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The natural history of Crohn's disease (CD) usually begins with primary intestinal inflammation, which progresses gradually to stricturing lesions. Stricture is a complicated, intractable but very common clinical problem in the management of CD. Difficulties remain in treating stricturing CD because of the limited efficacy of drug therapy and relapse of stricturing lesions cannot be completely avoided by surgery. Endoscopic management is a bridging therapy between drug therapy and surgical intervention, mainly including endoscopic balloon dilatation and endoscopic stricturotomy, and has been found to be effective for treating stricturing CD. Its explicit curative effect, less invasiveness and high safety performance make endoscopic management more acceptable by both the physician and patient. Although some patients require repeated endoscopic treatment and ultimately cannot avoid surgery, yet it can significantly delay the time to surgery and improve the quality of life. Physicians carrying out the endoscopic procedure need to be trained for performing this procedure. In this review we summarized the diagnosis and endoscopic treatment of stricturing CD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During colonoscopy, small and diminutive colorectal polyps are commonly encountered. It is estimated that at least one adenomatous polyp is detected in almost half of all patients undergoing screening colonoscopy. In contrast, the 'predict, resect, and discard' strategy for diminutive and small colorectal polyps is a current topic especially in Western countries. 'Is this an acceptable policy in Japan?' Herein, we report the results of a questionnaire survey with regard to the management of diminutive colorectal polyps, including the thoughts of Japanese endoscopists regarding the 'predict, resect, and discard' strategy. At the moment, we propose that this strategy should be used by skilled endoscopists only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Treatment outcomes are suboptimal for patients undergoing endoscopic treatment of walled-off pancreatic necrosis ( WOPN). The objective of this study is to identify factors that impact treatment outcomes in this patient subset. Methods This is a retrospective study of patients with WOPN treated endoscopically over 10 years. Patients underwent placement of stents and nasocystic catheters within the necrotic cavity. In select patients, the multiple transluminal gateway technique ( MTGT) was adopted to create several openings in the stomach or duodenum to facilitate drainage of necrosis. In patients with disconnected pancreatic duct syndrome ( DPDS), the transmural stents were left in place indefinitely to decrease pancreatic fluid collection ( PFC) recurrence. Results Endoscopic treatment was successful in 53 of 76 (69.7%) patients. Treatment success was higher in patients undergoing MTGT than in those in whom conventional drainage was used (94.4% vs 62.1%, P = 0.009). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, only MTGT ( OR 15.8, 95% CI 1.77-140.8; P = 0.01) and fewer endoscopic sessions being needed ( OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.16-14.0; P = 0.03) predicted treatment success. PFC recurrence was significantly lower in patients with indwelling transmural stents than in patients in whom the stents were removed (0 vs 20.8%; P = 0.02). Conclusions Creating multiple gateways for drainage of necrotic debris improves treatment success, and not removing the transmural stents decreases PFC recurrence in patients undergoing endoscopic drainage of WOPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Symptoms of choledochal cysts sometimes persist or become exacerbated. As preoperative management for patients with these cysts, we prospectively employed endoscopic drainage, based on the theory that protein plugs cause symptoms by obstructing the pancreatobiliary ducts. Methods: Children with choledochal cysts underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). When ERCP showed compaction with filling defects in patients with persistent or worsening symptoms (study patients), the placement of a short biliary stent tube was attempted for drainage. The clinical and ERCP findings of the study patients were compared with those of patients who were asymptomatic at ERCP (asymptomatic patients). Results: There were 13 study patients (median age 2.9 years) and 41 asymptomatic patients (4.7 years) enrolled in the study between August 2005 and February 2011. Study patients more frequently had jaundice and elevated transaminase levels. ERCP showed that all study patients had obstruction or compacted filling defects in the common channel or the narrow segment distal to the cyst. Insertion of a stent tube was successful in 11 patients. Symptoms were relieved soon after biliary drainage. Surgery revealed that the obstructing materials were protein plugs, except in one case, which involved fatty acid calcium stones. Conclusions: These results support the protein plug theory. Endoscopic short-tube stenting is adequate and effective as preoperative