Endoscopic Findings of Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease in Elderly and Younger Age Groups.

Objective: To determine and compare the clinical features and endoscopic findings of gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in elderly and younger age groups. Materials and Methods: The clinical and endoscopic features were evaluated for all patients with GERD between January 2017 and September 2020. The criteria for inclusion were being aged over 65 and under 50 years and having an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with reflux symptoms resistant to ppi theraphy. The exclusion criteria included prior surgery, age under 18 years, and pregnancy. The diagnosis of GERD was made according to the patients' symptoms. The SPSS 11.0 for Windows pocket program was used for statistical analysis. Results: Two hundred eighty-six patients aged over 65 years and 261 patients aged below 50 years were enrolled in this study. The mean age of the older group was 68.2 ± 4.5 years and the mean age of the young group was 38 ± 7.2 years. The male/female ratio was 5/3 and 2/1 in the young and older groups, respectively. The older patients had less severe and rare typical symptoms than the young patients. However, significantly more serious endoscopic findings were noted in the older patients compared with the younger patients. Conclusion: The older and young patients with GERD were predominantly male and typical reflux problems were less common in older patients with GERD. Older patients had more important endoscopic findings such as hernia, esophagitis, and cancer.

Helicobacter pylori-related precancerous lesions in Turkey: a retrospective endoscopic surveillance study.

AIM: To assess the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and atrophic gastritis (AG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM) development and to assess the rate of dysplasia or gastric cancer development in patients with AG and/or IM. METHODS: This retrospective endoscopic follow-up study enrolled 2214 patients. The patients were followed for at least five years between 2007 and 2017 at the Department of Endoscopy at Antalya Ataturk Government Hospital. The results of third-year and five-year surveillance biopsy were assessed. RESULTS: The mean follow-up time was 7.77 ± 2.78 years. H. pylori was histologically assessed in 1417 (64.6%) patients. Of 198 patients with severe H. pylori infection, 32 (16%) and 139 (70.3%) developed extensive AG and extensive IM, respectively. There was a significant relationship between H. pylori density and AG and IM degrees. High grade dysplasia, early gastric cancer, and advanced gastric cancer were diagnosed in 73 patients with median age 58.2 (28-80) years, and the incidence rate was 3.29% (73/2214). The annual incidence of gastric neoplastic lesions was 0.46% in total, 0.08% for early GC, and 0.02% for advanced gastric cancer. CONCLUSIONS: H. pylori infection has an important role in the development of AG and IM. H. pylori density is directly related to atrophy and metaplasia degree.

Endoscopic evaluation of patients with colonic wall thickening detected ON computed tomography.

Colorectal wall thickening is a condition which is occasionally encountered on computed tomography (CT) investigations. Malignancies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be the most common and most important pathologies in some cases. Our objective in this study was to evaluate colonoscopy results in patients with increased colorectal wall thickness identified on CT. Patients with colorectal wall thickening detected on abdominal CT taken for different indications in different healthcare facilities between October 2009 and March 2015 were evaluated. These patients were referred to gastroenterology department, received colonoscopy, and the results were compared retrospectively and statistically. A total of 132 patients having undergone colonoscopy for colonic wall thickening detected on CT were evaluated retrospectively. With the colonoscopies performed, malignancies were detected in 38 (28.8%), Crohn's disease in two (1.5%), diverticulitis in 18 (13.6%) and colorectal polyp in 30 (22.7%) patients. Colonoscopy results were normal in 44 patients. All patients with colorectal malignancies were over 60 years of age, yielding a statistically significant figure (p=0.01). The mean hemoglobin level was 12.8 g/dL in patients with normal colonoscopy as compared with 9.5 g/dL in those with malignancies (p=0.001). On multivariate analysis, hemoglobin and age were the only significant variables to predict an abnormal result on endoscopy. Detecting colonic wall thickening on CT may indicate malignancy, especially in patients who are over 50 years of age and have hemoglobin values less than 10 g/dL.

What are the Endoscopic and Pathological Characteristics of Colorectal Polyps?

