Inflammatory bowel "Cardiac" disease: Point prevalence of atrial fibrillation in inflammatory bowel disease population.

Background/aim: Proinflammatory markers such as interleukin (IL)-6 have been closely associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). These markers are characteristically elevated in chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and positively correlate with disease activity. Although IBD and AF have similar pathogenesis, there have been very limited studies looking at their association.

Dyslipidemia and lipoprotein profiles in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for developing coronary artery disease. An increase in inflammatory cytokines may result in a decrease in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) enzyme activity, leading to a characteristic lipoprotein profile with increased triglycerides and decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels as seen in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Similar to SLE, patients with IBD have high circulatory levels of inflammatory cytokines.

Inflammatory bowel disease and coronary artery disease.

Chronic inflammation with the presence of excess serum acute-phase proteins, cytokines and cell adhesion molecules is increasingly being implicated in atherosclerosis. The association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) is unstudied. This is a preliminary, thesis-generating cross-sectional study aimed at evaluating the presence of traditional atherosclerotic risk factors in patients with IBD and CAD compared with the control population.

Quetiapine-induced peripheral edema.

Quetiapine fumarate is an atypical antipsychotic with relatively benign side-effect profile. Here we report a rare side-effect of quetiapine use. This is the second reported case of peripheral edema with quetiapine use.