Patient and physician views on the quality of care in inflammatory bowel disease: results from SOLUTION-1, a prospective IG-IBD study.

Introduction: Remarkable differences in quality of care (QoC) might be observed in different countries, affecting quality of life of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. The aim of this study was to assess patient and physician perceptions of the QoC in Italy.

Methods: A multicentre observational study on the quality of care in IBD (SOLUTION-1) was conducted in 36 IG-IBD (Italian Group for Inflammatory Bowel Disease) centres in Italy.

Variants of CARD15 are associated with an aggressive clinical course of Crohn's disease--an IG-IBD study.

Background: Three major variants of the CARD15 gene confer susceptibility to Crohn's disease (CD). Whether or not these variants correlate with specific clinical features of the disease is under evaluation.

Aim: We investigated the possible association of CARD15 variants with specific clinical characteristics, including the occurrence of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae antibodies (ASCA) and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), in a large cohort of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and their unaffected relatives.

Frequency of NOD2/CARD15 variants in both sporadic and familial cases of Crohn's disease across Italy. An Italian Group for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study.

Background: Three variants of the NOD2/CARD15 gene are strongly associated with susceptibility to Crohn's disease; however, striking racial and geographic differences of their frequency have been described.

Aims: We have compared the allele frequencies of familial cases of Crohn's disease recruited in a multicentre study across Italy, in order to disclose possible geographic heterogeneity. Moreover, we also compared the allele frequencies in sporadic cases of Crohn's disease and healthy controls from Southern Italy with those reported in other two populations from Central and Northern Italy.

Comparison of steerable continuous-wave versus pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography to renal artery angiography in diagnosing renal artery stenosis.

Pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography is widely used to noninvasively diagnose renal artery stenosis. The use of steerable continuous-wave Doppler has never been tested. We compared pulsed and steerable continuous-wave Doppler ultrasonography, demonstrating that although both methods are highly sensitive for severe stenoses, continuous-wave Doppler shows a better sensitivity for mild to moderate stenoses.