Search

Sprue-like enteropathy associated with olmesartan medoxomil use has been recently reported. Its clinical manifestations include diarrhea, weight loss and malabsorption. Duodenal biopsies show villous atrophy (VA) with or without intraepithelial lymphocytosis and inflammation of the lamina propria. Serology for celiac disease (CD) is negative and gluten-free diet does not result in clinical improvement. Symptoms resolve after olmesartan discontinuation. Follow-up biopsies show recovery/improvement of the duodenum. Whether sprue-like enteropathy is a specific adverse reaction to olmesartan or rather a class effect of angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) remains a controversial issue. We report a case of sprue-like enteropathy associated with telmisartan. A 52-year-old man presented with chronic diarrhea, abdominal discomfort and significant weight loss. In the last 3 years, he had been treated with telmisartan 40 mg/day for hypertension after right adrenalectomy for an aldosterone-producing adenoma. Laboratory investigations showed no significant abnormalities: Hb 13.6 g/dL, serum albumin 3.9 g/dL, total cholesterol 193 mg/dL, serum creatinine 0.99 mg/dL, sodium 143.6 mmol/L, K+ 4.3 mmol/L, calcium 9.3 mg/dL, phosphorus 3.9 mg/dL and 25-OH-D3 27.7 ng/mL. Duodenal histology showed subtotal VA and inflammation of the lamina propria. CD serology was negative. HLA-DQ typing showed absence of the DQ2/DQ8 haplotypes. After telmisartan discontinuation, patient's symptoms subsided, and his body weight increased despite persistence of a gluten-containing diet. Follow-up biopsies at 3 showed progressive duodenal recovery. Very few cases of sprue-like enteropathy associated with ARBs other than olmesartan have been reported. Our case of telmisartan-associated enteropathy further suggests that sprue-like disease may be a class effect of ARBs.

Background:\ud The intestinal stem cells (ISC) modulation and the role of circulating hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in coeliac disease (CD) are poorly understood. Our aim was to investigate the longitudinal modifications in peripheral blood HSC traffic and putative ISC density induced by gluten-free diet (GFD) in CD.\ud \ud Methods:\ud Thirty-one CD patients and 7 controls were enrolled. Circulating CD133+ and CD34+ HSC were measured by flow cytometry, at enrolment and after 7 days and 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months of GFD. Endoscopy was performed at diagnosis and repeated at 6, 12, and 24 months following GFD. We used the Marsh-Oberhuber score to evaluate the histological severity of duodenal damage; immunohistochemistry was employed to measure the intraepithelial lymphoid infiltrate (IEL, CD3+ lymphoid cells) and the putative ISC compartment (CD133+ and Lgr5+ epithelial cells).\ud \ud Results: \ud At enrolment, circulating HSCs were significantly increased in CD patients and they further augmented during the first week of GFD, but progressively decreased afterwards. CD patients presented with villous atrophy, abundant IEL and rare ISC residing at the crypt base. Upon GFD, IEL progressively decreased, while ISC density increased, peaking at 12 months. After 24 months of GFD, all patients were asymptomatic and their duodenal mucosa was macroscopically and histologically normal.\ud \ud Conclusions:\ud In active CD patients, the ISC niche is depleted and there is an increased traffic of circulating HSC versus non-coeliac subjects. GFD induces a precocious mobilization of circulating HSC, which is followed by the expansion of the local ISC compartment, leading to mucosal healing and clinical remission.

Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum (PHGG) Attenuates Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) in Mice Through the Gut-Liver Axis Kazuhiro Katada, Yuji Naito, Tomohisa Takagi, Katsura Mizushima, Yasuki Higashimura, Tetsuya Okayama, Naohisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Kamada, Kazuhiko Uchiyama, Ishikawa Takeshi, Osamu Handa, Hideyuki Konishi, Nobuaki Yagi, Hiroshi Ichikawa, Zenta Yasukawa, Makoto Tokunaga, Tsutomu Okubo, Lekh R. Juneja, Yoshito Itoh

Background/Aims: Hepatolithiasis is a well known risk factor of cholangiocarcinoma. Despite advances in diagnostic modalities, diagnosing cholangiocarcinoma in patients with hepatolithiasis still challenging and there are not enough reports on the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in patient with hepatolithiasis after treatment. We aimed to evaluate the incidence and clinical characteristics of cholangiocarcinoma in patients with hepatolithiasis who underwent liver resection or non-resection. Methods: Among a total of 257 patients who received treatment for hepatolithiasis from 2002 to 2011 at Korea University Anam and Guro Hospital, 236 patients were eligible for analysis; 92 patients underwent liver resection (resection group) and 144 patients did not (non-resection group). The data were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Results: The incidence of cholangiocarcinoma was 6.8% (16/236) during follow-up period (mean 41±41 months). The median tumor occurrence time was 28 (13-111) months. Cholangiocarcinoma occurred 6.5% (6/92) and 6.9% (10/144) in resection and non-resection group respectively (P=0.425). In resection group, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 3.6% (2/56) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 13.3% (4/ 30) of patients with incomplete stone removal (p=0.591). In non-resection group, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 5.7% (3/53) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 8.9% (7/79) of patient with incomplete stone removal (p=0.738). When analyzed according to completeness of stone removal regardless of treatment modality, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 4.6% (5/109) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 10.1% (11/109) of patients with incomplete stone removal (p=0.429). Although the site of stone and tumor occurrence concurred in 10/16 patients (3/6 patients in the resection group, 7/10 patient in the non-resection group), it did not match in 6 patients. On univariate analysis, none of the factors (age, gender, abdominal pain, bile duct stenosis, bile duct dilatation, liver atrophy, residual stone, stone recurrence and liver resection) showed relationship with the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma. Conclusion: There was no difference in the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma according to the treatment modality or completeness of stone removal. Therefore, patients with hepatolithiasis should carefully be followed-up to detect cholangiocarcinoma even after treatment.

Background : Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is considered to be the best modality to predict the neoplastic polyps of the gallbladder. However, EUS has several limitations following as 1) the considerable experience of investigators, 2) presence of the interobserver variations and 3) unavailability of EUS in some centers. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) provides fine section image of gallbladder and allows to reduce the interobserver variations. We evaluated the accuracy of MDCT combined with high resolution ultrasonography (HRUS) for gallbladder polyps smaller than 2cm compared with EUS. Methods : From Dec 2005 to June 2010, 109 patients who underwent cholecystectomy due to gallbladder polyps were enrolled. Subjects were divided in two groups (reference group : 63 patients who were performed MDCT and HRUS vs. validation group : 46 patients who underwent MDCT, HRUS, and EUS). New scoring system was developed from reference group, and applied to validation group, while previously reported EUS scoring system was applied to the same validation group. Results : In reference group, size (p,0.001), number (p=0.015), shape (p=0.001), and CT/US size ratio of polyps (p=0.008) were significant variables in univariate analysis. Area under the ROC curve draw by new scoring system was 0.859 and cut-off value was set to 3. In validation group, new scoring system showed comparable accuracy (65.2%) with previously reported EUS scoring system(73.9%, p=0.434). Conclusion : MDCT combined with HRUS provide comparatively high accuracy in small gallbladder polyps in distinguishing between neoplastic and non-neoplastic polyps as preoperative diagnostic modality.

