Chinese research into severe ulcerative colitis has increased in quantity and complexity

AIM To investigate the current state of research output from Chinese studies into severe ulcerative colitis(SUC) using a bibliometric analysis of publications. METHODS The contents of the Chinese periodical databases WANFANG, VIP, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched for all papers regarding UC or SUC published in last the 15 years (from 2001 to 2015). The number of publications in each year was recorded to assess the temporal trends of research output. All SUC related publications were downloaded and the complexity of this research was evaluated with methods described previously. The number of patients with SUC reported each year was recorded and their clinical characteristics were analyzed using information available in the relevant papers. RESULTS There were 13499 publications regarding UC published in Chinese medical journals between 2001 and 2015, of which 201 focused on SUC. The number of publications increased rapidly with more than half of all papers being published in the most recent 5-year period. There was a significant increase in analyticalstudies and clinical trials over the study period (P < 0.01), with research into the management of SUC, included pharmacotherapy, nutrition support as well as surgery, predominating. Almost half (46.2%) of the observational analytical studies and clinical trials focused on Traditional Chinese Medicine, with little research on the efficacy of cyclosporin and infliximab in disease management. About 6222 patients with SUC were reported in the 201 SUC relevant papers, with a ratio of male/female of 1.38. The number of patients reported in each 5-year period significantly increased. The colectomy rate and short-term mortality rate were 7.7% and 0.8% respectively. The most commonly employed operation was total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis.CONCLUSION The output and complexity of research related to SUC in China increased significantly over the previous 15 years, however few of these studies focused on salvage therapy.

Management and outcomes of surgical patients with intestinal Behçet’s disease and Crohn’s disease in southwest China

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal involvement in Behçet's disease(GIBD)and Crohn’s disease(CD)are inflammatory diseases sharing a considerable number of similarities.However,different from CD,the operative and postoperative management of GIBD remains largely empirical because of the lack of comprehensive treatment guidelines.AIM To compare surgical patients with GIBD and those with CD in a medical center and identify notable clinical features and effective postoperative treatment for surgical patients with GIBD.METHODS We searched patients diagnosed with CD and GIBD who underwent operations for gastrointestinal complications from 2009 to 2015 at West China Hospital of Sichuan University.A total of 10 surgical patients with GIBD and 106 surgical patients with CD were recruited.Information including demographic data,medication,and operative and postoperative parameters were collected and analyzed.As the incidence of surgical GIBD is low,their detailed medical records were reviewed and compared to previous studies.Moreover,the prognoses of CD and GIBD were evaluated respectively between groups treated with biological and non-biological agents.RESULTS Indication for first surgery was often acute intestinal perforation for GIBDpatients (7/10 vs 0/106, P < 0.001), whereas intestinal fistulae (0/10 vs 44/106, P =0.013) and ileus (0/10 vs 40/106, P = 0.015) were the indications for surgical CDpatients. Approximately 40% of patients with GIBD and 23.6% of patients withCD developed postoperative complications, 50% of patients with GIBD and 38.7%of patients with CD had recurrence postoperatively, and 40% (4/10) of patientswith GIBD and 26.4% (28/106) of patients with CD underwent reoperations. Theaverage period of postoperative recurrence was 7.87 mo in patients with Behçet'sdisease (BD) and 10.43 mo in patients with CD, whereas the mean duration fromfirst surgery to reoperation was 5.75 mo in BD patients and 18.04 mo in CDpatients. Surgical patients with GIBD more often used corticosteroids (6/10 vs7/106, P < 0.001) and thalidomide (7/10 vs 9/106, P < 0.001) postoperatively,whereas surgical patients with CD often used infliximab (27/106), azathioprine,or 6-mercaptopurine (74/106) for maintenance therapy.CONCLUSIONPatients suffering GIBD require surgery mostly under emergency situations,which may be more susceptible to recurrence and reoperation and need moreaggressive postoperative treatment than patients with CD.