Strictureplasty for short duodenal stenosis in Crohn's disease

Involvement of the gastroduodenum is extremely rare in Crohn's disease. For obstructing duodenal Crohn's disease, bypass procedures have traditionally been selected. However, more recently, strictureplasty has become an acceptable surgical option. We treated two Crohn's disease patients with short proximal duodenal stenosis, using Finney-type strictureplasty. Their postoperative courses were uneventful and they have remained asymptomatic during follow-up periods of more than 5 years, and 4 months, respectively. Owing to the good clinical results of our two patients, we consider strictureplasty to be indicated for short proximal duodenal stenosis in Crohn's disease. Received: October 14, 1999 / Accepted: February 25, 2000     

Impacts of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Treatment During Predialysis Periods on the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease in a Large‐Scale Cohort Study (Co‐JET study)

The effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) treatment on the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has not been fully evaluated in Japan. We therefore retrospectively evaluated this in a sub‐cohort of a prospective multicenter study to investigate optimal hemoglobin (Hb) level of CKD patients on hemodialysis (HD) treated with rHuEPO; Japan Erythropoietin Treatment Study for Target Hb and Survival (JET study). Effect of rHuEPO treatment during predialysis period to delay initiation of HD was retrospectively assessed in 2434 patients from the JET study comparing groups with and without rHuEPO treatment. The assessment was done by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis and inverse probability‐weighted (IPW) analysis to adjust for time‐dependent confounders. The weights used in the IPW analysis were calculated using a logistic model that included baseline confounders and time‐dependent variables. During the predialysis period, 71.7% (1746 patients) were treated with rHuEPO (mean Hb level of 8.7 g/dL at initiation of rHuEPO treatment). Covariates significantly associated with initiation of rHuEPO treatment were Hb level, serum creatinine level, age, diabetes, cardiac insufficiency, and hypertension. The adjusted hazard ratio for time until HD initiation under rHuEPO treatment was 0.272 (95% CI, 0.223–0.331; P < 0.001) in the Cox analysis and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.53–0.76; P < 0.0001) in the IPW analysis. This retrospective study suggests that rHuEPO treatment during the predialysis period has preventive effects on the progression of CKD although further prospective investigation on the efficacy is needed.     

Hypertension and concomitant arteriosclerotic diseases are risk factors for colonic diverticular bleeding: a case–control study

Purpose

Colonic diverticular bleeding is a major cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. However, a limited number of studies have been reported on the risk factors for diverticular bleeding. Our aim was to identify risk factors for diverticular bleeding.

Methods

Our study design is a case (diverticular bleeding)–control (diverticulosis) study. We prospectively collected information of habits, comorbidities, history of medications and symptoms by a questionnaire, and diagnosed diverticular bleeding and diverticulosis by colonoscopy. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results

A total of 254 patients (diverticular bleeding, 45; diverculosis, 209) were selected for analysis. Cluster (≥10 diverticula) type (OR, 4.0; 95% CI, 1.8–8.9), hypertension (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.0–4.6), ischemic heart disease (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.1–5.4), and chronic renal failure (OR, 6.4; 95% CI, 1.3–32) were independent risk factors for diverticular bleeding.

Conclusions

Large number of diverticula, hypertension, and concomitant arteriosclerotic diseases including ischemic heart disease and chronic renal failure are risk factors for diverticular bleeding. This study identifies new information on the risk factors for diverticular bleeding.