Increase in chromogranin A- and serotonin-positive cells in pouch mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing proctocolectomy

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia. Aims: We investigated neuroendocrine cells in J-pouches of patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing restorative proctocolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Methods: Sections from pouch biopsies of 17 patients and ileal biopsies of 17 active IBD patients and 16 controls were processed by immunohistochemistry for chromogranin A (CgA) and serotonin. Mucosal tryptophan hydroxylase (TpH)-1 and serotonin-selective reuptake transporter (SERT) transcripts were measured by quantitative RT-PCR. TpH-1 and SERT transcripts were detected in pouch biopsies cultured with infliximab or its isotype control, while interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 were measured in biopsy supernatants. Results: A significant increase in CgA-positive cells and serotonin-positive cells was observed in both pouch and IBD ileum compared to control ileum. Significantly raised transcripts of TpH-1, but not SERT, were found in IBD ileum in comparison to control ileum, with no significant difference between pouch and IBD ileum. Infliximab had no influence on ex vivo pouch expression of TpH-1 and SERT, nor on the production of IL-6 and IL-8. Conclusion: We here demonstrated neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia in pouch mucosa. Further studies are needed to clarify the pathophysiological implication of this finding

Totally laparoscopic, multi-stage, restorative proctocolectomy for inflammatory bowel diseases. A prospective study on safety, efficacy and long-term results

Background: Laparoscopic ileo-pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) has been reported as having low morbidity and several advantages. Aims: To evaluate safety, efficacy and long-term results of laparoscopic IPAA, performed in elective or emergency settings, in consecutive unselected IBD patients. Methods: All the patients received totally laparoscopic 2-stage (proctocolectomy and IPAA \u2013 stoma closure) or 3-stage (colectomy \u2013 proctectomy and IPAA \u2013 stoma closure) procedure according to their presentation. Results: From July 2007 to July 2016, 160 patients entered the study. 50.6% underwent a 3-stage procedure and 49.4% a 2-stage procedure. Mortality and morbidity were 0.6% and 24.6%. Conversion rate was 3.75%. 8.7% septic complications were associated with steroids and Infliximab treatment (p = 0.0001). 3-stage patients were younger (p = 0.0001), with shorter disease duration (p = 0.0001), minor ASA scores of 2 and 3 (p = 0.0007), lower inflammatory index and better nutritional status (p = 0.003 and 0.0001), fewer Clavien-Dindo's grade II complications (p = .0001), reduced rates of readmission and reoperation at 90 days (p = 0.03), and shorter hospitalization (p = .0001), but with similar pouch and IPAA leakage, compared to 2-stage patients. 8 years pouch failure and definitive ileostomy were 5.1% and 3.7%. Conclusion: A totally laparoscopic approach is safe and feasible, with very low mortality and morbidity rates and very low conversion rate, even in multi-stage procedures and high-risk patients

Perforating Crohn's disease: conservative and surgical treatment

Surgery is a part of the clinical history of patients with Crohn's disease (CD) since nearly all the patients receive at least one surgical procedure. The main indication for surgery is obstruction, but 50-60% of patients present a concomitant perforating disease at surgery, and 10% of patients have a primary indication for abscess or fistula. Generally, fistulas are classified on an anatomical basis, indicating the site of origin followed by the target (i.e. ileocolic, ileovesical, etc.). Enteroenteric fistulas are frequently asymptomatic and are not always considered an indication for surgery. However, in case of bypass with severe malnutrition or bacterial overgrowth (i.e. duodenal involvement), surgery is the only option. Enterovesical, enteroureteral and enterobiliary fistulas, due to their potential for septic complications, are a definite indication for surgery. Enterogenital fistulas have an indication mainly for their impact on the quality of life. Enterocutaneous fistulas are, in most cases, a late surgical complication, and the indication and timing for treatment are due to their output volume. Abscesses may be present alone or in association with enteric fistulas. The initial approach is conservative, and a percutaneous drainage should be a good treatment or a bridge to elective surgery. Since a modern surgical approach to CD has to be minimally invasive and highly conservative whenever possible, the presence of perforating disease should be well characterized in order to plan a laparoscopic approach and to reduce the amount of resected bowel, in case combining resection and strictureplasty. Perforating CD necessitates a multidisciplinary approach involving, behind the gastroenterologist and the surgeon, the radiologist, the urologist, the gynecologist and the nutritionist in order to obtain the best tailored treatment

Sequential Approach for a Critical-View COlectomy (SACCO): A Laparoscopic Technique to Reduce Operative Time and Complications in IBD Acute Severe Colitis

