Bowel Ultrasound State of the Art: Grayscale and Doppler Ultrasound,Contrast Enhancement,and Elastography in Crohn Disease

Bowel ultrasound (US) is accurate for assessing bowel inflammation and complications in Crohn disease. Additionally, contrast‐enhanced US provides a quantitative, objective measurement of inflammatory activity in inflammatory bowel disease, and shear wave elastography predicts the stiffness of bowel, an increase of which suggests less response to medical therapy, often necessitating surgery. Overall, bowel US is an excellent, safe, and repeatable choice for routine surveillance and for urgent imaging. We describe an approach to evaluating inflammatory bowel disease and review its features on standard grayscale US with Doppler imaging and show how contrast‐enhanced US and shear wave elastography can distinguish between inflammatory and fibrostenotic bowel.     

Treating benign colon disorders using laparoscopic colectomy

Laparoscopic bowel surgery is a recent application of minimally invasive videoscopic techniques. Understanding the anatomy and physiology of the bowel, the background of bowel disorders and their treatment, signs and symptoms of bowel disease, and the patient selection process can help perioperative nurses better care for patients diagnosed with colon polyps, diverticulitis, and inflammatory bowel disease.     

Role of hospitalization for inflammatory bowel disease in the post-biologic era

Treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often requires specialized care. While much of IBD care has shifted to the outpatient setting, hospitalizations remain a major site of healthcare utilization and a sizable proportion of patients with inflammatory bowel disease require hospitalization or surgery during their lifetime. In this review, we approach IBD care from the population-level with a specific focus on hospitalization for IBD, including the shifts from inpatient to outpatient care, the balance of emergency and elective hospitalizations, regionalization of specialty IBD care, and contribution of surgery and endoscopy to hospitalized care.     

Inflammatory bowel disease: primary health care management of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease

Inflammatory bowel disease encompasses both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, two conditions so alike clinically that they are frequently indistinguishable from one another. Inflammatory bowel disease occurs at a rate of approximately five per 100,000 people. It tends to cluster in families and is seen four to five times more often in Jewish Caucasians than in other Caucasians. The etiology is unknown. Increasing attention is being paid to autoimmune factors, genetic factors and food allergies, and the notion that inflammatory bowel disease has its roots in a psychological disorder continues to pale for want of empirically sound evidence. Disease pattern is one of remission and exacerbation. The aim of therapy is to maintain an optimal lifestyle in remission through an individually tailored protocol of medications. Sulfasalazine remains the medication of choice; corticosteroids have short-term utility in exacerbation; and immunosuppressants, though controversial, are thought to have some steroid-sparing benefits during acute flare-ups. Indications for surgery vary, depending on whether or not a clear differential diagnosis has been made between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. There is no cure for inflammatory bowel disease except for total colectomy in clearly diagnosed ulcerative colitis. Current research endeavors seek a cause or causes for inflammatory bowel disease, but the literature does not solidly support any one possibility above other rival etiologies.     

Inflammatory bowel disease and smoking

Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for Crohn's disease and can have an adverse affect on its clinical course. The recurrence of Crohn's disease is lower in non-smokers, who also have a lower risk of relapse and surgery. Further research is needed to quantify the benefits of smoking cessation among people with inflammatory bowel disease.     

Inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome

The irritable bowel syndrome accounts for 30 to 50 per cent of patients cared for by gastroenterology practices. Irritable bowel syndrome is more common than inflammatory bowel disease. Therefore, it should not be surprising that some patients with inflammatory bowel disease are initially told that they have irritable bowel syndrome before a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease is firmly established. This article contends that many people have both irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.     

Outpatient management of inflammatory bowel disease. Let's keep it as simple as possible.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a conglomeration of disorders of unclear etiology and pathogenesis. Confirming the diagnosis of active disease may be difficult but is critical to judicious therapy. Sulfasalazine (Azulfidine) and its newer derivatives mesalamine (Asacol, Rowasa) and olsalazine sodium (Dipentum) are used for treatment of mild disease and maintenance. Corticosteroid therapy controls moderate disease in most patients, but withdrawal may be difficult. Immunosuppression or surgery may be necessary in severe or refractory cases. The risk of cancer as a complication of inflammatory bowel disease is often exaggerated but cannot be ignored.     

