BMC Gastroenterology update, june 3
Written by admin on Jun 6th, 2008 | Filed under: gastroenterology UPDATE
Combined written and oral information prior to gastrointestinal endoscopy compared with oral information alone: a randomized trial
Background: Little is known about how to most effectively deliver relevant information to patients scheduled for endoscopy. Methods: To assess the effects of combined written and oral information, compared with oral information alone on the quality of information before endoscopy and the level of anxiety. We designed a prospective study in two Swiss teaching hospitals which enrolled consecutive patients scheduled for endoscopy over a three-month period. Patients were randomized either to receiving, along with the appointment notice, an explanatory leaflet about the upcoming examination, or to oral information delivered by each patient’s doctor. Evaluation of quality of information was rated on scales between 0 (none received) and 5 (excellent). The analysis of outcome variables was performed on the basis of intention to treat-analysis. Multivariate analysis of predictors of information scores was performed by linear regression analysis. Results: Of 718 eligible patients 577 (80%) returned their questionnaire. Patients who received written leaflets (N=278) rated the quality of information they received higher than those informed verbally (N=299), for all 8 quality-of-information items. Differences were significant regarding information about the risks of the procedure (3.24 versus 2.26, p<0.001), how to prepare for the procedure (3.56 versus 3.23, p=0.036), what to expect after the procedure (2.99 versus 2.59, p<0.001), and the 8 quality-of-information items (3.35 versus 3.02, p=0.002). The two groups reported similar levels of anxiety before procedure (p=0.66), pain during procedure (p=0.20), tolerability throughout the procedure (p=0.76), problems after the procedure (p=0.22), and overall rating of the procedure between poor and excellent (p=0.82). Conclusion: Written information led to more favourable assessments of the quality of information and had no impact on patient anxiety nor on the overall assessment of the endoscopy. Because structured and comprehensive written information is perceived as beneficial by patients, gastroenterologists should clearly explain to their patients the risks, benefits and alternatives of endoscopic procedures.
Changes in the Gastric Enteric Nervous System and Muscle: A Case Report on Two Patients with Diabetic Gastroparesis
The pathogenesis of diabetic gastroparesis is poorly understood, in part because of a paucity of studies on human tissues and a lack of understanding of the correlation between change in gastric pathology and the clinical presentation and natural history of patients. Here we report the first systematic analysis of gastric pathology in two humans with severely symptomatic diabetic gastroparesis, using histological and immunohistochemical techniques on tissue obtained by full-thickness biopsy. Comparisons were made with control tissue obtained from patients with obesity undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Striking changes were seen in one patient with poorly controlled diabetes; these included a significant degree of fibrosis involving the muscle layer, loss of neurons and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). Further, gastric tissue from this patient also showed reduction in the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and heme oxygenase-2 (HO-2). In the second patient, whose diabetes was well controlled, no significant changes in these parameters were observed. These findings suggest that changes in the gastric enteric nervous system and muscle may correlate with glycemic control but not symptomatic severity. Our results also emphasize the heterogeneity of this syndrome and provide several hypotheses for future studies.
Short-term triple therapy with azithromycin for Helicobacter pylori eradication: low cost, high compliance, but low efficacy.
Background: The Brazilian consensus recommends a short-term treatment course with clarithromycin, amoxicillin and proton-pump inhibitor for the eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). This treatment course has good efficacy, but cannot be afforded by a large part of the population. Azithromycin, amoxicillin and omeprazole are subsidized, for several aims, by the Brazilian federal government. Therefore, a short-term treatment course that uses these drugs is a low-cost one, but its efficacy regarding the bacterium eradication is yet to be demonstrated. The study’s purpose was to verify the efficacy of H. pylori eradication in infected patients who presented peptic ulcer disease, using the association of azithromycin, amoxicillin and omeprazole. Methods: Sixty patients with peptic ulcer diagnosed by upper digestive endoscopy and H. pylori infection documented by rapid urease test, histological analysis and urea breath test were treated for six days with a combination of azithromycin 500 mg and omeprazole 20 mg, in a single daily dose, associated with amoxicillin 500 mg 3 times a day. The eradication control was carried out 12 weeks after the treatment by means of the same diagnostic tests. The eradication rates were calculated with 95% confidence interval. Results: The eradication rate was 38% per intention to treat and 41% per protocol. Few adverse effects were observed and treatment compliance was high. Conclusions: Despite its low cost and high compliance, the low eradication rate does not allow the recommendation of the triple therapy with azithromycin as an adequate treatment for H. pylori infection.
