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Crohn’s disease (CD) is a relapsing and progressive condition characterized by diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, and hematochezia that results in serious complications such as perforations, fistulas, and abscesses. Various medications, interventions, and surgical treatments have been used to treat CD. The Korean guidelines for CD management were distributed in 2012 and revised in 2017 by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Research Group of the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases. Substantial progress in mucosal immunologic research has elucidated the pathophysiology of IBD, leading to development of biological agents for treatment of CD. The first developed biologic agent, tumor necrosis factor-α agents, were shown to be efficacious in CD, heralding a new era in management of CD. Subsequently, vedolizumab, a monoclonal antibody against integrin α4β7, and ustekinumab, a human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the common p40 subunit of interleukin-12 and interleukin-23, were both approved for clinical use and are efficacious and safe for both induction and maintenance of remission in moderate-to-severe CD patients. Moreover, a recent study showed the non-inferiority of CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar, compared with infliximab in CD patients. The third Korean guidelines for CD management provide updated information regarding treatment of moderate-to-severe CD patients with biologic agents.
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Background/Aims@#Recently, 1 L of polyethylene glycol (PEG) plus ascorbic acid (Asc) has been introduced in Korea as a colonoscopy preparation agent. Data on its efficacy and safety in older adults have been limited. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 1 L PEG/Asc in older adults by comparing it with oral sulfate solution (OSS). @*Methods@#A prospective multicenter randomized study was conducted with subjects aged ≥ 65 years who underwent colonoscopy. The participants were randomized to receive 1 L PEG/Asc or OSS. The primary endpoint was successful bowel preparation, defined as total Boston Bowel Preparation Scale ≥ 6, and ≥ 2 at each segment. Patient satisfaction, adverse events, and renal function changes were compared between the groups. @*Results@#Among the 106 patients, 104 were finally included in the analysis. Overall, successful bowel preparation was achieved in 96.2% of both 1 L PEG/Asc and OSS groups. The satisfaction scores for taste, total amount ingested, overall feeling, and willingness to repeat the same regimen were not significantly different between the groups. Adverse events of moderate or higher severity occurred in 16 and 10 cases in the 1 L PEG/Asc and OSS group, respectively. There were no significant changes in electrolyte levels or renal function from baseline. @*Conclusions@#The successful bowel preparation rate was > 90% in both groups without severe adverse effects and significant changes in renal function. As a new low-dose preparation regimen for colonoscopy in older adults, 1 L PEG/Asc, is as effective and safe as OSS.
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Background/Aims@#Long-term immunosuppressive therapies used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are associated with an increased risk of infections, many of which can be prevented by vaccination. We assessed physicians’ current approaches and clinical practices regarding vaccinations for IBD patients in different Asian countries/regions. @*Methods@#An internet-based survey was conducted among members of the Asian Organization for Crohn’s and Colitis from September 2020 to November 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 2 parts covering general opinion on the relevance of vaccinations and clinical practice of vaccination. @*Results@#Overall, 384 Asian medical doctors responded to the survey. The majority of respondents considered it very (57.6%) or sufficiently (39.6%) important to perform vaccinations as recommended by the guidelines. About half of the Asian physicians (52.6%) were usually or always performing vaccinations. The influenza vaccine was the most frequently recommended vaccine for IBD patients. Half of the respondents (51.3%) did not recommend hepatitis A vaccine, especially in China (61.6%) and Japan (93.6%). The diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine were never (35.2%) or rarely (29.4%) recommended. @*Conclusions@#The findings of this survey indicated similarities among countries/regions in terms of the current approaches and practices regarding vaccination of IBD patients; however, there are some differences that might reflect each country’s domestic vaccination guidelines and health insurance particularly with certain vaccines in some countries/regions. Although Asian physicians largely recommend vaccination, more awareness among doctors and Asian consensus regarding differences in IBD vaccination among countries/regions may be required.
