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This was a prospective, multicenter study including 7 academic teaching hospitals in Korea. All consecutive patients with UC admitted for disease flare-up were enrolled. We detected the presence of CDI by using enzyme immunoassay, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for toxin genes, and sigmoidoscopy.
Eighty-one consecutive patients with UC were enrolled from January 2014 to December 2015. Among 81 patients, 8 (9.9%) were diagnosed with CDI. Most of the cases were identified by RT-PCR. Enzyme immunoassay was positive in 3 of 8 patients, and only 1 had typical endoscopic findings of pseudomembranous colitis. There were no differences in demographic data, length of hospital stay, or colectomy rate between patients with and without CDI.
CDI was not a rare cause of flare-up in patients with UC in Korea. However, CDI did not appear to affect the course of UC flare-up in Korean patients. RT-PCR was sensitive in detecting CDI and can be considered a diagnostic tool in patients with UC flare-up.
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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disabling gastrointestinal disorder that diminishes the quality of life of the affected individuals. Limited data are available regarding the impact of IBD on the daily life of Koreans.
Self-administered, computer-aided, internet-based questionnaires were distributed to members of a Korean patient organization for IBD from March to April 2013, by the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases.
A total of 599 patients with IBD (387 with Crohn's disease [CD] and 212 with ulcerative colitis [UC]) were enrolled. The majority of patients (81%) expressed feelings of fatigue, weakness, and being worn out in their daily lives during times of flare; this percentage was reduced to 61% during remission. Respondents were absent from work or school for an average period of 18 days because of illness, within the first 6 months; the majority of respondents (64%) felt stressed about their absence. Forty-six percent of the respondents reported having received unfair comments at work, or having suffered discrimination. Forty-seven percent of the respondents felt that IBD had negatively affected their income and earnings. Compared with patients with UC, those with CD reported a more frequent negative impact of IBD on work, or more economic burden. More than half of the respondents (61%) reported that IBD had prevented them from making or keeping friends.
IBD significantly impacts daily life, including work, education, and social relationships. Treatment that addresses the full spectrum of life of a patient would be more effective.
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The quality of care in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not been systematically estimated. The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of quality of IBD care in Asian countries.
A questionnaire-based survey was conducted between March 2014 and May 2014. The questionnaire was adopted from "An adult inflammatory bowel disease physician performance measure set" developed by the American Gastroenterological Association. If the respondent executed the performance measure in more than 70% of patients, the measure was regarded as well performed.
A total of 353 medical doctors from Asia completed the survey (116 from Korea, 114 from China, 88 from Japan, 17 from Taiwan, 8 from Hong-Kong, 4 from India, 3 from Singapore, and 1 each from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia). The delivery of performance measures, however, varied among countries. The documentation of IBD and tuberculosis screening before anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy were consistently performed well, while pneumococcal immunization and prophylaxis of venous thromboembolisms in hospitalized patients were performed less frequently in all countries. Physician awareness was positively associated with the delivery of performance measures. Variations were also noted in reasons for non-performance or low performance of quality measures, and the two primary reasons cited were consideration of the measure to be unimportant and lack of time.
The delivery of performance measures varies among physicians in Asian countries, and reflects variations in the quality of care among the countries. This variation should be recognized to improve the quality of care in Asian countries.
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Gastric pathology and
Among 492 patients with CD receiving upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic evaluation in 19 Korean hospitals, we evaluated the endoscopic findings and gastric histopathologic features of 47 patients for our study. Histopathologic classification was performed using gastric biopsy tissues, and
There were 36 men (76.6%), and the median age of patients at the time of upper GI endoscopy was 23.8 years (range, 14.2–60.5). For CD phenotype, ileocolonic disease was observed in 38 patients (80.9%), and non-stricturing, non-penetrating disease in 31 patients (66.0%). Twenty-eight patients (59.6%) complained of upper GI symptoms. Erosive gastritis was the most common gross gastric feature (66.0%). Histopathologically,
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For decades, thiopurines have been the mainstay of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment and will play an important role in the future. However, complex metabolism and various side effects limit the use of these potent drugs in clinical practice. The Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases developed a set of consensus statements with the aim of guiding clinicians on the appropriate use of thiopurines in the management of IBD.
Sixteen statements were initially drafted by five committee members. The quality of evidence and classification of recommendation were assessed according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system. The statements were then circulated to IBD experts in Korea for review, feedback, and then finalized and accepted by voting at the consensus meeting.
The consensus statements comprised four parts: (1) pre-treatment evaluation and management strategy, including value of thiopurine S-methyltransferase screening, dosing schedule, and novel biomarkers for predicting thiopurine-induced leukopenia; (2) treatment with thiopurines with regards to optimal duration of thiopurine treatment and long-term outcomes of combination therapy with anti-tumor necrosis factors; (3) safety of thiopurines, especially during pregnancy and lactation; and (4) monitoring side effects or efficacy of therapy using biomarkers.
Thiopurines are an effective treatment option for patients with IBD. Management decisions should be individualized according to the risk of relapse and adverse events.
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Several recent studies have reported that the early use of infliximab (IFX) improves the prognosis of Crohn's disease (CD). However, no data are available from Asian populations, as the forementioned studies have all been conducted in Western countries. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of early use of IFX on the prognosis of Korean patients with CD.
Patients with a diagnosis of CD established between July 1987 and January 2012 were investigated in 12 university hospitals in Korea. Because insurance coverage for IFX treatment began in August 2005, patients were assigned to either of 2 groups based on diagnosis date. The first group included patients diagnosed from July 1987 to December 2005, and the second from January 2006 to January 2012. We compared the cumulative probabilities of operation and reoperation between the two groups using the Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test.
Of the 721 patients investigated, 443 (61.4%) comprized the second group. Although the cumulative probabilities of immunosuppressant (
The early use of IFX did not reduce CD-related surgery requirements in Korean patients with CD. These study results suggest that the early use of IFX may have little impact on the clinical outcome of CD in Korean patients in the setting of a conventional step-up algorithm.
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The natural history of Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized by a remitting and relapsing course and a considerable number of patients ultimately require bowel resection. Moreover, postoperative recurrence is very common. Relatively few studies have investigated the postoperative recurrence of CD in Korea. The aim of the current study was to assess postoperative recurrence rates - both clinical and endoscopic - in CD as well as factors influencing postoperative recurrence.
Electronic medical records of patients who underwent surgery due to CD were reviewed and analyzed. Patients with incomplete surgical resection, a follow-up period of less than a year, and a history of strictureplasty or perianal surgery were excluded.
Of 112 CD patients, 39 patients had history of bowel resection, and 34 patients met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 26 were male (76%) and the mean age of onset was 32.8 years. The mean follow-up period after operation was 65.4 months. Cumulative clinical recurrence rates were 8.8%, 12.5%, and 33.5% at 12, 24, and 48 months, respectively. Use of immunomodulators for prophylaxis was the only predictor of clinical recurrence in univariate analysis (
Postoperative recurrence rates in Korean patients with CD are high, and endoscopic recurrence rates are comparable to those reported from Western studies. Appropriate medical prophylaxis seems to be important for preventing postoperative recurrence in CD.
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