Crohn’s disease (CD) is a relapsing and progressive condition characterized by diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, and hematochezia that results in serious complications such as perforations, fistulas, and abscesses. Various medications, interventions, and surgical treatments have been used to treat CD. The Korean guidelines for CD management were distributed in 2012 and revised in 2017 by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Research Group of the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases. Substantial progress in mucosal immunologic research has elucidated the pathophysiology of IBD, leading to development of biological agents for treatment of CD. The first developed biologic agent, tumor necrosis factor-α agents, were shown to be efficacious in CD, heralding a new era in management of CD. Subsequently, vedolizumab, a monoclonal antibody against integrin α4β7, and ustekinumab, a human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the common p40 subunit of interleukin-12 and interleukin-23, were both approved for clinical use and are efficacious and safe for both induction and maintenance of remission in moderate-to-severe CD patients. Moreover, a recent study showed the non-inferiority of CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar, compared with infliximab in CD patients. The third Korean guidelines for CD management provide updated information regarding treatment of moderate-to-severe CD patients with biologic agents.

To investigate whether tissue samples processed by the rapid urease test (RUT) kit are suitable for dual-priming oligonucleotide-based multiplex polymerase chain reaction (DPO-PCR) to detect Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). A total of 54 patients with specific gastrointestinal symptom were enrolled in this study. During endoscopy, gastric biopsy specimens were taken for histology, RUT, and DPO-PCR. DPO-PCR was performed on gastric biopsy samples and tissue samples that were analyzed by RUT at 2 separate institutes. In detecting H. pylori, the concordance rate of the DPO-PCR tests between the tissue samples that had been submitted to RUT and the gastric biopsy samples was investigated. H. pylori co-occurred with 76.0% (19/25) of gastric ulcers, 64.3% (9/14) of duodenal ulcers, and 33.3% (4/12) of gastritis cases. H. pylori infection was found in 100% (3/3) of the patients with both gastric and duodenal ulcers. Overall, H. pylori was detected in 35 of 54 (64.8%) patients. The diagnostic sensitivities of histology, RUT, and DPO-PCR were 85.7% (30/35), 74.3% (26/35), and 97.1% (34/35), respectively (P = 0.02). The positive predictive value (PPV) of DPO-PCR was 94.4%, whereas the negative predictive value (NPV) was 94.7%. In the rapid urease test (CLOtest)-negative cases, the frequency of positive DPO-PCR and histologic results was 20.0% (7/35). The concordance rate of the DPO-PCR tests between the tissue samples from the RUT kit and the gastric biopsy samples was 94.4% (51/54). The rate of DPO-PCR and silver stain positivity in the RUT-negative cases was 20.0% (7/35). In diagnosing H. pylori infection, DPO-PCR can be performed on tissue samples that have been processed by the RUT kit. Particularly, in patients with RUT-negative results, DPO-PCR on these tissue samples could be helpful in detecting of H. pylori infection.

Background: Colonoscopy is associated with a risk of peritonitis in patients on peritoneal dialysis. However, no study has yet described the risk factors in play.Methods: This was a retrospective multicentre study. The medical records of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) who underwent colonoscopy from January 2003 to December 2012 were analysed. We recorded demographic characteristics, colonoscopic factors, use of prophylactic antibiotics, and development of peritonitis. Colonoscopy-related peritonitis was defined as peritonitis developing within 1 week after colonoscopy. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared between patients who did and those who did not develop peritonitis.Results: During the study period, 236 patients on CAPD underwent colonoscopy, of whom 9 (3.8%) developed peritonitis. The rates of polypectomy/endoscopic mucosal resection were significantly higher in the peritonitis group than in the no peritonitis group (66.7 vs. 23.4%,p = 0.009). Prophylactic antibiotics were prescribed before colonoscopy in 65 patients; none developed peritonitis. No patient who developed peritonitis received prophylactic antibiotics (p = 0.067).Conclusions: Advanced procedures including polypectomy or endoscopic mucosal resection increase colonoscopy-related peritonitis in patients on CAPD. Randomized controlled trials to investigate whether prophylactic antibiotics are needed to prevent peritonitis in all CAPD patients are warranted.

Bae MN, et al. Ann Coloproctol. 2013 Jun;29(3):130-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.3393/ac.2013.29.3.130

Although fatigue is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), it often goes unrecognized and untreated. We investigated the degree of fatigue and associated factors in patients with IBD. A multicenter study involving 147 IBD patients was conducted at five academic hospitals from August 2019 to December 2021. Fatigue was evaluated using the validated Korean version of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-K). Among 97 ulcerative colitis patients and 50 Crohn’s disease patients, the mean total MFI-K score was 59.0 ± 5.5, which corresponded to a moderate-to-severe level of fatigue. Moderate-to-severe disease activity was found to be significantly associated with a higher general and physical fatigue subscale MFI-K score compared to remission-to-mild disease activity (17.6 ± 1.7 vs. 16.7 ± 2.0, p = 0.009), while the use of biologics was associated with a lower total MFI-K score (57.3 ± 5.0 vs. 59.5 ± 5.5, p = 0.031). In multiple linear regression, the total MFI-K score was positively correlated with a history of surgery for IBD, while it was negatively correlated with the use of biologics. Depression was positively correlated with the reduced motivation subscale score. The degree of fatigue in patients with IBD was high. Disease activity, the use of biologics, a history of surgery for IBD, and depression were associated with fatigue.

Observing the entire small bowel is difficult due to the presence of complex loops and a long length. Capsule endoscopy (CE) provides a noninvasive and patient-friendly method for visualizing the small bowel and colon. Small bowel capsule endoscopy (SBCE) has a critical role in the diagnosis of small bowel disorders through the direct observation of the entire small bowel mucosa and is becoming the primary diagnostic tool for small bowel diseases. Recently, colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) was also considered safe and feasible for obtaining sufficient colonic images in patients with incomplete colonoscopy, in the absence of bowel obstruction. This review article assesses the current status of CE in terms of the diagnostic yield and the clinical impact of SBCE in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, who have known or suspected Crohn’s disease, small bowel tumor and inherited polyposis syndrome, celiac disease, and those who have undergone CCE.