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Background/Aims@#There have been little research on the cancer risks of patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) in Korea. We aimed to investigate the clinical features of PJS patients and their cancer incidence rate. @*Methods@#Patients with PJS from nine medical centers were enrolled. In those patients diagnosed with cancer, data obtained included the date of cancer diagnosis, the tumor location, and the cancer stage. The cumulative risks of gastrointestinal cancers and extra-gastrointestinal cancers were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. @*Results@#A total of 96 PJS patients were included. The median age at diagnosis of PJS was 23.4 years. Cancer developed in 21 of the 96 patients (21.9%). The age of PJS diagnosis was widely distributed (0.9 to 72.4 years). The most common cancers were gastrointestinal cancer (n = 12) followed by breast cancer (n = 6). The cumulative lifetime cancer risk was calculated to be 62.1% at age 60. The cumulative lifetime gastrointestinal cancer risk was 47.1% at age 70. The cumulative lifetime extra- gastrointestinal cancer risk was 40.3% at age 60. @*Conclusions@#PJS onset may occur at any age and the risks of gastrointestinal and extra-gastrointestinal cancer are high. Thorough surveillance of PJS patients for malignancies is vital.
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Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a highly efficacious and safe modality for the treatment of recurrent or refractory Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), with overall success rates of 90%. Thus, FMT has been widely used for 10 years. The incidence and clinical characteristics of CDI, the main indication for FMT, differ between countries. To date, several guidelines have been published. However, most of them were published in Western countries and therefore cannot represent the Korean national healthcare systems. One of the barriers to performing FMT is a lack of national guidelines. Accordingly, multidisciplinary experts in this field have developed practical guidelines for FMT. The purpose of these guidelines is to aid physicians performing FMT, which can be adapted to treat CDI and other conditions.
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During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many unpredictable changes have occurred in the medical field. Risk of COVID-19 does not seem to increase in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) considering based on current reports. Current medications for IBD do not increase this risk; on the contrary, some of these might be used as therapeutics against COVID-19 and are under clinical trial. Unless the patients have confirmed COVID-19 and severe pneumonia or a high oxygen demand, medical treatment should be continued during the pandemic, except for the use of high-dose corticosteroids. Adherence to general recommendations such as social distancing, wearing facial masks, and vaccination, especially for pneumococcal infections and influenza, is also required. Patients with COVID-19 need to be withhold immunomodulators or biologics for at least 2 weeks and treated based on both IBD and COVID-19 severity. Prevention of IBD relapse caused by sudden medication interruption is important because negative outcomes associated with disease flare up, such as corticosteroid use or hospitalization, are much riskier than medications. The outpatient clinic and infusion center for biologics need to be reserved safe spaces, and endoscopy or surgery should be considered in urgent cases only.
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Background/Aims@#This study aimed to investigate the perceptions and behaviors of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) during the early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the major epidemic area in Korea. @*Methods@#Between April and May 2020, a cross-sectional survey was performed at two tertiary hospitals in Daegu, South Korea, on patients’ experiences, coping strategies and perceptions. @*Results@#Most of the 544 patients participating in the survey strictly adhered to personal protection guidance against COVID-19. In the early COVID-19 crisis, many patients canceled or postponed hospital visits (57.5%) and rescheduled biologics administrations (26.4%). Although 13.6% utilized telemedicine, the frequency of individuals leaving their homes remained unchanged. Although 50.4% were concerned about their susceptibility to COVID-19, 72.2% adhered to their treatment for IBD. In patients taking biologics or Janus kinase inhibitors, 86.8% disagreed that they should discontinue their medication as a preventative measure against COVID-19, but 21.9% actually discontinued their medications. Of those with discordance between the perception of IBD drug adherence and active behaviors, 5.4% of all and 39.4% of biologics or Janus kinase inhibitors withheld drugs specifically due to fear of COVID-19. Only 7% of all patients discussed drug safety with their physicians. The level of concern for COVID-19 depended on the type of drug used. @*Conclusions@#Patients with IBD showed concerns about the increased risk of COVID-19 due to IBD or their medications, and a considerable number of patients withheld their medications without consulting medical staff. Enhanced active communications with patients with IBD and appropriate health-related education should be provided.
