Crohn's disease (CD) may affect the entire gastrointestinal tract including its upper part. However, this aspect is poorly addressed in scientific literature and considered a rare finding. Here we ...aimed to prospectively investigate the prevalence, characteristics and clinical significance of upper gastrointestinal tract involvement in patients with CD, with particular focus on stomach bamboo joint-like appearance (BJA), Helicobacter pylori status and presence of microscopic changes. 375 prospectively recruited patients were included. In CD patients the prevalence of gastric and duodenal, but not esophageal, mucosal lesions, such as gastric mucosal inflammation, duodenal edema, ulcerations, and duodenal bulb deformation was significantly higher (at least p < 0.01 for all). Similar results were found when only H. pylori negative individuals were analyzed. Moreover, BJA of the stomach and in case of H. pylori negative patients also duodenal bulb deformation were detected exclusively in CD patients. Presence of BJA lesion was not significantly associated with neither duration of the disease nor use/history of biologic treatment. Despite absence of H. pylori infection microscopic features of chronic gastritis were found in almost all (93.5%) patients, and in 31% of controls (p < 0.00001). Our analysis outlines that upper gastrointestinal tract involvement in CD is a very common event and frequently manifests with a highly specific BJA lesion. Furthermore, our study reveals that in almost all CD patients features of H. pylori negative gastritis are present.
Abstract
The gastric microbiota in Crohn’s disease (CD) has not been studied. The purpose of the study was to evaluate differences of stomach microbiota between CD patients and controls. DNA was ...extracted from gastric mucosal and fluid samples, from 24 CD patients and 19 controls. 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified 1511 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), of which 239 passed the low abundance and low variance filters. All but one CD patients were HP negative. Fifteen bacterial phyla were identified in at least one mucosal or fluid site. Of these,
Bacteroidota
and
Firmicutes
accounted for 70% of all phyla.
Proteobacteria
,
Actinobacteriota
, and
Fusobacteriota
combined accounted for 27%. There was significant difference in the relative abundance of
Bacteroidota
,
Proteobacteria
,
Fusobacteriota
, and
Campilobacterota
between CD patients and controls only in gastric corpus samples. In gastric liquid, there was a significant difference only in
Actinobacteriota
. Pairwise comparison identified 67 differentially abundant OTUs in at least one site. Of these, 13 were present in more than one comparison, and four differentiating OTUs (
Neisseriaceae
,
Neisseria
,
Absconditabacteriales
, and
Microbacteriaceae
) were identified at all tested sites. The results reveal significant changes in gastric microbial profiles (beta diversity, phylum, and individual taxa levels) between
H. pylori-
negative CD patients and controls.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease of unknown etiology. It is characterized by a chronic course with periods of aggravations and remissions. Among patients, 25-55% present with ...ulcerative proctitis (UP) at the time of diagnosis. UP is well-treated disease associated with a good prognosis. UP is characterized by a less aggressive course than the left-sided form of UC and pancolitis, with a good response to topical treatment. Moreover, UP is associated with a lower risk of severe aggravations and systemic and local complications and lower need for colectomy, hospitalization and glucocorticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs, in comparison with more extensive forms of the disease. Thus, the key issue is to prognose the natural course of the disease in order to identify high-risk patients and apply biological or immunosuppressive treatment early to prevent the development of complications. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about the natural course of UP and discuss risks and protective factors related to disease progression and current treatment concepts.
Non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NF-pNETs) are potentially malignant neoplasms that are detected with increasing frequency. The management of small (≤ 2 cm) asymptomatic NF-pNETs ...remains an area of controversy and clinical dilemma. Follow-up seems to be a reasonable strategy because of the relatively limited metastatic potential of these tumours, the good clinical prognosis, and considering the high complication rate associated with surgery. However, some studies show metastatic potential of these tumours, fuelling an ongoing debate in the literature regarding their management. Making the decision to observe or perform surgery is thus not an easy task. New, promising therapeutic methods involving ablation under endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guidance with ethanol or radiofrequency ablation have been applied for these lesions with good clinical outcomes but only with short-term follow-up data. In this review, we address the emerging question of when to follow-up and when to perform surgery for small asymptomatic pancreatic tumours, with consideration of the potential of ablative therapies.
Rectal neuroendocrine tumors (rNETs) are potentially malignant lesions. In our study, we aimed to retrospectively check whether the rectal neuroendocrine tumors were found in colonoscopy examinations ...carried out as a part of Polish colonoscopy screening program (PCSP).