Influence of acute pancreatitis on the in vitro responsiveness of rat mesenteric and pulmonary arteries
Background: Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease characterized by local tissue injury and systemic inflammatory response leading to massive nitric oxide (NO) production and haemodynamic disturbances. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the vascular reactivity of pulmonary and mesenteric artery rings from rats submitted to experimental pancreatitis. Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: saline (SAL); tauracholate (TAU) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Pancreatitis was induced by administration of TAU or PLA2 from Naja mocambique mocambique into the common bile duct of rats, and after 4 h of duct injection the animals were sacrificed. Concentration-response curves to acetylcholine (ACh), sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and phenylephrine (PHE) in isolated mesenteric and pulmonary arteries were obtained. Potency (pEC50) and maximal responses (EMAX) were determined. Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. Results: In mesenteric rings, the potency for ACh was significantly decreased from animals treated with TAU (about 4.2-fold) or PLA2 (about 6.9-fold) compared to saline group without changes in the maximal responses. Neither pEC50 nor EMAX values for Ach were altered in pulmonary rings in all groups. Similarly, the pEC50 and the EMAX values for SNP were not changed in both preparations in any group. The potency for PHE was significantly decreased in rat mesenteric and pulmonary rings from TAU group compared to SAL group (about 2.2- and 2.69-fold, for mesenteric and pulmonary rings, respectively). No changes were seen in the EMAX for PHE. The nitrite/nitrate (NOx-) levels were markedly increased in animals submitted to acute pancreatitis as compared to SAL group, approximately 76 and 68 % in TAU and PLA2 protocol, respectively. Conclusions: Acute pancreatitis provoked deleterious effects in endothelium-dependent relaxing response for ACh in mesenteric rings that were strongly associated with high plasma NOx- levels as consequence of intense inflammatory responses. Furthermore, the subsensitivity of contractile response to PHE in both mesenteric and pulmonary rings might be due to the complications of this pathological condition in the early stage of pancreatitis.
Background: The relationship between proton pump inhibitor therapy and other acid suppressing medications and the risk of gastrointestinal infections remains controversial. Methods: Patients enrolled in a long-term trial of lansoprazole for Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and other acid hypersecretory states had interval histories taken every six months regarding hospitalizations or other intercurrent medical conditions. All medications taken were also reviewed at each visit. In addition, available patients were specifically queried during the study period 2006-2007 regarding the development of any gastrointestinal infections, hospitalizations, and prescriptions for antibiotics. Results: Ninety patients were enrolled in our long-term study and 81 were available for review. The median basal gastric pH for the cohort after stabilization on therapy was 2.9 and ranged from 1.1 - 8.4 with a median pentagastrin stimulated gastric pH of 1.60 (range 1.0 - 8.2). No patient developed a clinically significant gastrointestinal infection during the study. The median patient years of follow-up were 6.25 years. Conclusions: In a cohort of patients with gastric acid hypersecretion in whom acid secretion status was monitored on lansoprazole, all were free of significant gastrointestinal infections on long-term follow-up.
