Nutritional status and nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases

Underweight and specific nutrient deficiencies are frequent in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease(IBD).In addition,a significant number of children with IBD,especially Crohn's disease(CD) have impaired linear growth.Nutrition has an important role in the management of IBD.In adults with CD,enteral nutrition(EN) is effective in inducing clinical remission of IBD,although it is less efficient than corticosteroids.Exclusive EN is an established primary therapy for pediatric CD.Limited data suggests that EN is as efficient as corticosteroids for induction of remission.Additional advantages of nutritional therapy are control of inflammation,mucosal healing,positive benefits to growth and overall nutritional status with minimal adverse effects.The available evidence suggests that supplementary EN may be effective also for maintenance of remission in CD.More studies are needed to confirm these findings.However,EN supplementation could be considered as an alternative or as an adjunct to maintenance drug therapy in CD.EN does not have a primary therapeutic role in ulcerative colitis.Specific compositions of enteral dietselemental diets or diets containing specific components-were not shown to have any advantage over standard polymeric diets and their place in the treatment of CD or UC need further evaluation.Recent theories suggest that diet may be implicated in the etiology of IBD,however there are no proven dietary approaches to reduce the risk of developing IBD.

Wireless capsule video endoscopy:Three years of experience

AIM:To review and summerize the current literatue regarding M2A wireless capsule endoscopy. METHODS:Peer reviewed publications regarding the use of capsule endoscopy as well as our personal experience were reviewed. RESULTS:Review of the literature dearly showed that capsule endoscopy was superior to enteroscopy,small bowel follow through and computerized tomography in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding,iron deficiency anemia, or suspected Crohn's disease.It was very sensitive for the diagnosis of small bowel tumors and for survailance of small bowel pathology in patients with Gardner syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis syndrome.Its role in celiac disease and in patients with known Crohn's disease was currently being investigated. CONCLUSION:Capsule video endoscopy is a superior and more sensitive diagnostic tool than barium follow through, enteroscopy and entero-CT in establishing the diagnosis of many small bowel pathologies.

Capsule endoscopy in pediatric patients

Wireless capsule endoscope (WCE) for the investigation of the small bowel is an approved technique both in adults and children (more than 10 years old). The present review provides data on the indications, diagnostic yield, adverse events and limitations of the WCE technique in children and tries to predict the future of WCE usage in this population of patients.

Cytomegalovirus positive ulcerative colitis:A single center experience and literature review

AIM:To compare the clinical outcome of cytomegalovirus(CMV)-positive ulcerative colitis(UC) patients with and without antiviral therapy.METHODS:This was a retrospective case-controlled study.The database of UC patients in our institution was scanned for documented presence of CMV on colonic biopsies.Demographics,clinical data,endoscopy findings and pathology reports were extracted from the patients' charts and electronic records.When available,the data from colonoscopies preceding and following the diagnosis of colonic CMV infection were also ex-tracted.The primary outcomes of the study were colectomy/death during hospitalization and the secondary outcomes were colectomy/death through the course of the follow-up.RESULTS:Thirteen patients were included in the study,7(53.5%) of them were treated with gancyclovir and 6(46.5%) were not.Patients treated with antivirals presented with a more severe disease and 57% of them were treated with cyclosporine or infliximab before initiation of gancyclovir,while none of the patients without antivirals required rescue therapy.One patient died and another patient underwent urgent colectomy during hospitalization,both of them from the gancyclovir-treatment group.For the entire follow-up time(13 ± 13 mo),a total of 3 colectomies and one death occurred,all among the antiviral-treated patients(for colectomy:3/7 vs 0/6 patients,P = 0.19;for combined adverse outcome:4/7 vs 0/6 patients,P = 0.07).In 9/13 patients,immunohistochemistry for CMV was performed on biopsies obtained during a subsequent colonoscopy and was positive in one patient only.CONCLUSION:Gancyclovir-treated patients had a more severe disease and outcome,probably unrelated to antiviral therapy.Immunohistochemistry-CMV-positive patients with mild disease may recover without antiviral therapy.

