Association between aortic stiffness and left ventricular function in inflammatory bowel disease

Background: Recent studies have reported an increased incidence of both aortic stiffness and left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the association between aortic stiffness and the LV function has not been fully defined. We aimed to investigate the relationship between aortic stiffness and the LV function in IBD patients. Methods and Results: Seventy-two patients with IBD (56 cases of ulcerative colitis and 16 cases of Crohn’s disease) and 50 healthy controls were consecutively enrolled in this study. The LV systolic and diastolic functions were assessed using conventional echocardiographic techniques, including tissue Doppler echocardiography. The degree of aortic strain and distensibility were calculated based on the aortic diameters measured on M-mode echocardiography at the level of 3 cm above the aortic valve and the blood pressure values obtained on sphygmomanometry. There were significant differences between the IBD and control group in the degree of aortic strain and distensibility. Significant differences were also observed between the patient and control groups in the parameters of the LV systolic and diastolic functions. Moreover, aortic stiffness was found to be associated with the LV function in the patient group. Conclusions: There is a significant relationship between aortic stiffness and LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction in patients with IBD, based on the findings of this study. The parameters of aortic elasticity measured according to 2-dimensional echocardiographic methods can be beneficial for predicting early cardiovascular risk in cases of IBD. (

The predictive value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and mean platelet volume in patients with colorectal carcinoma

Aim: This study aimed to investigate neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and mean platelet volume (MPV) for predicting colorectalcancer (CRC).Material and Methods: We investigated retrospectively patients who underwent colonoscopy. The study consisted of 75 patientswith CRC and 91 study participants with normal colonoscopy as control group, and MPV and NLR were compared between groups.MPV and NLR were also investigated for tumor stage and metastasis.Results: Among the CRC patients the mean NLR value (3.09 vs 2.26) and PLT count (287080 vs 251857) were significantly higher,whereas the mean MPV (9.62 vs 10.68 fL) and hemoglobin level (11.62 vs 14.18 g/dl) were significantly lower in the CRC group. WBCcount was not significantly different between the groups. Mean NLR in metastatic patients and non-metastatic patients were 3.56and 2.73, respectively (p:0.01).Conclusion: We showed that high NLR and low MPV are associated with CRC. Elevated NLR is related with presence of CRC and itcan be used for risk prediction. Although we found lower MPV levels, conflicting results about MPV in CRC prevents it from using asa marker in CRC