Endoscopic Stricturotomy for Enteral Nutrition Access in Patients with Benign Gastrointestinal Strictures:a Review

Benign gastrointestinal stricture significantly restricts enteral nutrition,which directly affects the quality of life of patients.Advances in endoscopic techniques have provided a minimally invasive means of reconstructing the enteral nutrition pathway in patients with gastrointestinal strictures.Endoscopic stricturotomy is a safe and effective way to open the nutritional pathway,especially for those with anatomic stricture length<1 cm,and can be used either as the primary choice of treatment for patients with gastrointestinal stricture or as rescue therapy for refractory cases.Endoscopic stricturotomy can be executed with radial incision and cutting or circular incision and cutting.After the stricturotomy,other endoscopic treatments,such as endoscopic balloon dilation,stent implantation,and intra-lesional injection of steroids,can be used to prevent the development of re-stricture.This article reviews the clinical experiences with endoscopic stricturotomy for opening strictures along the enteral nutrition pathway in patients with gastrointestinal strictures.

How can colorectal neoplasms be treated during colonoscopy?

AIM: For many physicians who ordinarily treat patients with colonic diseases, colonoscopy is considered a prime study interest. Developments in colonoscopic equipment and methods have led to a large number of endoscopic diagnoses and treatment for colorectal neoplasms. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the efficacy and outcomes of endoscopic treatment for colorectal neoplastic lesions.METHODS: From September 1999 to May 2003, 11 447 consecutive colonoscopic examinations in 9 864 patients were gathered; totaling 5 502 endoscopic treatments for colorectal neoplasms. Macroscopic characteristics of the neoplasms were classified into protruded (n = 3 953), sessile (n = 1 402), lateral spreading tumor (n = 139) and depressed lesions (n = 8). Snare polypectomy was conducted in 3 984 lesions, hot forcep removal in 1 368 lesions, and endoscopic mucosal resection in 150 lesions.RESULTS: Histological diagnoses were 4 596 neoplastic lesions (4 376 adenomas and 220 adenocarcinomas) and 906 non-neoplastic lesions (891 hyperplastic and 15 inflammatory polyps). For the adenocarcinoma group, 31 instances involved submucosal invasion or resection margin, who received further operations, while 13 surgical specimens discovered no residual tumors. Three perforations and 96 bleedings were found following endoscopic treatment. No procedure-related mortality was found and no recurrent malignancy was found after 1456 mo follow-up.CONCLUSION: To lower the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer, endoscopic treatment for colorectalneoplasms is a simple and safe procedure.

Outcome of the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine for functional constipation:A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND Functional constipation(FC)is a common and chronic gastrointestinal disease and its treatment remains challenging.AIM To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine(CHM)on efficacy rate,global symptoms,bowel movements and the Bristol Stool Scale score in patients with FC by summarizing current available randomized controlled trials(RCTs).METHODS RCTs with CHM to treat FC were identified by a systematic search of six databases from inception to October 20,2020.Two independent reviewers assessed the quality of the included articles and extracted data.Meta-analyses were performed to odds ratio(OR),mean differences(MD)and 95%confidence interval(CI)using random-effects models.Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were used to explore and interpret the sources of heterogeneity.The funnel plot,Begg’s test and Egger’s test were used to detect publication bias.RESULTS Ninety-seven studies involving 8693 patients were included in this work.CHM was significantly associated with a higher efficacy rate(OR:3.62,95%CI:3.19-4.11,P<0.00001)less severe global symptoms(OR:4.03,95%CI:3.49-4.65,P<0.00001)compared with control treatment,with the low heterogeneity between studies(I2=0%,P=0.76).CHM was also associated with more frequent bowel movements(MD 0.83,95%CI:0.67-0.98,P<0.00001),a lower score on the Bristol Stool Scale(OR:1.63,95%CI:1.15-2.32,P<0.006),and a not significant recurrence rate(OR:0.47,95%CI:0.22-0.99,P=0.05).No serious adverse effects of CHM were reported.CONCLUSION In this meta-analysis,we found that CHM may have potential benefits in increasing the number of bowel movements,improving stool characteristics and alleviating global symptoms in FC patients.However,a firm conclusion could not be reached because of the poor quality of the included trials.Further trials with higher quality are required.

