Safety and efficacy of wireless capsule endoscopy in patients with surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy

Background:Wireless capsule endoscopy(WCE)is an effective,minimally invasive tool used for evaluation of the small intestine.To date,there are no studies evaluating the diagnostic yield of WCE in patients with surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy.Aim:To evaluate the diagnostic yield,technical success and safety of WCE in patients with surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy.Methods:Retrospective chart review of all patients with surgically altered upper GI anatomy who underwent WCE between 2006 and 2016 at the Medical University of South Carolina.Technical success,diagnostic yield,adverse events and therapeutic yield data was collected.Results:Thirty-one cases met inclusion criteria.Two were excluded as they did not undergo WCE due to failed patency capsule.The mean age was 58(69%female).The capsule was ingested in 18 cases and endoscopically placed in 11.The most common surgical anatomy was Roux-en-Y gastric bypass(n=13).Technical success,defined as the capsule reaching the cecum,was achieved in 89.7%of cases.The diagnostic yield was 44.8%,with the most common finding being angioectasia.No intra-or postprocedural adverse events were noted.Discussion:Capsule endoscopy in patients with surgically altered upper GI anatomy appears to show no elevated risk of adverse events and shows similar technical success and diagnostic yield as in patients with native anatomy.

Stem cell therapy applied for digestive anastomosis: Current state and future perspectives

BACKGROUND Digestive tract resections are usually followed by an anastomosis.Anastomotic leakage,normally due to failed healing,is the most feared complication in digestive surgery because it is associated with high morbidity and mortality.Despite technical and technological advances and focused research,its rates have remained almost unchanged the last decades.In the last two decades,stem cells(SCs)have been shown to enhance healing in animal and human studies;hence,SCs have emerged since 2008 as an alternative to improve anastomoses outcomes.AIM To summarise the published knowledge of SC utilisation as a preventative tool for hollow digestive viscera anastomotic or suture leaks.METHODS PubMed,Science Direct,Scopus and Cochrane searches were performed using the key words“anastomosis”,“colorectal/colonic anastomoses”,“anastomotic leak”,“stem cells”,“progenitor cells”,“cellular therapy”and“cell therapy”in order to identify relevant articles published in English and Spanish during the years of 2000 to 2021.Studies employing SCs,performing digestive anastomoses in hollow viscera or digestive perforation sutures and monitoring healing were finally included.Reference lists from the selected articles were reviewed to identify additional pertinent articles.METHODS Given the great variability in the study designs,anastomotic models,interventions(SCs,doses and vehicles)and outcome measures,performing a reliable meta-analysis was considered impossible,so we present the studies,their results and limitations.RESULTS Eighteen preclinical studies and three review papers were identified;no clinical studies have been published and there are no registered clinical trials.Experimental studies,mainly in rat and porcine models and occasionally in very adverse conditions such as ischaemia or colitis,have been demonstrated SCs as safe and have shown some encouraging morphological,functional and even clinical results.Mesenchymal SCs are mostly employed,and delivery routes are mainly local injections and cell sheets followed by biosutures(sutures coated by SCs)or purely topical.As potential weaknesses,animal models need to be improved to make them more comparable and equivalent to clinical practice,and the SC isolation processes need to be standardised.There is notable heterogeneity in the studies,making them difficult to compare.Further investigations are needed to establish the indications,the administration system,potential adjuvants,the final efficacy and to confirm safety and exclude definitively oncological concerns.CONCLUSION The future role of SC therapy to induce healing processes in digestive anastomoses/sutures still needs to be determined and seems to be currently far from clinical use.

Upper-gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to peptic ulcer disease:Incidence and outcomes

AIM: To evaluate the incidence, surgery, mortality, and readmission of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) secondary to peptic ulcer disease (PUD).

Postmyotomy dysphagia after laparoscopic surgery for achalasia

AIM: To determine predictive factors for postoperative dysphagia after laparoscopic myotomy for achalasia.METHODS: Logistic regression was used to investigate the possible association between the response (postoperative dysphagia, with two levels: none/mild and moderate/severe)and several plausible predictive factors.RESULTS: Eight patients experienced severe or moderate postoperative dysphagia. The logistic regression revealed that only the severity of preoperative dysphagia (with four levels; mild, moderate, severe, and liquid) was a marginally significant (P=0.0575) predictive factor for postoperative dysphagia.CONCLUSION: The severity of postoperative dysphagia is strongly associated with preoperative dysphagia. Preoperative symptomatology can significantly impact patient outcome.

Gangliocytic paraganglioma of the duodenum： a case report

Gangliocytic paraganglioma of the duodenum is an extremely rare disease.Few cases have been reported in the literature from 1957 to 2010.We reported a 67-year-old man with gangliocytic paraganglioma of the duodenum.