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Endoscopy is vital for diagnosing, assessing treatment response, and monitoring surveillance in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). With the growing importance of mucosal healing as a treatment target, the assessment of disease activity by endoscopy has been accepted as the standard of care for IBD. There are many endoscopic activity indices for facilitating standardized reporting of the gastrointestinal mucosal appearance in IBD, and each index has its strengths and weaknesses. Although most endoscopic indices do not have a clear-cut validated definition, endoscopic remission or mucosal healing is associated with favorable outcomes, such as a decreased risk of relapse. Therefore, experts suggest utilizing endoscopic indices for monitoring disease activity and optimizing treatment to achieve remission. However, the regular monitoring of endoscopic activity is limited in practice owing to several factors, such as the complexity of the procedure, time consumption, inter-observer variability, and lack of a clear-cut, validated definition of endoscopic response or remission. Although experts have recently suggested consensus-based definitions, further studies are needed to define the values that can predict long-term outcomes.
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With emerging more effective drugs, the therapeutic goal of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has progressed from clinical remission to mucosal healing. Although the inflammation could be controlled more effectively than before, symptoms such as abdominal pain and bowel habit change is still bothersome to some IBD patients. Recently, these “refractory functional gastrointestinal symptoms” in quiescent IBD patients has been paid more attention. The pathophysiology could be multifactorial with genetics, change in gut motility associated with post inflammatory condition, increased permeability, impaired colorectal function, visceral hypersensitivity and gut microbiota. Because both IBD and functional gastrointestinal disease (FGID) could share similar symptoms and some pathophysiology, it is sometimes challenging to distinguish them exactly. However, to reduce the risk of overtreatment or insufficient control of inflammation, exact diagnosis of functional disease or symptoms in quiescent IBD patients is important. Because there is limited randomized controlled trials or prospective study currently, most of the therapeutic approach in IBD patients are empirical or referred to those of functional gastrointestinal disorders. However, approaches based on pathophysiological mechanisms could give appropriate therapies for both IBD and FGIDs.
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Background/Aims@#Although several studies have shown that sarcopenia is associated with poor outcomes in colorectal cancer patients, the impact of sarcopenia on the development of colorectal neoplasia remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence and association of colorectal neoplasia, especially advanced colorectal neoplasia, in adults with sarcopenia. @*Methods@#We retrospectively analyzed the data for 10,676 adults who underwent firsttime colonoscopy and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) on the same day in a health screening program at a single center. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using established BIA-based criteria as adjusted appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) divided by body mass index (BMI) (ASM/BMI), height (ASM/height2), or weight (ASM/weight). Prevalence of overall and advanced colorectal neoplasia and their association with sarcopenia, as established by the aforementioned diagnostic criteria, were evaluated. @*Results@#Among 10,676 subjects, 583 were diagnosed with sarcopenia using ASM/ BMI. Subjects with sarcopenia had a higher prevalence of colorectal neoplasia than those without. In the multivariate analysis after adjusting for confounding factors, sarcopenia was an independent risk factor for any colorectal neoplasia (odds ratio [OR], 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09 to 1.56) and advanced colorectal neoplasia (OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.27 to 3.06). The association between sarcopenia and advanced colorectal neoplasia remained significant for all sarcopenia measures including ASM/height2 (OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.24 to 3.85) and ASM/weight (OR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.54 to 3.77). @*Conclusions@#Prevalence of overall and advanced colorectal neoplasia was higher in subjects with sarcopenia than in those without. Sarcopenia was a significant risk factor for colorectal neoplasia, especially for advanced colorectal neoplasia.
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Background/Aims@#The diagnosis of intestinal tuberculosis (Itbc) is often challenging. Therapeutic anti-tubercular trial (TATT) is sometimes used for the diagnosis of Itbc. We aimed to evaluate the changing pattern of fecal calprotectin (FC) levels during TATT in patients with Itbc. @*Methods@#A retrospective review was performed on the data of 39 patients who underwent TATT between September 2015 and November 2018 in five university hospitals in Daegu, South Korea. The analysis was performed for 33 patients with serial FC measurement reports. @*Results@#The mean age of the participants was 48.8 years. The final diagnosis of Itbc was confirmed in 30 patients based on complete mucosal healing on follow-up colonoscopy performed after 2 months of TATT. Before starting TATT, the mean FC level of the Itbc patients was 170.2 μg/g (range, 11.5-646.5). It dropped to 25.4 μg/g (range, 11.5-75.3) and then 23.3 μg/g (range, 11.5-172.2) after one and two months of TATT, respectively. The difference in mean FC before and one month after TATT was statistically significant (p<0.001), and FC levels decreased to below 100 μg/g in all patients after one month of TATT. @*Conclusions@#All Itbc patients showed FC decline after only 1 month of TATT, and this finding correlated with complete mucosal healing in the follow-up colonoscopy after 2 months of TATT.