We retrospectively analyzed the colonoscopy and histopathological database of examinations conducted as a part of PCSP in our institution in the years 2005-2021. We also checked the method by which the tumor was removed, its characteristics based on photo documentations and followed up the patients.
The 10568 colonoscopy examinations were performed in PCSP in the years 2005-2021. Seven patients with a mean age of 53 with rNETs (1 in every 1510 colonoscopy) were detected. The polyp mean size was 5 mm. All the lesions were well differentiated tumors. First half of the colonoscopy examinations was performed in the years 2005-2012 and in that time three rNETs were detected, four rNETs were detected in the years 2012-2021. Even despite their typical appearance the neuroendocrine origin was not suspected in majority of cases and all tumors, except one, were removed with improper method. One of the patients underwent transanal endoscopic microsurgery of the scar. All patients are disease free in median follow-up of 108 months.
Rectal NETs are detected in the screening colonoscopy program. In majority of cases, they are not suspected by endoscopists on colonoscopy, but diagnosed after removal in histopathological examinations. There is a need of education of endoscopists in recognition and methods of treatment of rNETs.
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disorder that can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract but typically involves the ileocecal region. Before endoscopy was widely used, involvement of the ...esophagus, stomach, and duodenum was thought to be rare. Recent publications demonstrated that not only are upper gastrointestinal lesions common in Crohn's disease (affecting up to 75% of the patients), but they also present characteristic endoscopic findings with potential clinical significance. It was suggested that lesions in the stomach with a bamboo joint-like appearance might be an endoscopic biomarker for Crohn's disease. It was also found that this occurrence is related to a more severe disease course. Our review summarizes the literature, as well as our own observations and considerations, concerning the issue of upper gastrointestinal involvement in Crohn's disease and its clinical meaning.
Pancreatic cancer is the most common pancreatic solid malignancy with an aggressive clinical course and low survival rate. There are a limited number of reliable prognostic biomarkers and a need to ...understand the pathogenesis of pancreatic tumors; neuroendocrine (PNET) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) encouraged us to analyze the serum metabolome of pancreatic tumors and disturbances in the metabolism of PDAC and PNET.
Using the AbsoluteIDQ
p180 kit (Biocrates Life Sciences AG, Innsbruck, Austria) with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), we identified changes in metabolite profiles and disrupted metabolic pathways serum of NET and PDAC patients.
The concentration of six metabolites showed statistically significant differences between the control group and PDAC patients (
< 0.05). Glutamine (Gln), acetylcarnitine (C2), and citrulline (Cit) presented a lower concentration in the serum of PDAC patients, while phosphatidylcholine aa C32:0 (PC aa C32:0), sphingomyelin C26:1 (SM C26:1), and glutamic acid (Glu) achieved higher concentrations compared to serum samples from healthy individuals. Five of the tested metabolites: C2 (FC = 8.67), and serotonin (FC = 2.68) reached higher concentration values in the PNET serum samples compared to PDAC, while phosphatidylcholine aa C34:1 (PC aa C34:1) (FC = -1.46 (0.68)) had a higher concentration in the PDAC samples. The area under the curves (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves presented diagnostic power to discriminate pancreatic tumor patients, which were highest for acylcarnitines: C2 with AUC = 0.93, serotonin with AUC = 0.85, and PC aa C34:1 with AUC = 0.86.
The observations presented provide better insight into the metabolism of pancreatic tumors, and improve the diagnosis and classification of tumors. Serum-circulating metabolites can be easily monitored without invasive procedures and show the present clinical patients' condition, helping with pharmacological treatment or dietary strategies.
A growing number of studies indicate the potential involvement of various populations of bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) in tissue repair. However, the mobilization of BMSCs to the peripheral ...blood (PB) in acute and chronic pancreatitis (AP and CP) has not been investigated. A total of 78 patients were assigned into AP, CP, and healthy control groups in this study. Using flow cytometry, we found that VSELs, EPCs, and CD133+SCs were mobilized to the PB of patients with both AP and CP. Interestingly, AP and CP patients exhibited lower absolute number of circulating MSCs in the PB compared to healthy individuals. SC mobilization to the PB was more evident in patients with AP than CP and in patients with moderate/severe AP than mild AP. Using ELISA, we found a significantly increased HGF concentration in the PB of patients with AP and SDF1α in the PB of patients with CP. We noted a significant positive correlation between SDF1α concentration and the mobilized population of CD133+SCs in AP and between C5a and the mobilized population of VSELs moderate/severe AP. Thus, bone marrow-derived SCs may play a role in the regeneration of pancreatic tissue in both AP and CP, and mobilization of VSELs to the PB depends on the severity of AP.
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