Clinical,serological and genetic predictors of inflammatory bowel disease course

Patients with extensive or complicated Crohn's disease(CD) at diagnosis should be treated straightaway with immunosuppressive therapy according to the most recent guidelines.In patients with localized and uncomplicated CD at diagnosis,early use of immunosuppressive therapy is debated for preventing disease progression and limiting the disabling clinical impact.In this context,there is a need for predictors of benign or unfavourable subsequent clinical course,in order to avoid over-treating with risky drugs those patients who would have experienced spontaneous mid-term asymptomatic disease without progression towards irreversible intestinal lesions.At diagnosis,an age below 40 years,the presence of perianal lesions and the need for treating the first flare with steroids have been consistently associated with an unfavourable subsequent 5-year or 10-year clinical course.The positive predictive value of unfavourable course in patients with 2 or 3 predictors ranges between 0.75 and 0.95 in population-based and referral centre cohorts.Consequently,the use of these predictors can be integrated into the elements that influence individual decisions.In the CD postoperative context,keeping smoking and history of prior resection are the stron-gest predictors of disease symptomatic recurrence.However,these clinical predictors alone are not as reliable as severity of early postoperative endoscopic recurrence in clinical practice.In ulcerative colitis(UC),extensive colitis at diagnosis is associated with unfavourable clinical course in the first 5 to 10 years of the disease,and also with long-term colectomy and colorectal inflammation-associated colorectal cancer.In patients with extensive UC at diagnosis,a rapid step-up strategy aiming to achieve sustained deep remission should therefore be considered.At the moment,no reliable serological or genetic predictor of inflammatory bowel disease clinical course has been identified.

Do clinical factors help to predict disease course in inflammatory bowel disease?

While therapeutic strategies able to change the natural history of the disease are developing,it is of major importance to have available predictive factors for aggressive disease to try and target these therapeutic strategies.Clinical predictors have probably been the most broadly studied.In both Crohn's disease(CD) and ulcerative colitis(UC),age at diagnosis,disease location and smoking habit are currently the strongest predictors of disease course.A younger age at onset is associated with more aggressive disease both in CD and UC.Disease location in CD is associated with different types of complications:surgery and recurrence in upper gastrointestinal and proximal small bowel disease;and surgery in distal small bowel disease and peri-anal lesions in rectal disease.In UC,extensive colitis is clearly been associated with more severe disease.Finally,active smoking globally increases disease severity in CD but decreases it in UC.Besides these important factors,others may predispose to some specific disease evolution and complications,and are also reviewed in the present paper.

An evidenced-based diagnostic tool for superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome

Purpose:To construct a symptoms-based prediction tool to assess the likelihood of superior canal dehiscence(SSCD)on high-resolution CT.Materials and methods:Mathematical modeling was employed to predict radiologic evidence of SSCD at a tertiary neurotology referral center.Results:A total of 168 patients were included,of which 118 had imaging-confirmed SSCD.On univariate analysis significant predictors of SSCD presence were:sound/pressure-induced vertigo(p?0.006),disequilibrium(p?0.008),hyperacusis(p?0.008),and autophony(p?0.034).Multivariate analysis enabled a 14-point symptom-weighted tool to be developed,wherein a score of6 raised the suspicion of SSCD(70%likelihood of being present),R2?0.853.Conclusions:The likelihood of SSCD on CT scan can be determined with a high degree of certainty based on symptoms recorded at presentation.Using the evidenced-based diagnostic tool validated herein,a score6 with any symptom combination justifies ordering a CT scan.

A clinical study on surgical treatment for perirolandic epilepsy and the predictor for good outcomes

Objective The purpose of the study was to investigate effective surgical procedure for perirolandic epilepsy and the predictor for good outcomes. Methods We collected 21 subjects who underwent epilepsy surgeries consecutively in Beijing Institute of Functional