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Background/Aims@#Our study aimed to evaluate the long-term outcomes and risk factors forrelapse after anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α cessation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients because they are not well established. @*Methods@#A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted involving patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) from 10 referral hospitals in Korea who discontinued firstline anti-TNF therapy after achieving clinical remission. @*Results@#A total of 109 IBD patients (71 CD and 38 UC) with a median follow-up duration of 56months were analyzed. The cumulative relapse rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 11.3%, 46.7%, and 62.5% for CD patients and 28.9%, 45.3%, and 60.9% for UC patients. Multivariable Coxanalysis revealed that discontinuation owing to the clinician’s decision was associated with lower risk of relapse (vs patient’s preference: hazard ratio [HR], 0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04 to 0.48; p=0.002) and adalimumab use was associated with higher risk of relapse (vs infliximab: HR, 4.42; 95% CI, 1.24 to 17.74; p=0.022) in CD patients. Mucosal healing was associated with lower risk of relapse (vs nonmucosal healing: HR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.83; p=0.031) in UC patients. Anti-TNF re-induction was provided to 52 patients, and a response was obtained in 50 patients. However, 25 of them discontinued retreatment owing to a loss of response (n=15), the patient’s preference (n=6), and other factors (n=4). @*Conclusions@#More than 60% of IBD patients in remission under anti-TNF therapy relapsed within 5 years of treatment cessation. Anti-TNF re-induction was effective. However, half of the patients discontinued anti-TNF therapy, and 50% of these patients discontinued treatment owing to loss of response.
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Endoscpists always have tried to pursue a perfect colonoscopy, and application of artificial intelligence (AI) using deep-learning algorithms is one of the promising supportive options for detection and characterization of colorectal polyps during colonoscopy. Many retrospective studies conducted with real-time application of AI using convolutional neural networks have shown improved colorectal polyp detection. Moreover, a recent randomized clinical trial reported additional polyp detection with shorter analysis time. Studies conducted regarding polyp characterization provided additional promising results. Application of AI with narrow band imaging in real-time prediction of the pathology of diminutive polyps resulted in high diagnostic accuracy. In addition, application of AI with endocytoscopy or confocal laser endomicroscopy was investigated for realtime cellular diagnosis, and the diagnostic accuracy of some studies was comparable to that of pathologists. With AI technology, we can expect a higher polyp detection rate with reduced time and cost by avoiding unnecessary procedures, resulting in enhanced colonoscopy efficiency.However, for AI application in actual daily clinical practice, more prospective studies with minimized selection bias, consensus on standardized utilization, and regulatory approval are needed.
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Background/Aims@#Our study aimed to evaluate the long-term outcomes and risk factors forrelapse after anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α cessation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients because they are not well established. @*Methods@#A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted involving patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) from 10 referral hospitals in Korea who discontinued firstline anti-TNF therapy after achieving clinical remission. @*Results@#A total of 109 IBD patients (71 CD and 38 UC) with a median follow-up duration of 56months were analyzed. The cumulative relapse rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 11.3%, 46.7%, and 62.5% for CD patients and 28.9%, 45.3%, and 60.9% for UC patients. Multivariable Coxanalysis revealed that discontinuation owing to the clinician’s decision was associated with lower risk of relapse (vs patient’s preference: hazard ratio [HR], 0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04 to 0.48; p=0.002) and adalimumab use was associated with higher risk of relapse (vs infliximab: HR, 4.42; 95% CI, 1.24 to 17.74; p=0.022) in CD patients. Mucosal healing was associated with lower risk of relapse (vs nonmucosal healing: HR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.83; p=0.031) in UC patients. Anti-TNF re-induction was provided to 52 patients, and a response was obtained in 50 patients. However, 25 of them discontinued retreatment owing to a loss of response (n=15), the patient’s preference (n=6), and other factors (n=4). @*Conclusions@#More than 60% of IBD patients in remission under anti-TNF therapy relapsed within 5 years of treatment cessation. Anti-TNF re-induction was effective. However, half of the patients discontinued anti-TNF therapy, and 50% of these patients discontinued treatment owing to loss of response.