The spectrum of hepatic dysfunction in inflammatory bowel disease.

The spectrum and incidence of liver disease is described among a large series of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The incidence of significant liver disease identified by the presence of serial biochemical abnormalities of liver function was 8.2 per cent. Transient peri-operative changes in liver function tests are common and usually relate to underlying intra-abdominal sepsis. Percholangitis, sometimes termed portal triaditis, is one of the commoner lesions, and is usually associated with extensive colitis and improves with resection of the underlying bowel disease. Cirrhosis of the liver is an important but uncommon complication and is usually associated with extensive long-standing disease. Stenosing cholangitis and biliary tract carcinoma are both important though rare associations. They are both associated with extensive disease of long-standing, but resection of the underlying inflammatory bowel disease does not necessarily protect the individual from these complications. Although stenosing cholangitis is a diffuse lesion of the biliary tree it is important to exclude strictures of the extra-hepatic biliary tree which may be amenable to surgical correction. Hepatic dysfunction is rarely the sole indication for advising surgery for the underlying bowel disease but the identification of the nature of the hepati- dysfunction provides a rational basis for such a decision and opportunities for the surgical correction of the hepatic lesion itself.     

Inflammatory bowel disease: perioperative pharmacological considerations

The perioperative management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease is challenging given the altered immune system that results from a variety of biologic and immunomodulator therapies. Clinicians are often faced with challenges and complicated equations when deciding on the type and dose of medication. To understand the effect of these medications and review the evidence regarding the management of these medications in the perioperative setting, a PubMed-based literature search (January 1, 1960, through April 1, 2011) was conducted using the following search terms: perioperative management, risk, outcome, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, aminosalicylates, glucocorticoids, purine analogues, cyclosporine, methotrexate, biologic therapy, infliximab, and thromboembolism. The 414 articles identified were manually sorted to exclude those that did not address perioperative risk, outcomes, and medications in the abstracts, yielding 84 articles for review. Additional references were obtained from the citations within the retrieved articles. This review surveys the findings of the selected articles and presents guidelines and resources for perioperative medication management for patients with inflammatory bowel disease undergoing surgery.     

Inflammatory bowel disease

This review summarizes important publications that have appeared during the last year dealing with imaging techniques and endoscopy, as well as the management of low-grade dysplasia and stenosis in inflammatory bowel disease. Magnetic resonance enteroclysis and capsule endoscopy are currently emerging as new imaging techniques for the small bowel in Crohn's disease. While magnetic resonance enteroclysis is, at least in Europe, increasingly being used as a reference method, the value of capsule endoscopy for the management of inflammatory bowel disease is still being evaluated. Chromoendoscopy is being studied in patients with long-lasting ulcerative colitis and may be a promising and sensitive technique for the diagnosis of dysplasia. However, there are conflicting data regarding the appropriate management when low-grade dysplasia is diagnosed in patients with ulcerative colitis. Endoscopic dilation can often be successfully carried out in cases of intestinal stenosis. The results of long-term follow-up studies indicate that several dilation procedures are often necessary and that a relatively high percentage of patients still have to undergo surgery.     

Enzymes in feces: useful markers of chronic inflammatory bowel disease

BACKGROUND: Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are characterized by a chronic intestinal inflammation. Since the precise etiology is still unknown, current therapies are aimed at reducing or eliminating inflammation. METHODS: Endoscopy and histology on biopsy specimens remain the gold standard methods for detecting and quantifying bowel inflammation. These technique are expensive, invasive and not well tolerated by patients since the need of repeated examinations affects their quality of life. Although disease activity scores and laboratory inflammatory markers are widely used they showed unreliable relations with endoscopy and histology. Fecal markers have been investigated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by many authors for diagnostic purposes, to assess disease activity and of risk of complications, to predict relapse or recurrence, and to monitor the effect of therapy. Many inflammatory mediators have been detected in the feces such as leukocytes, cytokines and proteins from neutrophil activation. Some of these, particularly lactoferrin and calprotectin, have been demonstrated to be useful in detecting active inflammatory bowel disease, in predicting recurrence of disease after surgery or monitoring the effects of medical therapy. Calprotectin and lactoferrin are remarkably stable and easily detect in stool using ELISA so they appear to be equally recommendable as inflammation markers in the lower gastrointestinal tract especially in IBD patients. CONCLUSION: Fecal markers are non-invasive, simple, cheap, sensitive and specific parameters and are useful to detect strointestinal inflammation.     

