Young persons and healthcare professionals experience of virtual gastroenterology consultations: a multicentre survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To explore Young Persons (YP) and healthcare professionals (HCP) experiences of virtual consultations (VC) and establish whether developmentally appropriate healthcare can be delivered virtually.

Method: YP and HCP questionnaire surveys were designed and piloted. Electronic questionnaire links were sent by post, email or text message January-April 2021 to YP aged 13-25 years old, with predefined chronic gastrointestinal conditions, attending a gastroenterology/hepatology VC.

Optimized Infliximab Induction Predicts Better Long-Term Clinical and Biomarker Outcomes Compared to Standard Induction Dosing.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of standard and optimized infliximab induction dosing in attaining corticosteroid (CS) free clinical remission at week 52 and the effect that post-induction trough levels have on long-term outcome.

Methods: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients ≤18 years commenced on infliximab between August 1, 2016, and August 1, 2018, from Vancouver, Canada, and Glasgow, Scotland, were included. The Glasgow cohort followed standard induction while the Vancouver cohort undertook induction optimization based on clinical, biomarker, and proactive infliximab trough levels.

Dietary triggers of gut inflammation following exclusive enteral nutrition in children with Crohn's disease: a pilot study.

Background: The anti-inflammatory effect of exclusive enteral nutrition on the gut of children with Crohn's disease is rapidly lost after food reintroduction. This study assessed disease dietary triggers following successful treatment with exclusive enteral nutrition.

Methods: Nutrient intake, dietary patterns and dietary biomarkers in faeces (gluten immunogenic peptides, undigestible starch, short chain fatty acids) were assessed in 14 children with Crohn's disease during early food reintroduction, following exclusive enteral nutrition.

Epstein-Barr Virus Status and Subsequent Thiopurine Exposure Within a Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Population.

The use of thiopurine therapy in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-naïve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients remains controversial due to a risk of EBV-associated complications. We evaluated EBV status and outcomes within our paediatric IBD population over an 8-year period; finding that 217 of 409 (53%) screened patients were seropositive for EBV at IBD diagnosis; that thiopurines were used in 189 of 217 (87%) seropositive and 159 of 192 (83%) seronegative patients (P = 0.22); and that 7 of 192 (4%) previously seronegative patients subsequently tested positive for EBV with 6 of 7 (86%) patients having concurrently recorded thiopurine use.