Inflammatory bowel disease patient profiles are related to specific information needs: A nationwide survey

BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD) is a heterogenous, lifelong disease, with an unpredictable and potentially progressive course, that may impose negative psychosocial impact on patients.While informed patients with chronic illness have improved adherence and outcomes, previous research showed that the majority of IBD patients receive insufficient information regarding their disease.The large heterogeneity of IBD and the wide range of information topics makes a one-size fits all knowledge resource overwhelming and cumbersome.We hypothesized that different patient profiles may have different and specific information needs, the identification of which will allow building personalized computer-based information resources in the future.AIM To evaluate the scope of disease-related knowledge among IBD patients and determine whether different patient profiles drive unique information needs.METHODS We conducted a nationwide survey addressing hospital-based IBD clinics.A Total of 571 patients completed a 28-item questionnaire, rating the amount of information received at time of diagnosis and the importance of information, as perceived by participants, for a newly diagnosed patient, and for the participants themselves, at current time.We performed an exploratory factor analysis of the crude responses aiming to create a number of representative knowledge domains(factors), and analyzed the responses of a set of 15 real-life patient profiles generated by the study team.RESULTS Participants gave low ratings for the amount of information received at disease onset(averaging 0.9/5) and high ratings for importance, both for the newly diagnosed patients(mean 4.2/5) and for the participants themselves at current time(mean 3.5/5).Factor analysis grouped responses into six informationdomains.The responses of selected profiles, compared with the rest of the participants, yielded significant associations(defined as a difference in rating of >0.5 points with a P < 0.05).Patients with active disease showed a higher interest in work-disability, stress-coping, and therapy-complications.Patients newly diagnosed at age > 50, and patients with long-standing disease(> 10 years)showed less interest in work-disability.Patients in remission with mesalamine or no therapy showed less interest in all domains except for nutrition and long-term complications.CONCLUSION We demonstrate unmet patient information needs.Analysis of various patient profiles revealed associations with specific information topics, paving the way for building patient-tailored information resources.

Does capsule endoscopy have an added value in patients with perianal disease and a negative work up for Crohn's disease?

AIM:To investigate the role of capsule endoscopy in patients with persistent perianal disease and negative conventional work up for Crohn's disease(CD).METHODS:Patients with perianal disease(abscesses,fistulas,recurrent fissures) were evaluated for underlying CD.Patients who had a negative work up,defined as a negative colonoscopy with a normal ileoscopy or a normal small bowel series or a normal CT/MR enterography,underwent a Pillcam study of the small bowel after signing informed consent.Patients using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or who had a history of inflammatory bowel disease or rheumatic disease were excluded.RESULTS:We recruited 26 patients aged 21-61 years(average 35.6 years),17 males and 9 females.One case could not be evaluated since the capsule did not leave the stomach.In 6 of 25(24%) patients with a negative standard work up for Crohn's disease,capsuleendoscopy(CE) findings were consistent with Crohn's disease of the small bowel.Family history of CD,white blood cell,hemoglobin,erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C-reactive protein did not predict a diagnosis of CD.Capsule endoscopy findings led to a change in treatment.CONCLUSION:In patients with perianal disease and a negative conventional work up to exclude CD,CE leads to incremental diagnostic yield of 24%.

Significance of low level infliximab in the absence of anti-infliximab antibodies

AIM:To evaluate the prevalence of double negative(DN)sera and the mechanisms responsible for DN status.METHODS:Sera of inflammatory bowel disease patients treated with infliximab(IFX)were tested for drug/antibodies to infliximab(ATI)trough levels and the proportion of DN results was compared between a commercially available double antigen ELISA(with labeled IFX as the detection antibody)and an antilambda ELISA(with anti-human lambda chain detection antibody).Repeat testing with lower than customary serum dilution(1:10)was performed.Patients with DN status were matched with IFX+/ATI-controls and were followed-up for subsequent development of nontransient ATI to investigate if DN status precedes ATI.RESULTS:Of 67 sera obtained at time of loss of response,only 6/67(9%)were DN by anti-lambda ELISA compared to 27/67(40%)with double antigen ELISA(P<0.001,Fisher’s Exact test).Of the latter27 sera,22%were also DN by anti-lambda ELISA,whereas 44%were actually IFX positive(IFX+ATI-),30%were ATI positive(IFX-ATI+)and 4%were double positive(IFX+ATI+).Re-testing using a 1:10 dilution converted most DN results into IFX+and/or ATI+status.Patients with DN status had shorter survival free of non-transient ATI compared with matched controls(log rank test,P<0.001).In 9/30(30%)of these patients,non transient ATI occurred before and after the event at which the DN serum was obtained,supporting the view that a DN result may represent aparticular time-point along the two curves of ATI titer rise and infliximab drug level decline.CONCLUSION:DN status may result from false negative detection of IFX or ATI by double antigen ELISA,suggesting a transitional state of low-level immunogenicity,rather than non-immunological clearance.