management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Type - Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4 What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Endoscopic management of small, low-grade, non-invasive upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma (UTUC) is a management option for selected groups of patients. However, the long-term survival outcomes of endoscopically-managed UTUC are uncertain because only four institutions have reported outcomes of more than 40 patients beyond 50 months of follow-up. Moreover, there is significant variance in the degree of underlying UTUC pathology verification in some of these reports, which precludes an analysis of disease-specific survival outcomes. The present study represents one of the largest endoscopically managed series of patients with UTUC, with a long-term follow-up. The degree of verification of underlying UTUC pathology is one of the highest, which allows a grade-stratified analysis of different outcomes, including upper-tract recurrence-free survival, intravesical recurrence-free survival, renal unit survival and disease-specific survival. These outcomes provide further evidence suggesting that endoscopic management of highly selected, low-grade UTUC can provide effective oncological control, as well as renal preservation, in experienced centres. OBJECTIVE To report the long-term outcomes of patients with upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma (UTUC) who were treated endoscopically (either via ureteroscopic ablation or percutaneous resection) at a single institution over a 20-year period., PATIENTS AND METHODS Departmental operation records were reviewed to identify patients who underwent endoscopic management of UTUC as their primary treatment., Outcomes were obtained via retrospective analysis of notes, electronic records and registry data., Survival outcomes, including overall survival (OS), UTUC-specific survival (disease-specific survival; DSS), upper-tract recurrence-free survival, intravesical recurrence-free survival, renal unit survival and progression-free survival, were estimated using Kaplan-Meier methods and grade-stratified differences were analyzed using the log-rank test., RESULTS Between January 1991 and April 2011, 73 patients underwent endoscopic management of UTUC with a median age at diagnosis of 67.7 years., All patients underwent ureteroscopy and biopsy-confirmation of pathology was obtained in 81% ( n= 59) of the patients. In total, 14% ( n= 10) of the patients underwent percutaneous resection., Median (range; mean) follow-up was 54 (1-223; 62.8) months., Upper tract recurrence occurred in 68% ( n= 50). Eventually, 19% ( n= 14) of the patients proceeded to nephroureterectomy., The estimated OS and DSS were 69.7% and 88.9%, respectively, at 5 years, and 40.3% and 77.4%, respectively, at 10 years. The estimated mean and median OS times were 119 months and 107 months, respectively. The estimated mean DSS time was 190 months., CONCLUSIONS The present study represents one of the largest reported series of endoscopically-managed UTUC, with high pathological verification and long-term follow-up., Upper-tract recurrence is common, which mandates regular ureteroscopic surveillance., However, in selected patients, this approach has a favourable DSS, with a relatively low nephroureterectomy rate, and therefore provides oncological control and renal preservation in patients more likely to die eventually from other causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoscopic stenting is an effective treatment option in the management of both benign biliary strictures and pancreatic ductal strictures. Plastic stents and self-expandable metal stents have been used with variable success for the management of both benign biliary strictures and pancreatic ductal strictures caused by chronic pancreatitis. Fully covered self-expandable metal stents of improved design represent a major technological advance which has added to the endoscopic armamentarium. Both multiple plastic stents and covered self-expandable metal stents have shown promising results. However, data to support the use of self-expandable metal stents over multiple plastic stents or vice versa are still lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To compare the outcomes of patients treated for upper tract urothelial carcinoma with either immediate nephroureterectomy (NU) or initial endoscopic management. PATIENTS AND METHODS The treatments of 108 patients (120 renal units) at the authors’ institution were retrospectively reviewed and divided into two groups, i.e. those who received immediate NU and those who had conservative initial therapy, which included renal units solely treated with endoscopy with or without delayed NU. Overall and disease-specific survival (DSS) were compared between the treatment groups. RESULTS There were 48 low-grade tumours, of which 27 (56%) were managed conservatively and 21 (44%) by immediate NU. Seven patients treated conservatively had stage or grade progression and had delayed NU. The mean (sd) DSS at 5 years in patients with low-grade disease was equally good for conservative