Roberto de Franchis

..The most relevant studies concerning the diagnosis of esophageal varices, primary and secondary prophylaxis and treatment of variceal bleeding published in the last year are reported...

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..However, the minimal invasiveness, good tolerance, and good agreement of capsule endoscopy with EGD might increase adherence to screening programs. Whether this is the case needs to be determined...

..Bleeding stops spontaneously in about 50% of cases but early rebleeding occurs in 30-40% of patients. Bleeding-related mortality has declined over time and is now around 20% at 6 weeks...

..The aim of this review is to discuss the most important studies published in 2007 concerning diagnosis of esophageal varices, primary and secondary prophylaxis and treatment of variceal bleeding...

..Whether this will compensate for the lower sensitivity of these alternative techniques, and ultimately improve the outcomes if more patients undergo screening, is the crucial question that will have to be answered in the future...

..The potential of this capsule for clinical purposes, such as colon cancer screening, needs to be evaluated...

..Such studies should compare patients who have cirrhosis with healthy subjects. A comparison between cirrhotic patients with a history of intestinal bleeding and bleeding patients without cirrhosis also would be interesting...

..Our aim was to prospectively assess whether a successful IFN therapy modifies development and/or progression of EV in patients with HCV-related compensated cirrhosis...

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..The ACE I/D (insertion/deletion) is a polymorphism of the gene encoding for ACE: participants who are homozygous for the D allele exhibit higher ACE levels, which in turn appear to play a deleterious role in several diseases...

..To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in celiac disease (CD) patients at the time of diagnosis and during a gluten-free diet (GFD)...

..Endogenous thrombin potential (ETP), a parameter of the thrombin generation curve, represents a new tool in the evaluation of thrombotic and bleeding disorders...

..Therefore, in these patients, endoscopic surveillance can be safely delayed or avoided. Genotype 1b infection and MELD score identify the subset of patients at higher risk of EV development who need tailored endoscopic surveillance...

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..The recent development of innovative imaging techniques has opened a new and exciting area in the exploration of the small bowel in Crohn's disease patients...

..The history, therapeutic management and the possible causal relationships of these cases are discussed...

..CONCLUSION: PVT is a potential complication of IBD, usually associated with acquired or inherited risks factors for hypercoagulability and with a benign outcome...

..9% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Technical problems were rare and hampered or prevented the diagnosis in a very small number of cases. The majority of clinical failures were related to an incomplete small-bowel examination...

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..The study aim was to describe extent of use, indications, results, complications, and practical issues of SBCE in clinical practice in a Northern Italian Region (Lombardia)...

..Although capsule endoscopy is the cornerstone for the evaluation of the small bowel in patients with obscure GI bleeding data about costs are lacking...

..We investigated whether plasma from cirrhotic patients has an imbalance of pro- vs anti-coagulation factors...

..We tracked the course of HDV infection in 299 patients over a mean period of 233 months...

..We evaluated the prevalence and the risk factors for hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with newly diagnosed GSE...

..We evaluated the potential of videocapsule endoscopy in assessing the severity and extent of mucosal changes in patients with suspected celiac disease...

..CONCLUSIONS: The IQQoL is a reliable and responsive instrument to assess HRQoL in IBD patients. Active disease is related to poor HRQoL perception. In CD, women, mainly if young, have a worse HRQoL perception than men...

..However, as the mechanisms of refractoriness are associated with advanced disease and short survival, the models developed for predicting survival should be employed also to verify if they can exert such additional prediction...

..Furthermore, it illustrates the usefulness of videos obtained from capsule endoscopy in identifying the presence of bowel occlusion and demonstrating its subsequent rapid resolution upon administration of DX-88...

..The lack of contact system activation in peripheral blood might be related to the high plasma levels of Cl-inhibitor, the most important inhibitor of the contact system in the circulation...

..The higher susceptibility of H. pylori infection and the high frequency of asymptomatic gastroduodenal lesions in PV patients suggest a surveillance of these patients...

..13, 95% CI = -0.37 to +0.14, p = 0.33). CONCLUSIONS: Low vitamin B(6) plasma levels, an independent risk factor for thrombosis, are frequent in patients with IBD, especially those with active disease...

..05), whereas overall survival was similar (seven patients on IsMn and eight on nadolol died, P=0.3). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with ascites IsMn is tolerated but ineffective while nadolol is effective but less tolerated...

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..We studied whether the capsule can discriminate different degrees of mucosal damage caused by different conditions; we also evaluated interobserver and intraobserver variability in the assessment of villous atrophy with the capsule...

..Adverse events were comparable across groups...

..However, the available evidence is not yet sufficient to allow for the modification of the current policy of screening cirrhotic patients by endoscopy at the time of diagnosis to detect varices...

..The costs of capsule enteroscopy examination, however, make it uncertain whether the clinically relevant diagnostic gain is also associated with cost savings...

..This trial aimed to determine efficacy and safety of rFVIIa in cirrhotic patients with variceal and nonvariceal UGIB...

..Initial treatment stops bleeding in 90% of patients. Accurate predictive rules are provided for early recognition of high-risk patients...

..015). CONCLUSIONS: Cirrhotic patients developing a HCC during the last 5 years of surveillance survived longer than previously, as a consequence of improved management of the tumor and complications of cirrhosis...

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