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Biomedical subjects

Alain Suissa

Publications and source records attributed to Alain Suissa.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Failure of Synbiotic 2000 to prevent postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease.

Complications of Crohn's disease (CD) lead to surgery in about 70-90% of patients. The majority of patients suffer from relapse of the disease. Colonic bacteria are essential to the development of CD. Therefore, a rationale exists in trying to prevent relapse by manipulation of gut microflora. This is feasible by treatment with probiotics or antibiotics. Synbiotic 2000 is a cocktail containing 4 probiotic species and 4 prebiotics. It is rational to pursue that it could be effective in preventing postoperative disease. We sought to check weather treatment with Synbiotic 2000 could prevent postoperative recurrence in patients with CD. This was a prospective multicenter, randomized study. Patients were randomized to active treatment or placebo in a 2:1 ratio. Follow-up consisted of endoscopic, clinical, and laboratory parameters. Thirty patients were enrolled. No differences were found between the 2 treatment groups regarding gender, age at diagnosis, age at surgery, weight, smoking status, type of disease, length of the resected segment, or medical treatment prior to surgery. No difference in either endoscopic or clinical relapse rate was found between patients treated with once daily dose of Synbiotic 2000 or placebo. In our small study, Synbiotic 2000 had no effect on postoperative recurrence of patients with CD. Larger studies in patients with the inflammatory type of CD undergoing surgery, using higher doses of probiotics cocktail might prove effective.

Adult↗

Ferrus calcium citrate is absorbed better than iron bisglycinate in patients with Crohn's disease, but not in healthy controls.

Our purpose was to compare the absorption of iron bisglycinate and ferrous calcium citrate in volunteers using an oral iron tolerance test. Twenty volunteers, 10 healthy controls and 10 with stable Crohn's disease, agreed to participate in the study. All were given 50 mg of elemental iron as iron bisglycinate or ferrous calcium citrate. Serum iron levels were monitored for 4 hr. After a week, each received the other regimen. Using the area under the curve as indicator, the oral iron absorption test revealed that absorption of iron post-ingestion of ferrous calcium citrate was better than after ingestion of iron bisglycinate for the group as a whole (P < 0.03). Volunteers with Crohn's disease absorbed ferrous calcium citrate better than iron bisglycinate (P=0.005). No difference was noted in the absorption of either preparation by healthy volunteers. Ferrus calcium citrate is apparently more effective than iron bisglycinate in patients with Crohn's disease.

Adult↗

[The contribution of capsule endoscopy to the diagnosis of small-bowel tumors in cases of obscure overt gastrointestinal bleeding].

BACKGROUND: The source of obscure bleeding is usually located in the small bowel. The use of capsule endoscopy (CE) has changed the management of these patients. GOALS: To review our experience with the diagnosis of small bowel tumors by CE in patients with obscure overt gastrointestinal bleeding. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of CE examinations performed consecutively in two university-affiliated hospitals. RESULTS: Among 156 patients who underwent CE examination (including 58 patients with obscure overt bleeding), five patients, all of whom presented with melena, were diagnosed as having a small bowel tumor. Three tumors were found in one patient (two ileal carcinoids and one ileal benign stromal tumor). A jejunal benign stromal tumor was diagnosed in two other patients by push enteroscopy. One of these was missed by a subsequent capsule endoscopy examination, and in the other, only active bleeding was detected by prior capsule endoscopy. In two patients, three small tumors were detected, beyond the reach of push enteroscopy, but surgical confirmation was not available. No tumors were found among patients in whom the indication for CE examination was not obscure overt bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: The possibility of finding a small bowel tumor emphasizes the role of capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure overt gastrointestinal bleeding. Push enteroscopy should be performed when capsule endoscopy yields negative or only suspicious findings.

Aged↗

Paraoxonases (PONs) 1, 2, and 3 are expressed in human and mouse gastrointestinal tract and in Caco-2 cell line: selective secretion of PON1 and PON2.

The paraoxonase (PON) family contains three genes (PON1/2/3) that are believed to be involved in the protection against oxidative stress. PON1 and PON3 are circulating in serum attached to high-density lipoprotein fraction (HDL), whereas PON2 is ubiquitously expressed. The intestine is the second major organ that synthesizes lipoproteins; therefore, we examined PON mRNA expression and protein levels in gastrointestinal biopsies from humans, from C57BL6 mice, and from Caco-2 cells, a colon carcinoma-derived cell line that exhibits properties of intestinal epithelium at differentiation. PON 1/2/3 mRNA and proteins were present in human biopsies with variable expression among different gastrointestinal segments. Only PON2 and PON3 were present in mice. All PON mRNA, proteins, and enzymatic activities were present in Caco-2 cells. Oxidation of CaCo-2 cells with ferrum ascorbate had no significant effect on PON mRNA expression, but it increased paraoxonase and lactonase activity, whereas statinase activity was decreased. We showed polarized secretion of PON1 (basolateral) and PON2 (apical) into Caco-2 culture medium, raising the possibility that intestine is capable of producing and releasing PON1 and PON3 to the circulation, whereas PON2 is released at the brush-border membrane to intestinal lumen where it may perform another yet unclear function.