Endoscopy in inflammatory bowel disease: indications and differential diagnosis

Colonoscopy with multiple biopsies adds a considerable amount of information to the overall clinical approach to the patient with inflammatory bowel disease. Because colonoscopy is an invasive procedure requiring a vigorous bowel clean-out, it is not a first-line investigative procedure for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, in certain indicated circumstances, colonoscopy can assist greatly in the management and diagnosis of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.     

Best practice in discharging patients with a stoma

Pre-operative preparation and postoperative education are both essential elements for the recovery and successful discharge into the community of patients with a stoma. The ultimate goal of any stoma care nurse is to provide patients with the necessary practical skills and knowledge to return to a lifestyle they enjoyed before surgery (Abrahams, 1984). The basic pre- and postoperative planning that is required for patients who have had bowel surgery under elective conditions with a confirmed colorectal pathology, for example, rectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, is described below. Stomas include colostomy, ileostomy, jejunostomy and urostomy. They can either be end stomas (one segment of bowel is exteriorised), or loop stomas (two segments of bowel are exteriorised), and they may be permanent or temporary.     

Self-care strategies for the management of bowel symptoms following sphincter-saving surgery for rectal cancer

The primary aim of this article is to identify the self-care strategies that patients use to manage bowel symptoms experienced following sphincter-saving surgery for rectal cancer. Comparisons will be made with self-care strategies used by patients to manage chronic fecal incontinence and the bowel symptoms associated with other chronic bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Published studies and conceptual literature from 2000-2010 were the data sources. Three major themes emerged from the literature reflecting the self-care strategies used by patients to manage bowel symptoms: functional self-care strategies (e.g., taking medication), social activity-related self-care strategies (e.g., planning social events), and alternative self-care strategies (e.g., complementary therapies). An analysis of studies highlighted that, through the process of trial and error, patients learned the strategies that were most effective in the management of their bowel symptoms. Knowledge of such strategies will be beneficial to healthcare professionals when educating patients about effective management of bowel symptoms following sphincter-saving surgery.     

Contrast-enhanced power Doppler sonography of the intestinal wall in the differentiation of hypervascularized and hypovascularized intestinal obstructions in patients with Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To use power Doppler sonography to quantify the vascularization in the area of stenosed bowel segments in patients with Crohn's disease and to draw conclusions from these findings with regard to the development of these stenoses. METHODS: The study collective included 11 patients with confirmed Crohn's disease and sonographically visualized stenoses of the small bowel together with intermittent abdominal cramping as a clinical correlate. Power mode examination was repeated after application of a sonographic signal-enhancing agent. Semiquantitative evaluation based on the sonographically indicated degree of vascularization led to the presumptive diagnosis of either inflammatory or cicatricial intestinal obstruction. Sonographic diagnoses were compared with the findings of surgery and subsequent histologic examination or with patients' clinical responses to conservative therapy. RESULTS: Nine of 11 patients underwent surgery within 1 year of examination. All 3 cases in which sonography had facilitated the diagnosis of cicatricial stenosis were confirmed at postoperative histologic examination; similarly, the surgical and histologic findings in the other 6 patients confirmed the sonographic diagnosis of inflammatory stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Power Doppler sonography in combination with the use of a signal-enhancing agent appears to be effective in the recognition of predominantly cicatricial stenoses in patients with Crohn's disease.     

Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: a role for hypnotherapy?