A feasibility trial of computer-aided diagnosis for enteric lesions in capsule endoscopy

AIM: To investigate and evaluate the feasibility of the computer-aided screening diagnosis for enteric lesions in the capsule endoscopy (CE).METHODS: After developing a series of algorithms for the screening diagnosis of the enteric lesions in CE based on their characteristic colors and contours, the normal and abnormal images obtained from 289 patients were respectively scanned and diagnosed by the CE readers and by the computer-aided screening for the enteric lesions with the image-processed software (IPS). The enteric lesions shown by the images included esoenteritis, mucosal ulcer and erosion, bleeding, space-occupying lesions, angioectasia, diverticula, parasites, etc. The images for the lesions or the suspected lesions confirmed by the CE readers and the computers were collected, and the effectiveness rate of the screening and the number of the scanned images were evaluated, respectively.RESULTS: Compared with the diagnostic results obtained by the CE readers, the total effectiveness rate (sensitivity) in the screening of the commonly-encountered enteric lesions by IPS varied from 42.9% to 91.2%, with a median of 74.2%, though the specificity and the accuracy rates were still low, and theimages for the rarely-encountered lesions were difficult to differentiate from the normal images. However, the number of the images screened by IPS was 5000 on average, and only 10%-15% of the original images were left behind. As a result, a large number of normal images were excluded, and the reading time decreased from 5 h to 1 h on average.CONCLUSION: Though the total accuracy and specificity rates by the computer-aided screening for the enteric lesions with IPS are much lower than those by the CE readers, the computer-aided screening diagnosis can exclude a large number of the normal images and confine the enteric lesions to 5000 images on average, which can reduce the workload of the readers in the scanning of the images. This computer-aided screening technique can make a correct diagnosis as efficiently as possible in most of the patients.

Altered intestinal microbiota associated with colorectal cancer

The gut microbiota plays an important role in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). To learn more about the dysbiosis of carcinogenesis, we assessed alterations in gut microbiota in patients with CRC. A total of 23 subjects were enrolled in this study: 9 had CRC (CRC group) and 14 had normal colons (normal group). The microbiome of the mucosal-luminal interface of each subject was sampled and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. We also used Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) to predict microbial functional profiles. The microbial composition of the mucosal lumen differed between the groups, and the presence of specific bacteria may serve as a potential biomarker for colorectal carcinogenesis. We identified a significant reduction in Eubacterium, which is a butyrate-producing genera of bacteria, and a significant increase in Devosia in the gut microbiota of CRC patients. Different levels of gut microflora in healthy and CRC samples were identified. The observed abundance of bacterial species belonging to Eubacterium and Devosia may serve as a promising biomarker for the early detection of CRC.

Multiband infrared luminescence of Er3＋-Ho3＋-Nd3＋/Tm3＋- codoped telluride glasses

This paper reports the simultaneous emissions around 1.53, 1.80, 2.10, 2.70 and 3.00 gm in Er3＋-Ho3＋ - Nd3＋/Tm3＋-codoped telluride glasses upon excitation of a conventional 808 nm laser diode. Both emission bands of 1.53 and 2.70 gm were assigned to the transitions of 4113/2 -4115/2, 4111/2 -4113/2 of Er＋＋ ions, respectively, the emission near 1.80 gm was assigned to the transition ＊F4 -4H6 of Tm3＋ ions, and the emissions at 2.10 and 3.00 μm arose from the transitions of 5I7 -518, 5I6 -5I7 of Ho3＋ ions. The materials are promising for ultra-broad band amplified spontaneous emission optical sources at near and middle infrared region.