BACKGROUND: Colon polyps need to be excised upon detection during colonoscopy due to the risk of malignancy irrespective of their size. In our study, we retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathological characteristics of polyps detected during colonoscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We assessed 379 patients with polyps detected during colonoscopy between January 2010 and May 2012. The demographics, complaints, colonoscopy findings (shape, place and size of the polyp) and histopathological findings were recorded. We carried out statistical analysis using PASW 18.0 for Windows. RESULTS: There were 227 males (59.9%) and 152 females (40.1%) in the trial. The mean age was 53.8 years (32-90). The most common complaint was rectal bleeding (36.1%), followed by abdominal pain (35.4%). Polyps were detected most commonly in the rectosigmoid region (43.8%), followed by the descending colon (17.4%). Some 239 patients had a single polyp (63.1%) while 140 were found to have multiple polyps (36.9%). While tubular adenoma was the most common pathological type, occurring in 181 patients (47.8%), tubulovillous adenoma (14.2%) and hyperplastic polyp (12.7%) followed, occurring in 54 and 48 patients respectively. While 313 patients (82.6%) did not feature dysplasia, 37 patients (9.7%) exhibited low- grade dysplasia, 28 (7.7%) had high-grade dysplasia and 4 had cancer (1.1%). The rates of villous components and dysplasia were detected to be high among pedunculated polyps and polyps larger than 1 cm (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Due to the fact that large-diameter polyps with malignant potential are commonly located in the left colon and have a high prevalence among the middle-aged individuals, it would be appropriate to screen this population at regular intervals via rectosigmoidoscopy.

Platelet function parameters in management of hepatic hydatid disease: a case-controlled study.

AIM: To evaluate platelet function in patients with a history of surgical treatment for hepatic hydatid disease (HD). METHODS: This retrospective case-controlled study was performed in a state hospital in Turkey from January 2009 to November 2013. The patients were divided into two groups: those evaluated in the preoperative period (Group 1) and those evaluated in the postoperative period (Group 2). The patient groups were compared with a control group (Group 3). All three groups were evaluated using laboratory records from day 1 of the preoperative period and day 30 of the postoperative period. The haematocrit level (HTC), platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), and percentage of eosinophils (EOS) were compared among the groups. RESULTS: Fifty-three patients who had undergone surgical treatment of hepatic HD and 55 healthy controls were included in the study. The mean follow-up time for all patients was 45 (14-70) months. The patients comprised 33 (62%) females and 20 (38%) males. The control group comprised 37 (67%) females and 18 (33%) males. The median age of the patients was 48 (19-78) years, while that of the control group was 42 (16-64) years. No significant differences in the HTC, PLT, or EOS were present among the groups. The MPV and PDW indicated that platelet function was significantly different between Group 1 and Groups 2 and 3. Additionally, nine patients had undergone previous surgical treatment for HD. In a separate long-term follow-up, these patients exhibited no statistically significant differences in MPV or PDW between the preoperative and postoperative periods. CONCLUSIONS: MPV and PDW can be used in the initial follow-up of patients with hepatic HD, but have limited use in long-term follow-up.

New parameter in diagnosis of acute appendicitis: platelet distribution width.

AIM: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the mean platelet volume and platelet distribution width in acute appendicitis. METHODS: This retrospective, case-controlled study compared 295 patients with acute appendicitis (Group I, 100 patients with other intra-abdominal infections (Group II), and 100 healthy individuals (Group III) between January 2012 and January 2013. The age, gender, and white blood cell count, neutrophil percentage, mean platelet volume, and platelet distribution width values from blood samples were compared among the groups. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows 21.0 software. In addition, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and likelihood ratios, and diagnostic accuracy were calculated. RESULTS: The mean ages of patients were 29.9 ± 12.0 years for Group I, 31.5 ± 14.0 years for Group II, and 30.4 ± 13.0 years for Group III. Demographic features such as age and gender were not significantly different among the groups. White blood cell count, neutrophil percentage and platelet distribution width were significantly higher in Group I compared to groups II and III (P < 0.05). Diagnostically, the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were 73.1%, 94.0%, and 78% for white blood cell count, 70.0%, 96.0%, and 76.0% for neutrophil percentage, 29.5%, 49.0%, and 34.0% for mean platelet volume, and 97.1%, 93.0%, and 96.0% for platelet distribution width, respectively. The highest diagnostic accuracy detected was for platelet distribution width between Group I and Group III (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Platelet distribution width analysis can be used for diagnosis of acute appendicitis without requiring additional tests, thus reducing the cost and loss of time.