Senescence marker protein 30 in acute liver failure: validation of a mass spectrometry proteomics assay
Background: Our previous proteomic study showed that the senescence marker protein (SMP30) is selectively present in the plasma of a murine model of acute liver failure (ALF). The aim of this study was to validate this SMP30 expression in the plasma and liver tissues of mice and humans with ALF. Methods: After the proteomic analysis of plasma from a murine model of D-galactosamine/lipopolysaccharide (GalN/LPS)-induced ALF by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry, the expression levels of SMP30 in the plasma and liver tissues were validated by western blot and RT-PCR analyses. These results were then confirmed in plasma samples from humans. Results: These data validate the results of 2-DE, and western blot showed that SMP30 protein levels were only elevated in the plasma of ALF mice. Further analysis revealed that GalN/LPS induced the downregulation of SMP30 protein levels in liver tissues (by approximately 25% and 16% in the GalN/LPS-treated mice and in the treated mice that survived, respectively; P < 0.01). Hepatic SMP30 mRNA levels decreased by about 90% only in the mice that survived the GalN/LPS treatment. Importantly, plasma obtained from patients with ALF also contained higher levels of SMP30, about (3.65 0.34) times those observed in healthy volunteers. Conclusions: This study shows that SMP30 is not only a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and even prognosis of ALF. It also plays a very important role in a self-protective mechanism in survival and participates in the pathophysiological processes of ALF.
Liver cirrhosis, other liver diseases, and risk of hospitalisation for intracerebral haemorrhage: A Danish population-based case-control study
Background: Liver diseases are suspected risk factors for intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). We conducted a population-based case-control study to examine risk of ICH among hospitalised patients with liver cirrhosis and other liver diseases. Methods: We used data from the hospital discharge registries (1991–2003) and the Civil Registration System in Denmark, to identify 3,522 cases of first-time hospitalisation for ICH and 35,173 sex- and age-matched population controls. Among cases and controls we identified patients with a discharge diagnosis of liver cirrhosis or other liver diseases before the date of ICH. We computed odds ratios for ICH by conditional logistic regressions, adjusting for a number of confounding factors. Results: There was an increased risk of ICH for patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (adjusted OR = 4.8, 95% CI: 2.7–8.3), non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis (adjusted OR = 7.7, 95% CI: 2.0–28.9) and non-cirrhotic alcoholic liver disease (adjusted OR = 5.4, 95%CI:3.1–9.5) but not for patients with non-cirrhotic non-alcoholic liver diseases (adjusted OR = 0.9, 95%CI:0.5–1.6). The highest risk was found among women with liver cirrhosis (OR = 8.9, 95%CI:2.9–26.7) and for patients younger than 70 years (OR = 6.1, 95%CI:3.4–10.9). There were no sex- or age-related differences in the association between other liver diseases (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) and hospitalisation with ICH. Conclusion: Patients with liver cirrhosis and non-cirrhotic alcoholic liver disease have a clearly increased risk for ICH.
Time esophageal pH < 4 overestimates the prevalence of pathologic esophageal reflux in subjects with gastroesophageal reflux disease treated with proton pump inhibitors
Background: A Stanford University study reported that in asymptomatic GERD patients who were being treated with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), 50% had pathologic esophageal acid exposure.AimWe considered the possibility that the high prevalence of pathologic esophageal reflux might simply have resulted from calculating acidity as time pH < 4. Methods: We calculated integrated acidity and time pH < 4 from the 49 recordings of 24-hour gastric and esophageal pH from the Stanford study as well as from another study of 57 GERD subjects, 26 of whom were treated for 8 days with 20 mg omeprazole or 20 mg rabeprazole in a 2-way crossover fashion. Results: The prevalence of pathologic 24-hour esophageal reflux in both studies was significantly higher when measured as time pH < 4 than when measured as integrated acidity. This difference was entirely attributable to a difference between the two measures during the nocturnal period. Nocturnal gastric acid breakthrough was not a useful predictor of pathologic nocturnal esophageal reflux. Conclusion: In GERD subjects treated with a PPI, measuring time esophageal pH < 4 will significantly overestimate the prevalence of pathologic esophageal acid exposure over 24 hours and during the nocturnal period.
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