small molecules in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. We report safety and efficacy of such combinations through a retrospective multicentre series.
Methods: Combination therapy was defined as the concomitant use of two biologics or one biologic with a small molecule.
Background: The loss of response to infliximab is a challenge for clinicians in the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Mounting evidence suggests that therapeutic drug monitoring at induction may predict remission during maintenance. The aim of the study was to improve predictive models of remission by exploring new peak and intermediate infliximab measurements during induction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Abdominal or pelvic radiotherapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients raises concerns regarding the risk of worsening of underlying disease.
Aim: To assess the impact of radiotherapy on IBD course.
Methods: A retrospective multicentre study including IBD patients exposed to abdominal or pelvic irradiation was conducted, retrieving IBD activity by semester (6-month periods) before (from S-4 to S-1) and after (from S + 1 to S + 6) radiotherapy and IBD flare during follow-up.
Background: We aimed to describe physician practice patterns in holding or continuing IBD therapy in the setting of COVID-19 infection, using the Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion for Inflammatory Bowel Disease [SECURE-IBD] registry.
Methods: IBD medications that were stopped due to COVID-19 were recorded in the SECURE-IBD registry in addition to demographic and clinical data. We conducted descriptive analyses to understand characteristics associated with stopping IBD medications in response to active COVID-19 infection.
Objective: We sought to evaluate COVID-19 clinical course in patients with IBD treated with different medication classes and combinations.
Design: Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SECURE-IBD) is a large, international registry created to monitor outcomes of IBD patients with confirmed COVID-19. We used multivariable regression with a generalised estimating equation accounting for country as a random effect to analyse the association of different medication classes with severe COVID-19, defined as intensive care unit admission, ventilator use and/or death.
Background: There are few data concerning patients with Crohn's disease (CD) complicated by a stricture of the upper gastrointestinal tract (UGT).
Aims: We evaluated the outcome and management of CD patients complicated by a stricture of the UGT.
Methods: We performed a retrospective multicenter study including all CD patients with a non-passable symptomatic UGT stricture on endoscopy.
Our knowledge of COVID-19 is changing and evolving rapidly, with novel insights and recommendations, almost on a daily basis. It behooves the medical community to provide updated information on a regular basis, on best practice to facilitate optimal care of infected patients and on appropriate advice for the general population. This is particularly important in the case of patients with chronic conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease [IBD].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: The impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is unknown. We sought to characterize the clinical course of COVID-19 among patients with IBD and evaluate the association among demographics, clinical characteristics, and immunosuppressant treatments on COVID-19 outcomes.
Methods: Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SECURE-IBD) is a large, international registry created to monitor outcomes of patients with IBD with confirmed COVID-19.
A new strain of coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, probably originating from a wild-animal contamination. Since then, the situation rapidly evolved from a cluster of patients with pneumonia, to a regional epidemic and now to a pandemic called COrona VIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This evolution is related to the peculiar modes of transmission of the disease and to the globalization and lifestyle of the 21st century that created the perfect scenario for virus spread.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRisk of complications from specific classes of drugs for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) can be kept low by respecting contraindications. Patients with IBD frequently develop serious infections resulting from the disease itself or its treatment. At the time of diagnosis, patients' vaccination calendars should be updated according to IBD guidelines-live vaccines should be postponed for patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs.
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