ABSTRACT
Endoscpists always have tried to pursue a perfect colonoscopy, and application of artificial intelligence (AI) using deep-learning algorithms is one of the promising supportive options for detection and characterization of colorectal polyps during colonoscopy. Many retrospective studies conducted with real-time application of AI using convolutional neural networks have shown improved colorectal polyp detection. Moreover, a recent randomized clinical trial reported additional polyp detection with shorter analysis time. Studies conducted regarding polyp characterization provided additional promising results. Application of AI with narrow band imaging in real-time prediction of the pathology of diminutive polyps resulted in high diagnostic accuracy. In addition, application of AI with endocytoscopy or confocal laser endomicroscopy was investigated for realtime cellular diagnosis, and the diagnostic accuracy of some studies was comparable to that of pathologists. With AI technology, we can expect a higher polyp detection rate with reduced time and cost by avoiding unnecessary procedures, resulting in enhanced colonoscopy efficiency.However, for AI application in actual daily clinical practice, more prospective studies with minimized selection bias, consensus on standardized utilization, and regulatory approval are needed.
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Background/Aims@#Chromoendoscopy (CE) has been shown to be superior to white light endoscopy (WLE) for neoplasia detection in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to compare the yield of CE and WLE for the detection of overall neoplasia and advanced neoplasia in IBD. @*Methods@#Patients who underwent surveillance colonoscopy from 1999 to 2017 were identified from our IBD database. CE procedures were compared with their respective WLE controls in a paired comparison, and frequency of all neoplasia, advanced neoplasia, and serrated neoplasia was assessed for both targeted and random biopsies. @*Results@#A total of 290 procedures performed in 98 individuals were identified with a median follow-up 4 years (median 3 colonoscopies/patient). CE and WLE were performed in 159 and 131 episodes, respectively. CE detected neoplasia in 40.9% of colonoscopies versus 23.7% with WLE (P= 0.002). In addition, CE detected more advanced neoplasia (18.2% vs. 6.1%, P= 0.002) and serrated lesions (14.5% vs. 6.1%, P= 0.022). Significantly fewer samples were obtained per procedure with CE (14.9 ± 9.7 vs. 20.9 ± 11.1, P< 0.001). Cancer was diagnosed in 2 cases. @*Conclusions@#CE has a higher detection rate than WLE for advanced neoplasia and serrated lesions in patients with IBD under surveillance. Further prospective studies evaluating the impact of CE on decreasing the risk of interval cancer and colectomy in IBD patients are warranted.
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Background/Aims@#Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can reportedly cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Therefore, we investigated the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients with diarrhea. @*Methods@#We included 118 COVID-19 patients admitted to a single hospital from February 20 to March 31, 2020. Medical records with clinical characteristics, laboratory data, treatment course, and clinical outcomes were compared based on the presence or absence of diarrhea. Prognostic factors for disease severity and mortality in COVID-19 were also assessed. @*Results@#Among patients, 54 (45.8%) had diarrhea, whereas seven (5.9%) had only diarrhea. The median age of patients with diarrhea was 59 years (44 to 64), and 22 (40.7%) were male. Systemic steroid use, intensive care unit admission, septic shock, and acute respiratory distress syndrome were less frequent in the diarrhea group than in the non-diarrhea group. No significant differences were observed in total hospital stay and mortality between groups. On multivariate analysis, age (odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.12; p = 0.044), diabetes (OR, 3.00; 95% CI, 1.25 to 20.47; p = 0.042), and dyspnea (OR, 41.19; 95% CI, 6.60 to 823.16; p < 0.001) were independent risk factors for septic shock. On Cox regression analysis, diabetes (hazard ratio [HR], 4.82; 95% CI, 0.89 to 26.03; p = 0.043) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR, 16.58; 95% CI, 3.10 to 88.70; p = 0.044) were risk factors for mortality. @*Conclusions@#Diarrhea was present in 45.8% of patients and was a common symptom of COVID-19. Although patients with diarrhea showed less severe clinical features, diarrhea was not associated with disease severity or mortality.
