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The statements produced by the Chairmen and Speakers of the 3rd International Symposium on Diverticular Disease, held in Madrid on April 11th-13th 2019, are reported. Topics such as current and evolving concepts on the pathogenesis, the course of the disease, the news in diagnosing, hot topics in medical and surgical treatments, and finally, critical issues on the disease were reviewed by the Chairmen who proposed 39 statements graded according to level of evidence and strength of recommendation. Each topic was explored focusing on the more relevant clinical questions. The vote was conducted on a 6-point scale and consensus was defined a priori as 67% agreement of the participants. The voting group consisted of 124 physicians from 18 countries, and agreement with all statements was provided. Comments were added explaining some controversial areas.

Background: The management of bloating is unclear and its relationship with patients' well-being and treatment satisfaction independent of other abdominal symptoms is uncharacterized. We evaluated the association of bloating with patient-reported outcomes. Methods: Thirty-nine centers for functional gastrointestinal disorders joined the laxative inadequate relief survey. We enrolled 2203 consecutive outpatients with functional constipation (FC) or constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) in two cross-sectional waves. Both wave 1 and 2 included the SF-12, the patient assessment of constipation-symptoms (PAC-SYM), and the treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication (TSQM-2). Wave 2 only included a global rating of change (GRC) scale to assess patients' assessment of efficacy concerning treatment switches occurred in the 3 months prior to the interview. Bloating in the abdomen was defined on the basis of PAC-SYM item 3. Key Results: The average age was 50.1 years (SD, 16.7) and 82.1% of patients were women. The prevalence of bloating was 91.6% (n = 1970). Bloating was associated with SF-12 Physical Composite Score (p < 0.01), SF-12 Mental Composite Score (p < 0.01), GRC (p < 0.01), Satisfaction with treatment effectiveness (p < 0.01), convenience of administration (p < 0.01), and side effects (p < 0.01) after adjustment for possible confounders. Conclusions & Inferences: Our data suggest that patients regard bloating as a key element in assessing clinical changes and treatments' efficacy as this symptom exerts a strong influence on patient-reported outcomes independent of possible confounders and other symptoms of constipation. Our data provide the rationale to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of new treatments specifically addressing this important, yet disregarded, patients' complain.

AIM: To investigate whether this might be related to the presence of hyperhomocysteinemia. METHODS: From January 1998 to December 2008, we evaluated the presence of hyperhomocysteinemia in a series of 165 adult celiac disease (CD) patients (138 females and 27 males, mean age 43 years). RESULTS: Hyperhomocysteinemia was evident in 32 patients (19.3%), although most of them had moderate levels (mean value 25 mcg/ml; range 15-30). Only one patient had a history of myocardial infarction (heterozygosis for N5-N10-metil tetrahydrofolate reductase mutation). CONCLUSION: The systematic assessment of hyperhomocysteinemia seems, at present, unjustified in CD patients. © 2011 Baishideng. All rights reserved

Background: to date, there are few data on colonoscopic findings in patients with celiac disease, and most of these obtained in patients with iron deficiency anaemia.Aims: we assessed colonoscopic findings in unselected patients with coeliac disease, since there are no studies available also considering morphological aspects, and there is literature suggestion of increased prevalence of colorectal tumours.Material and methods: colonoscopies with multiple biopsies were retrospectively analyzed in 42 coeliac disease patients on gluten-free diet above age 40; 16 had clinical or laboratory features of iron deficiency anaemia. Mucosal biopsies were evaluated for the presence of intraepithelial lymphocytes and of mucosal eosinophils, in addition to conventional histologic assessment, and compared with those obtained in 15 controls.Results: macroscopic abnormalities (polyps, diverticula, inflammatory changes) were found in 26% of patients. Microscopic abnormalities (lymphocytic colitis, melanosis coli, rectal histiocytosis) were found in 36% of patients. None of these findings was found in controls. Coeliac disease patients had significantly higher eosinophil score than controls in the right colon, whereas this was not significantly different between groups in the left colon.Conclusions: colonoscopic findings in coeliac disease on gluten-free diet may reveal significant findings, even in patients without iron deficiency anaemia. There is the need of further studies in larger cohorts of patients to establish whether colonoscopy In these patients may be clinically useful.