Digestive System
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In general, EMR recurrence  (presence of residual polypoid tissue at the level of the scar in control colonoscopy) is described as high as 20-30%.    Currently it is recommended to treat the margins of the scar immediately after polyp resection to reduce this rate.  Treating with APC or soft snare coagulation (this latter is preferred in the ESGE guidelines) help significantly reduce the recurrence

See Bourkes group RCT

See metanalisis

<2cm visible lesion without deep invasion: Offer EMR first and then ablation for Barretts eradication if lesion has been cured

Low grade dysplasia is a difficult diagnosis and should be always  confirmed by at second endoscopy and ideally by two pathologist (sometime LGD is actually downgraded to non displasia , or sometimes when reviewed can be upgraded to HGD)

HGD, on the contrary, does not necessarily need repeating endoscopy but always needs to be confirmed by a expert GI pathologist.  If any doubt, it is always reasonable to repeat endoscopy.

Patients with early-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma need treatment depending on many factors ( EMR, ESD, surgery or Radio-chemotherapy , discuss in the MDT)

If Check the guidelines

This is a case of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile colitis with typical pseudomembranes on the colonic mucosa.  Elderly and nursing home patients are risk factors. We should take biopsies and ask for faecal sample (GDH and /or culture for toxigenic C.diff) because pseudomembrane rarely can have other causes (Staphylococcus aureus, CMV, radiation, ischemic, chemotherapy)

Patient does not meet the definition of Severe (>15000 leucocytes or deranged Creatinin) or fulminant (hypotension, septic shock, megacolon)

Most guidelines no longer recommend Metronidazole for C.diff as first line unless no other alternative available.  Despite ACG recommends either Vancomycin or Fidaxomicin as first line, (Fidaxomicin is more expensive) the European guidelines recommend Fidaxomicin over Vancomycin (Vancomycin is a perfect acceptable good choice , however despite both curing the infection in about the same rates (76.2% vs 70.5%),  lower recurrence rates with fidaxomicin are described (8.3% vs 32.6%) which could justify its higher cost.

Mucosal xantoma - benign lesion composed of foamy macrophages within the lamina propria. fibrovascular. They presents as discrete single to multiple yellowish-white patches, most commonly in the antrum or pyloric region of the stomach . Endoscopically it sometimes can resemble candidiasis, polyp, lymphangiectasia, Russell body gastritis, and Pseudoxanthoma elastic or gastric malignancy.

Lymphangiectasia would have showed prominent dilated lymphatics in the lamina propria region of the villous structure, often with extension into submucosa . These are more commonly seen in duodenum or terminal ileum

With his age, cholesterol:HDL ratio and the BMI the QRISK score is >10% therefore statins are indicated in his case.

Abdominal US is indicated in all cases of abnormal liver blood test.  If proved to have MASLD (Fatty liver on the US) then should be screened for Hb1Ac for type 2 diabetes.

Lifestyle modification is the most important treatment in his case.

Even though doing a FibroScan is never bad practice (it is non invasive and very helpful to estimate the level of liver fibrosis) the fact is that FibroScan would be strictly indicated IF the FIb4-score was > 2 (remember the cutoff in >65 yo is 2 instead of 1.3).

Scores of 8-14 represent Hazardous or Harmful range. In those cases, the recommendation is to explain to the patient that they may be drinking too much on occasions, and the likely negative impact the alcohol can cause as it is carcinogenic, can help developing cardiovascular disease, can cause dependence and can put you or others at risk.

Any  score of 15 or above associates high risk (drinking could cause harm and it is important a clear determination to cut down or stop alcohol). Any score of 20 or above indicates likely dependence and needs referral to specialist and supervised detoxification

Underwater EMR is a technique in which instead of gas, the colon is insuflated with liquid (usually water, less common saline). The water makes the mucosa 'float' by reducing the wall tension and this separates the layers of the mucosa-submucosa naturally without injecting lifting solution.  This makes flat polyps easy to get grasped. Scar appears small after resection, but when water is aspirated and air insuflatted, one can see the scars are usually much bigger than they appear with water.  See this image from Spadaccini et al 

Many chronic pancreatitis causing biliary stricture are asymptomatic or associate minimal changes in liver blood tests particularly ALP. In order to call cholestasis we have to see an increase in of usually >3 times ULN of alkaline phosphate (this is about >350-400 U/L)  As long as it does not cause significant cholestasis or cholangitis, there is no indication of biliary draining. IF they associate biliary stones , episodes of repeating infection or biliary pain (his pain seems more due to chronic pancreatitis) then it is justifed to drain the biliary tree.

Despite some increases in ALP, Conservative management with close monitoring is still adequate in this case, as well as recommend complete alcohol abstinence. If his bloods worsen or the bile dilation progresses during the next months, ERCP could be dicussed in a multidisciplinary meeting (risk of stenosis progression and cholestasis vs risk of ERCP adverse events)

The proportion of AST to ALT in hepatocytes is about 2.5:1, but because AST is removed from serum by the liver sinusoidal cells twice as quickly (serum half-life t1/2 = 18 hr) compared to ALT (t1/2 = 36 hr), so the resulting serum levels of AST and ALT are about equal in healthy individuals, resulting in a normal AST/ALT ratio around 1. See here.

B6 is more essencial for ALT synthesis than AST, that is why in chronic alcohol (low B6) we will see a reduction of ALT in proportion to AST, increasing the AST/ALT ratio>2

 Low amplitude propagated contractions (LAPC) Haustral contractions, triggered by chyme, facilitate the slow movement and mixing of food to enhance water absorption. Those are slow, segmenting movements that further mix chyme, most comoon in proximal colon.  (5 to 40 mm Hg) and last about 3  seconds.They happen  about every 30 minutes.