Prevalence of silent gastric ulcer, erosions or severe acute gastritis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus--a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Severe gastric inflammation or ulcer disease can alter gastric motility and influence sufficient glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, visceral neuropathy may reduce the perception of typical gastrointestinal symptoms in these patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of silent severe acute gastritis, gastric ulcers or erosions in asymptomatic patients with diabetes mellitus and to determine potential predictive parameters. METHODOLOGY: Seventy-two patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and little or no dyspeptic symptoms were investigated by endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract under screening conditions. Before endoscopy the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms and standard laboratory parameters were determined. In addition, the presence of Helicobacter pylori infection was investigated by rapid urease test and histology. RESULTS: Highly active gastric inflammation was found in 34 patients (gastric ulcers in 10, gastric erosions in 21, and histologically acute, grade two or three gastritis in 3 patients). Episodic heartburn was significantly associated with highly active gastric inflammation (odds ratio 2.96 (1.05-8.32), p = 0.036). Elevated levels of C-reactive-protein and blood leukocyte counts proved to be of positive predictive value for highly active gastric inflammation in patients without other causes of acute inflammatory diseases (odds ratio 3.52 (p = 0.026) and 7.64 (p = 0.007) respectively). No significant association was found for gender, age, duration of disease, BMI, considerably raised HbA1c (>8.5%), complications of diabetic disease, general gastrointestinal symptoms, Helicobacter pylori infections and therapy with acetylsalicylic acid on 100 mg/d. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that severe acute gastric inflammation or ulcer disease can occur with high prevalence in patients with diabetes mellitus with little or no dyspeptic symptoms. Additional endoscopic investigations might be of particular diagnostic value in patients with inexplicable raised levels of inflammatory parameters like C-reactive-protein or blood leukocyte counts.

Comparison of a 48-hour infusion of 5-fluorouracil without folinic acid with 24-hour folinic acid/5-fluorouracil in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer refractory to bolus folinic acid/5-fluorouracil. A prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Out of various high-dose 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) regimens given with or without folinic acid (FA), the optimal 5-FU schedule has still to be defined as treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). Consequently, we compared toxicity, response and survival following two FA/5-FU regimens in 55 CRC patients refractory to bolus FA/5-FU. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients (group A) received 5-FU (60 mg/kg body weight) for 48 h, and 27 (group B) received 2-hour infusions of FA (500 mg/m(2)) and 24-hour infusions of 5-FU (2600 mg/m(2)) until disease progression. RESULTS: Both groups were adequately matched with respect to patient characteristics. While overall toxicities were rare, hand-foot syndrome was more common in A. Tumor control was achieved in 57 and 44%, for A and B, respectively. Survival times were 16 months in A and 9 months in B. CONCLUSIONS: Since both 5-FU infusion protocols showed equivalent palliative effects, FA may be questioned in second-line 5-FU regimens.