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Background@#Previous studies on the relationship between gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and cholecystectomy remain inconclusive. We aimed to evaluate this relationship, albeit particularly between cholecystectomy and gastric cancer or colorectal cancer (CRC), and the risk factors of cancer among individuals who have undergone cholecystectomy in Korea. @*Methods@#In total, 4,222 patients who underwent laparoscopic or open cholecystectomy at our institution between January 2006 and December 2013 were included. Patients who underwent cholecystectomy for gallbladder cancer or were undergoing surgery for GI, hepatic, or pancreatobiliary cancers were excluded, as were those who developed stomach cancer or CRC within a year of their cholecystectomy. The included patients were followed until July 20, 2020. The standardized incidence ratio (SIR) was used to calculate the relative risk of GI cancer in cholecystectomy patients. @*Results@#The median patient age (n = 3,588) at the time of cholecystectomy was 54.0 (range, 19–95) years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.04. The median follow-up period after cholecystectomy was 15.0 (range, 0–146) months. We found a 108% greater risk of CRC (SIR, 2.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28–3.17) and 154% increased risk of CRC in females (SIR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.16–4.84). Based on multivariate analysis, an age of > 60 years was a significant risk factor for GI cancer in cholecystectomy patients. @*Conclusion@#Cholecystectomy may increase risk of CRC, especially in females. Age was considered a risk factor of GI cancers in patients with history of cholecystectomy.
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Background/Aims@#Capsule endoscopy (CE) is recommended as the primary method for the evaluation of unexplained anemia. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic yield of CE in patients with unexplained iron deficiency anemia (IDA) without overt bleeding, and to evaluate their long-term outcomes and related clinical factors. @*Methods@#Data of patients who underwent CE for the evaluation of IDA were reviewed from a CE registry in Korea. Additional clinical data were collected by the involved investigators of each hospital through a review of medical records. @*Results@#Among a total of 144 patients, the diagnostic yield of CE was 34%. Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding was found in 6.3% (n=9) of the patients (occult bleeding in four patients and overt bleeding in five patients) during a mean follow-up of 17.8 months. Patients with a positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result at the initial diagnosis had a higher rate of GI bleeding after CE (p=0.004). In addition, a positive FOBT result was the only independent predictive factor for GI bleeding (hazard ratio, 5.30; 95% confidence interval, 1.41–19.85; p=0.013). @*Conclusions@#Positive FOBT is a predictive factor for GI bleeding during follow-up after CE in patients with unexplained IDA without overt bleeding. Thus, patients with positive FOBT need to be more closely followed up.
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Background/Aims@#Capsule endoscopy (CE) is recommended as the primary method for the evaluation of unexplained anemia. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic yield of CE in patients with unexplained iron deficiency anemia (IDA) without overt bleeding, and to evaluate their long-term outcomes and related clinical factors. @*Methods@#Data of patients who underwent CE for the evaluation of IDA were reviewed from a CE registry in Korea. Additional clinical data were collected by the involved investigators of each hospital through a review of medical records. @*Results@#Among a total of 144 patients, the diagnostic yield of CE was 34%. Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding was found in 6.3% (n=9) of the patients (occult bleeding in four patients and overt bleeding in five patients) during a mean follow-up of 17.8 months. Patients with a positive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result at the initial diagnosis had a higher rate of GI bleeding after CE (p=0.004). In addition, a positive FOBT result was the only independent predictive factor for GI bleeding (hazard ratio, 5.30; 95% confidence interval, 1.41–19.85; p=0.013). @*Conclusions@#Positive FOBT is a predictive factor for GI bleeding during follow-up after CE in patients with unexplained IDA without overt bleeding. Thus, patients with positive FOBT need to be more closely followed up.