Acute severe colitis is the major indication for surgery in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), and in particular, in ulcerative colitis (UC). A laparoscopic approach for abdominal colectomy is recommended, due to better perioperative and long-term outcomes. However, costs, time-spending, and outcomes are still a topic of improvement. We designed a standardized 10-steps, sequential approach to laparoscopic colectomy, based on the philosophy of the "critical view of safety", with the aim to improve perioperative outcomes (operative duration, estimated blood loss, complications, readmissions, reoperations, and length of postoperative stay). We performed a retrospective cohort study using data from a prospectively maintained clinical database. We included all the consecutive, unselected patients undergoing laparoscopic subtotal colectomy (SCo) for IBD between 2008 and 2019 in a tertiary IBD Italian Centre. Starting from 2015, we regularly adopted the novel Sequential Approach for a Critical-View Colectomy (SACCo) technique. We included 59 (40.6%) patients treated with different laparoscopic approaches, and 86 patients (59.4%) operated on by the SACCo procedure. The mean operating time was significantly shorter for the SACCo group (144 vs. 224 min; p < 0.0001). The SACCo technique presented a trend to fewer major complications (6.8% vs. 8.3%), less readmissions (2.3% vs. 13.5%; p = 0.01), and shorter postoperative hospital stay (7.2 vs. 8.8 days; p = 0.003). Laparoscopic SACCo-technique is a safe and reproducible surgical approach for acute severe colitis and may improve the outcomes of this demanding procedure

Surgical perspective on perianal complications in ulcerative colitis

Perianal disease (PD) in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is typically associated with Crohn's disease (CD). In fact, the presence of PD, even in an established diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis (UC), always rises in the clinician's mind the suspect of CD. However, historical series of UC patients from the 1950s and the 1960s reported an incidence of PD in the range of 20-25 %. These rates, of course, were misleading, since colonic CD and Indeterminate Colitis (IC) were first recognized in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively. Certainly, many patients supposed in the past to have UC and PD really had CD or IC, but to date, little is known about the real incidence of PD among UC patients that is considered to be of about 5-15 % [1-13]

Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis surgery: Surgical techniques

Surgery has an incidence of 20\u201330 % among patients affected by Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and its goal is the total removal of the large bowel. There are several indications for surgery in UC patients, in elective, urgent, or emergency conditions. On the basis of patient history and presentation, different procedures, with different timing, should be performed, such as total proctocolectomy and permanent ileostomy or Koch\u2019s pouch, ileo-rectal anastomosis, or total proctocolectomy with ileo-pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). Nowadays, the procedure of choice is the IPAA, as advocated by Parks and Nicholls 35 years ago. Despite considerable improvement in medical treatment and surgical technology, the procedure remains basically the same highly demanding operation, with a low mortality rate in elective settings, but with a consistent morbidity. IPAA is a very complex procedure, based on an extended colorectal resection, and an autologous transplantation to create a new rectum using the small bowel, but it is also a \u201cquality of life\u201d surgery. Today, the best way to perform this intervention is the laparoscopic approach. When IPAA fails, for septic or mechanical problems, a redo pouch should be performed with good results. However, for all these reasons, it is strongly recommended that IPAA should be performed only in tertiary referral Centres by dedicated colorectal surgeons

Bowel ultrasound in Crohn's disease : surgical perspective

Background: Bowel ultrasound has been proven to be a useful tool in the management of Crohn's disease, particularly in the assessment of intra-abdominal complications, most of which require surgery. Materials and methods: The National Library of Medicine has been searched for articles on the use of bowel ultrasound in Crohn's disease focusing on aspects of interest to the surgeon. Results and conclusions: Several studies have demonstrated that bowel ultrasound may be useful to reduce the risk of unnecessary laparotomy in patients presenting acute abdomen with suspected chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Bowel ultrasound has been proven to be of value in the follow-up of Crohn's disease patients since allowing early diagnosis of intra-abdominal complications and, therefore, optimising the diagnostic and surgical approach. At followup, bowel ultrasound may accurately diagnose early postoperative complications and long-term disease recurrence. In patients submitted to conservative surgery, ultrasonography reveals changes in diseased bowel walls that may be predictive of recurrence of the disease, and hence determinant in the choice of medical treatment

La chirurgia conservativa della malattia di Crohn: risultati a lungo termine

INTRODUCTION: Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) receive one or more surgical interventions throughout their clinical history. Conservative surgery has recently been proposed as a safe and effective option for the treatment of complicated CD and for the prevention of short bowel syndrome and stoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred nineteen patients affected by CD were treated with stricture plasty and mini-resection in our Department between January 1993 and January 1998. At admission, the prior complete clinical and surgical history of each patient was collected and then inserted in a prospectively maintained data base. Analysis of recurrence was made using the Kaplan-Meier function and the influence of certain variables on the risk of recurrence was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Perioperative mortality was nil, postoperative complications occurred in 8 patients (6.7%). Overall long term surgical recurrence at 5 years was 28%, 35% in patients operated on within one year and 15% in those treated after one year from the diagnosis (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Stricture plasty and minimal resections show lower perioperative mortality and postoperative complications similar to resective surgery. From risk factor analysis, a group of patients with high risk of surgical recurrence emerged. In this group and whenever technically possible, we consider stricture plasty and minimal resection the gold standard in the treatment of complicated CD