Short health scale: A valid measure of health-related quality of life in Korean-speaking patients with inflammatory bowel disease

AIM To evaluate the short health scale(SHS),a new,simple,four-part visual analogue scale questionnaire that is designed to assess the impact of inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)on health-related quality of life(HRQOL),in Korean-speaking patients with IBD.METHODS The SHS was completed by 256 patients with Crohn’s disease(CD)and ulcerative colitis(UC).Individual SHS items were correlated with inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire(IBDQ)dimensions and with disease activity to assess validity.Test-retest reliability,responsiveness and patient or disease characteristics with probable association with high SHS scores were analyzed.RESULTS Of 256 patients with IBD,139(54.3%)had UC and 117(45.7%)had CD.The correlation coefficients between SHS questions about"symptom burden","activities of daily living",and"disease-related worry"and their corresponding dimensions in the IBDQ ranged from0.62 to 0.71,compared with correlation coefficients ranging from-0.45 to-0.61 for their non-corresponding dimensions.There was a stepwise increase in SHS scores,with increasing disease activity in both CD and UC(all P values<0.001).Reliability was confirmed with test-retest correlations ranging from 0.68 to 0.90(all P values<0.001).Responsiveness was confirmed with the patients who remained in remission.Their SHS scores remained unchanged,except for the SHS dimension"disease-related worry".In the multivariate analysis,female sex was associated with worse"general well-being"(OR=2.28,95%CI:1.02-5.08)along with worse disease activity.CONCLUSION The SHS is a valid and reliable measure of HRQOL in Korean-speaking patients with IBD.

A novel device for endoscopic submucosal dissection,the Fork knife

AIM： To introduce and evaluate the efficacy and technical aspects of endoscopic submucosal dissection （ESD） using a novel device, the Fork knife. METHODS： From March 2004 to April 2008, ESD was performed on 265 gastric lesions using a Fork knife （Endo FS） （group A） and on 72 gastric lesions using a Flexknife （group B） at a single tertiary referral center. We retrospectively compared the endoscopic characteristics of the tumors, pathological findings, and sizes of the resected specimens. We also compared the en b/oc resection rate, complete resection rate, complications, and procedure time between the two groups. RESULTS： The mean size of the resected specimens was 4.27 ± 1.26 cm in group A and 4.29 ± 1.48 cm in group B. The en b/oc resection rate was 95.8% （254/265 lesions） in group A and 93.1% （67/72） in group B. Complete ESD without tumor cell invasion of the resected margin was obtained in 81.1% （215/265） of group A and in 73.6% （53/72） of group B. The perforation rate was 0.8% （2/265） in group A and 1.4% （1/72） in group B. The mean procedure time was 59.63 ± 56.12 min in group A and 76.65 ± 70.75 min in group B （P 〈 0.05）. CONCLUSION： The Fork knife （Endo FS） is useful for clinical practice and has the advantage of reducing the procedure time.