Factors affecting the quality of bowel preparation for colonoscopy in hard-to-prepare patients:Evidence from the literature

Adequate bowel cleansing is critical for a high-quality colonoscopy because it affects diagnostic accuracy and adenoma detection.Nevertheless,almost a quarter of procedures are still carried out with suboptimal preparation,resulting in longer procedure times,higher risk of complications,and higher likelihood of missing lesions.Current guidelines recommend high-volume or low-volume polyethylene glycol(PEG)/non-PEG-based split-dose regimens.In patients who have had insufficient bowel cleansing,the colonoscopy should be repeated the same day or the next day with additional bowel cleansing as a salvage option.A strategy that includes a prolonged low-fiber diet,a split preparation regimen,and a colonoscopy within 5 h of the end of preparation may increase cleansing success rates in the elderly.Furthermore,even though no specific product is specifically recommended in the other cases for difficult-to-prepare patients,clinical evidence suggests that 1-L PEG plus ascorbic acid preparation are associated with higher cleansing success in hospitalized and inflammatory bowel disease patients.Patients with severe renal insufficiency(creatinine clearance<30 mL/min)should be prepared with isotonic high volume PEG solutions.Few data on cirrhotic patients are currently available,and no trials have been conducted in this population.An accurate characterization of procedural and patient variables may lead to a more personalized approach to bowel preparation,especially in patients undergoing resection of left colon lesions,where intestinal preparation has a poor outcome.The purpose of this review was to summarize the evidence on the risk factors influencing the quality of bowel cleansing in difficult-to-prepare patients,as well as strategies to improve colonoscopy preparation in these patients.

Management of antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy in endoscopy: A review of literature

Endoscopic procedures hold a basal risk of bleeding that depends on the type of procedure and patients’comorbidities.Moreover,they are often performed in patients taking antiplatelet and anticoagulants agents,increasing the potential risk of intraprocedural and delayed bleeding.Even if the interruption of antithrombotic therapies is undoubtful effective in reducing the risk of bleeding,the thromboembolic risk that follows their suspension should not be underestimated.Therefore,it is fundamental for each endoscopist to be aware of the bleeding risk for every procedure,in order to measure the risk-benefit ratio for each patient.Moreover,knowledge of the proper management of antithrombotic agents before endoscopy,as well as the adequate timing for their resumption is essential.This review aims to analyze current evidence from literature assessing,for each procedure,the basal risk of bleeding and the risk of bleeding in patients taking antithrombotic therapy,as well as to review the recommendation of American society for gastrointestinal endoscopy,European society of gastrointestinal endoscopy,British society of gastroenterology,Asian pacific association of gastroenterology and Asian pacific society for digestive endoscopy guidelines for the management of antithrombotic agents in urgent and elective endoscopic procedures.

Emerging artificial intelligence applications in gastroenterology: A review of the literature

Artificial intelligence(AI)allows machines to provide disruptive value in several industries and applications.Applications of AI techniques,specifically machine learning and more recently deep learning,are arising in gastroenterology.Computer-aided diagnosis for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy has growing attention for automated and accurate identification of dysplasia in Barrett’s esophagus,as well as for the detection of early gastric cancers(GCs),therefore preventing esophageal and gastric malignancies.Besides,convoluted neural network technology can accurately assess Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)infection during standard endoscopy without the need for biopsies,thus,reducing gastric cancer risk.AI can potentially be applied during colonoscopy to automatically discover colorectal polyps and differentiate between neoplastic and nonneoplastic ones,with the possible ability to improve adenoma detection rate,which changes broadly among endoscopists performing screening colonoscopies.In addition,AI permits to establish the feasibility of curative endoscopic resection of large colonic lesions based on the pit pattern characteristics.The aim of this review is to analyze current evidence from the literature,supporting recent technologies of AI both in upper and lower gastrointestinal diseases,including Barrett's esophagus,GC,H.pylori infection,colonic polyps and colon cancer.