Monthly Archives: November 2015

Question: A 73-year-old male underwent screening colonoscopy. He has lived for a couple of years in Namibia on his farm and has gone several times on hunting safaris in other African countries. He was not aware of any serious diseases in the past excep… Continue reading →

Question: A 77-year-old man with ulcerative colitis was admitted to hospital with a 1-month history of recurrent fevers. He had a long-standing history of ulcerative pancolitis nonresponsive to mesalamine and azathioprine. After developing steroid dependence (minimal prednisone requirement 15 mg/d), he was started on infliximab approximately 4 months before admission, completing infliximab induction therapy (0, 2, and 6 weeks at 5 mg/kg) and receiving his first maintenance infusion (5 mg/kg). At presentation, the patient had multiple symptoms, including (1) recurrent daily fevers and chills, (2) severe bloody diarrhea (>15 bowel movements per day) with urge and tenesmus, and (3) subacute dyspnea and hypoxia requiring 4 L/min supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula. Continue reading →

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates angiogenesis, yet therapeutic strategies to disrupt VEGF signaling can interfere with physiologic angiogenesis. In a search for ways to inhibit pathologic production or activities of VEGF without affe… Continue reading →

Age, sex, smoking, and family history are risk factors for colorectal cancer in Asia. The Asia-Pacific Colorectal Screening (APCS) scoring system was developed to identify subjects with a high risk for advanced neoplasm (AN). We tested an algorithm tha… Continue reading →

Although several classification systems have been proposed for characterization of Barrett’s esophagus (BE) surface patterns based on narrow-band imaging (NBI), none have been widely accepted. The Barrett’s International NBI Group (BING) aimed to d… Continue reading →

Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) has key functions in fibrogenic cells, promoting fibrosis development in the liver and other organs. In contrast, the functions of TGFβ in liver epithelial cells are not well understood, despite their high level … Continue reading →

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates angiogenesis, yet therapeutic strategies to disrupt VEGF signaling can interfere with physiologic angiogenesis. In a search for ways to inhibit pathologic production or activities of VEGF without affe… Continue reading →

Question: A 62-year-old woman underwent colonoscopy because of abdominal pain and constipation. Her clinical medical history was unremarkable. Colonoscopy showed 2 polyps, one in the transverse colon that was resected and was an adenoma, and a second i… Continue reading →

Proper management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Asia requires knowledge of features unique to their population. These include disease incidence, patient demographics, clinical presentation, and response to therapy. In response to this need, th… Continue reading →

Question: A 59-year-Italian old man presented to our hospital with a 2-year history of Crohn’s colitis refractory to treatment. Colitis had worsened and diarrhea became frankly bloody after 6 months, despite treatment combinations of topical and syst… Continue reading →