Fifteen patients with severe or very severe inflammatory bowel disease on corticosteroids but not responding to medication received 12 sessions of "gut-focused hypnotherapy" and were followed up for a mean duration of 5.4 years with disease severity being graded as remission, mild, moderate, severe, or very severe. Two patients (13.4%) failed to respond and required surgery. At follow-up for the remaining 13 patients, 4 (26.6%) were in complete remission, 8 (53.3%) had mild severity, and 1 (6.7%) was moderately severe. Quality of life became good or excellent in 12 (79.9%). Corticosteroid requirements dramatically declined with 60% of patients stopping them completely and not requiring any during follow-up. Hypnotherapy appears to be a promising adjunctive treatment for inflammatory bowel disease and has steroid sparing effects. Controlled trials to clearly define its role in this disease area are justified.     

Imaging diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease

The term "chronic inflammatory bowel disease" represents a spectrum of diseases out of which ulcerous colitis and Crohn's disease are the far most common. Large bowel enemas have lost their relevance compared to colonoscopy over the past years and small bowel enteroclysis has also been widely replaced by CT- and especially MR-enteroclysis meanwhile. The diagnostic value of computed tomography and MR-tomography in chronic inflammatory bowel disease is based on the excellent visualization and documentation of extent and severity of bowel wall inflammation, estimation of inflammatory activity of the disease and of detection of potential extraintestinal complications and/or additional diagnoses by these two methods. Nevertheless, conventional radiological techniques as well as sonography may still be valuable under certain conditions. Furthermore, nowadays imaging of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases includes also White Blood Cell scintigraphy as well as Positrone Emission Tomography which provide informations about extent and especially activity of the disease. The presented article provides an overview of the possibilities and limitations of the available imaging modalities in inflammatory bowel diseases and helps the reader to decide under what conditions which one of the available examinations should be regarded as the most appropriate and promising one.     

Surgical strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are specific inflammatory bowel diseases. Quality of life can be considerably limited. It does not depend on the form of therapy that Crohn's disease is highly recurrent, whereas colitis ulcerosa is curable by proctocolectomy. For both forms of disease surgery is an important option. It has to be included early in the therapy concept and not as last choice. Quality of life in patients with Crohn's disease can be raised significantly by surgery. Meticulous selection of the patients are essential to the policy of surgery as well as a regular aftercare. Best profit for those patients are treatment with an interdisciplinary team, consisting of gastroenterologists, nutrition advisers, psychologists, surgeons and radiologists.     

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies in inflammatory bowel disease: new evidence.

Anti-tissue transglutaminase, previously held to be identical to anti-endomysial antibodies in celiac sprue, has been reported in inflammatory bowel disease patients. To investigate these data further, we evaluated serum and intestinal anti-tissue transglutaminase in inflammatory bowel disease patients, with respect to the Crohn's disease activity index and the integrated disease activity index. Study population comprised: 49 patients with Crohn's disease and 29 patients with ulcerative colitis; 45 patients with celiac sprue and 85 autoimmune patients as disease controls; and 58 volunteers as healthy controls. Immunoglobulin A (IgA) anti-recombinant human tissue transglutaminase and anti-endomysial antibody detection in sera and fecal supernatants were performed. Adsorption of positive sera with recombinant human tissue transglutaminase were also performed. Marked increased anti-tissue transglutaminase concentrations were found in celiac sprue, while low-positive values were also found in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Anti-endomysial antibodies were detectable only in celiac sprue. Antigen adsorption resulted in a significant reduction of the anti-tissue transglutaminase either in celiac sprue or inflammatory bowel disease sera. A significant correlation between anti-tissue transglutaminase and Crohn's disease activity index or integrated disease activity index scores was found. Anti-tissue transglutaminase was also detectable in fecal supernatants from inflammatory bowel disease patients. Data highlight that both circulating and intestinal anti-tissue transglutaminases are detectable in inflammatory bowel disease, and that they are related to disease activity. These features underline that, in addition to anti-tissue transglutaminase, an anti-endomysial antibody test is necessary in the diagnostic work-up of celiac sprue, especially in patients with known inflammatory bowel disease.