Animals↗

NOD2/CARD15 genotype and phenotype differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews with Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVE: NOD2/CARD15 has been identified as a major susceptibility gene for Crohn's disease (CD). Three mutations, Arg702Trp, Gly908Arg, and Leu1007fsinsC, are associated with CD. The incidence and prevalence rate of inflammatory bowel diseases is two- to four-fold higher in Ashkenazi Jews as compared to non-Jewish Caucasians. The aim of this study was to determine the significance of the NOD2/CARD15 mutations in Jewish CD patients in Israel, and more specifically, to compare the significance of the mutations to the expression of CD in the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish populations. METHODS: Allele frequencies of the mutations were determined in 180 Jewish CD patients, 73 ulcerative colitis patients, and 159 ethnically matched controls. Variants were detected using allele-specific PCR and restriction enzyme digestion assay. Demographic and phenotypic characterizations of the CD patients were determined. RESULTS: The carrier rate of the three mutations in the entire Jewish Israeli CD cohort is 41.1% versus 10.7% in controls (p < 0.0001). The Ashkenazi Jewish CD patients have an increased carrier rate compared to Sephardic Jews (47.4%vs 27.45%, p= 0.034). Association analyses in Ashkenazi Jews reveal odds ratios of 10.5, 9, and 4.8 for carriage of Gly908Arg, Arg702Trp, and Leu1007fsinsC mutations, respectively. Significantly higher rates of smoking, family history of inflammatory bowel diseases, and extraintestinal manifestations were found among the Sephardic CD patients. CONCLUSIONS: NOD2/CARD15 CD-associated mutations confer increased risk mainly to the Ashkenazi Jewish CD patients in Israel. This suggests that NOD2/CARD15 mutations could contribute to the higher incidence and prevalence rates of CD among Ashkenazi Jews.

Adolescent↗

Wireless capsule video endoscopy is a superior diagnostic tool in comparison to barium follow-through and computerized tomography in patients with suspected Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND: The recently introduced wireless M2A capsule video endoscopy (CVE) has been demonstrated to be superior to barium follow-through and enteroscopy in diagnosing patients with occult blood loss and iron-deficiency anaemia. OBJECTIVE: To further investigate CVE in comparison to barium follow-through and entero-computerized tomography (CT) in establishing the diagnosis of patients with suspected Crohn's disease. DESIGN AND SETTING: The study was conducted in one academic hospital. Twenty patients with recurrent abdominal pain and/or weight loss or chronic diarrhoea underwent barium follow-through as their initial examination, followed by CVE (if there was no stricture) and entero-CT. The radiologist that performed the barium follow-through and entero-CT was blinded to the results of the CVE. A blinded reader who was unaware of the study objective diagnosed the results of the CVE. In most cases in which there was a discrepancy between examinations, colonoscopy and ileoscopy were performed. For each patient, the diagnosis and disease extent were recorded. RESULTS: Twenty patients (13 males, 7 females; mean age 31 years, range 20-57) were included in the study. Ninety-five per cent of the patients had abdominal pain, 75% had diarrhoea, and 65% had weight loss. The mean haemoglobin level of the group was 13.1 g% (range 10-15.5). Only 13 patients underwent entero-CT.CVE confirmed the diagnosis of Crohn's disease that was suspected by alternative methods in six of the 20 patients. CVE made the diagnosis of Crohn's disease in six patients that had normal barium follow-through or entero-CT. CVE ruled out a diagnosis of Crohn's disease suspected by other modalities in three patients. CVE extended the involvement of Crohn's disease in three of the patients, and established new diagnoses in two patients. SUMMARY: CVE established new diagnoses, confirmed existing diagnoses, enlarged the extent of the disease, and ruled out the suspicion of Crohn's disease in 70% of the patients. Barium follow-through established diagnoses, measured the extent of the disease, and ruled out the suspicion of Crohn's disease in 37% of the patients. The capsule detected all of the lesions diagnosed by barium follow-through and entero-CT. CVE detected additional lesions that were not detected by other modalities in 47% of cases and ruled out lesions that were detected by other modalities in 16% of cases (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CVE is a superior and more sensitive procedure than barium follow-through and entero-CT in establishing the diagnosis and estimating the extent of Crohn's disease.

Adult↗

Difference of CBD width on US vs. ERCP.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between US and ERCP in the measurement of common bile duct (CBD) width after application of Compound and Harmonic imaging on ultrasound. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated the CBD width as measured on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and ultrasonography (US), applying Compound and Harmonic US techniques, on 100 patients. Furthermore, we retrospectively re-examined US and ERCP images of 48 patients who underwent ERCP and US during the same hospitalization period. RESULTS: The average difference in measurements by US compared to ERCP was 2.3 mm (P < 0.01) in the retrospective and 1.9 mm in the prospective study (P < 0.001). The average difference in measurements between US and ERCP in post-cholecystectomy patients was 4.0 mm in the retrospective study (10 patients), and 3.8 in the prospective study (25 patients). The difference between the measurements on both examinations decreased with increasing CBD width. There was a good correlation between ERCP and US measurements of CBD width (r = 0.73 for all patients and r = 0.88 for patients with intact gallbladder, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There is a gap between measurement of CBD width on US and ERCP of about 2 mm. The application of Compound and Harmonic techniques in the prospective study probably enabled a more accurate sonographic measurement.

Adult↗