Background/Aims: Hepatolithiasis is a well known risk factor of cholangiocarcinoma. Despite advances in diagnostic modalities, diagnosing cholangiocarcinoma in patients with hepatolithiasis still challenging and there are not enough reports on the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in patient with hepatolithiasis after treatment. We aimed to evaluate the incidence and clinical characteristics of cholangiocarcinoma in patients with hepatolithiasis who underwent liver resection or non-resection. Methods: Among a total of 257 patients who received treatment for hepatolithiasis from 2002 to 2011 at Korea University Anam and Guro Hospital, 236 patients were eligible for analysis; 92 patients underwent liver resection (resection group) and 144 patients did not (non-resection group). The data were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Results: The incidence of cholangiocarcinoma was 6.8% (16/236) during follow-up period (mean 41±41 months). The median tumor occurrence time was 28 (13-111) months. Cholangiocarcinoma occurred 6.5% (6/92) and 6.9% (10/144) in resection and non-resection group respectively (P=0.425). In resection group, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 3.6% (2/56) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 13.3% (4/ 30) of patients with incomplete stone removal (p=0.591). In non-resection group, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 5.7% (3/53) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 8.9% (7/79) of patient with incomplete stone removal (p=0.738). When analyzed according to completeness of stone removal regardless of treatment modality, cholangiocarcinoma occurred in 4.6% (5/109) of patients with complete stone removal, and in 10.1% (11/109) of patients with incomplete stone removal (p=0.429). Although the site of stone and tumor occurrence concurred in 10/16 patients (3/6 patients in the resection group, 7/10 patient in the non-resection group), it did not match in 6 patients. On univariate analysis, none of the factors (age, gender, abdominal pain, bile duct stenosis, bile duct dilatation, liver atrophy, residual stone, stone recurrence and liver resection) showed relationship with the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma. Conclusion: There was no difference in the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma according to the treatment modality or completeness of stone removal. Therefore, patients with hepatolithiasis should carefully be followed-up to detect cholangiocarcinoma even after treatment.

New Therapeutic Perspectives for Management of Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Hepatic Arteriovenous Fistula: Balloon-Occluded Percutaneous Radio-Frequency Thermal Ablation (RFA) Plus Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization (TACE) Roberto Iezzi, Valentina Cesario, Mariachiara Campanale, Silvia Pecere, Federico Barbaro, Emanuele Rinninella, Francesca Romana Ponziani, Michele La Torre, Brigida E. Annicchiarico, Massimo Siciliano, Maurizio Pompili, Antonio Grieco, Luca Miele, Gian Ludovico Rapaccini, Laura Riccardi, Maria Assunta Zocco, Alessandro Milani, Anna Maria De Gaetano, Giovanni B. Gasbarrini, Lorenzo Bonomo, Antonio Gasbarrini

Poster: "ECR 2011 / C-1782 / Balloon-occluded percutaneous radio-frequency thermal ablation (RFA) plus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE): a new combined single-step therapy for treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma" by: "R. Iezzi, G. L. Rapaccini, A. M. De Gaetano, M. Pompili, A. Gasbarrini, L. Bonomo; Rome/IT"

Introduction: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition characterized by abnormally high bacterial population level in the small intestine, exceeding 106 organisms/ ml. Recent data suggest that SIBO could play a role in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in adults. Few studies are actually available assessing the prevalence of SIBO in children and no data exist about SIBO prevalence in children affected by IBS. Aim: Aim of our study was to assess SIBO prevalence in IBS children with respect to healthy controls. Methods: Fortythree consecutive IBS children according to Rome II criteria were enrolled (17 males/26 females, mean age 9,5 years). Eleven patients (25%) were classified as post-infectious IBS (PI-IBS) on the basis of clinical history. The control population accounted of 56 sex and age matched healthy children (22 males/34 females, mean age 10 years). SIBO diagnosis was based on lactulose breath test (LBT) positivity according standard criteria (two distinct peaks, consisting of two consecutive H2 values >10 p.p.m. above the basal value after 10 g lactulose ingestion). Results: LBT positivity was found in 56% of IBS children (24/43) with respect to 15% of healthy controls (10/56). The difference between the two groups resulted to be statistically significant (p< 0.01). SIBO prevalence was similar between PIIBS and non PI-IBS patients (p= n.s.). Conclusions: This is the first case-control study testing SIBO prevalence in IBS children. Our results seem to suggest a significant association between SIBO and IBS. Further researches are needed to confirm this findings and evaluate the role of SIBO decontamination on IBS symptoms.