treatment and immediate NU, at 86.2 (9.1)% vs 87.4 (8.4)% ( P = 0.909). There were 68 high-grade tumours, of which 12 (18%) patients had conservative management and 56 (82%) had immediate NU. Among the former, seven of 12 had a solitary kidney and three had bilateral disease. In patients managed endoscopically, four of 30 (13%) required delayed NU. The DSS for the conservative and immediate NU groups were 68.6 (18.6)% vs 75.0 (8.1)% ( P = 0.528). CONCLUSION Management with a conservative approach in selected patients provides comparable outcomes to immediate NU in patients with low-grade disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We assessed the feasibility, efficacy and long-term results of endoscopic management using Neodymium-YAG (Nd-YAG) laser as a day care procedure in patients with post-traumatic supraprostatic and prostatic strictures. Three patients with post-traumatic prostatic and supraprostatic obliterative strictures underwent Nd-YAG laser core through urethrotomy as a day care procedure. Patient age ranged between 12 and 14 years. Mean duration of injury was 16 months. The length of stricture was assessed by bi-directional endoscopy prior to the procedure in all cases. Core through procedure was carried out using Nd-YAG laser under the guidance of a cystoscope placed antegradely. Patients were discharged on the same day with urethral catheter. Foley catheters were removed at 6 weeks. Nd-YAG laser core through procedure was carried out successfully in all cases with negligible blood loss in a mean time of 48 min. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. Patients were discharged on the same day. Follow-up cystogram was conducted at 6 weeks and urethroscopy at months. At a mean follow-up of 23 months, patients were asymptomatic and voiding well. Nd-YAG laser core through urethrotomy is a safe and effective procedure. It is a less invasive alternative to more complex urethroplasty procedures for patients with post-traumatic prostatic and supraprostatic strictures. It can be carried out as a day care procedure in carefully selected patients and has no complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective We reviewed the 15-year experience of our institution (Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI) in managing sinonasal inverting papilloma, examining trends in diagnosis and treatment. Study Design Retrospective. Methods Thirty-seven patients with inverting papilloma were treated from 1986 to 1999. Demographic data, clinical presentations, pathological findings, surgical approaches and procedures, and recurrence rates were collected retrospectively. Each lesion was categorized into one of four groups based on computed tomography scans and endoscopic findings. This categorization was developed to compare various surgical approaches for tumors in each group. Results Thirty-one patients had complete information for inclusion in our study. Nineteen patients were treated endoscopically with an average follow-up of 50 months. Eight patients were in group I, five were in group II, six were in group III, and no patients were in group IV. The recurrence rate for the endoscopic group was 10%. Twelve patients underwent lateral rhinotomy or sublabial degloving approach with an average follow-up of 58 months. Five patients were in group I, three patients were in group II, 1 patient was in group III, and three patients were in group IV. The recurrence rate for the external group was 8%. Difference in recurrence rates ( P = .85) was not observed between the endoscopic and external approach groups. Regardless of approach, patients who had primary resection had a recurrence of 0%, whereas those with secondary resection had a recurrence of 17% ( P = .10). Conclusions Technological advancements have led to a trend of detecting sinonasal inverting papilloma before extension beyond the sinonasal region. Difference in recurrence rates was not observed between the endoscopic and the external approach groups. Recurrence rates are lower for primary resection versus secondary resection, regardless of surgical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a 70-year-old man who had two episodes of melena during the preceding 8-year period. He had a Dieulafoy-like lesion in a diverticulum in the third portion of the duodenum. While emergency endoscopy revealed neither apparent blood nor clots around the diverticular orifice, there was a non-bleeding vessel in the fundus of the diverticulum. The vessel ceased bleeding after argon plasma coagulation and, since then, the patient has not experienced bleeding. In cases of gastrointestinal bleeding of obscure origin, duodenal diverticulum should be considered as a possible source of bleeding, even when endoscopy discloses no apparent bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A case is reported in which complete disruption of the bulbous urethra resulted in a straddled-type injury, which was managed by endoscopic realignment with a thin trocar needle. The endoscopic urethroplasty consisted of: (i) direct observation of the proximal end of the obliterated urethra by an antegrade flexible cystoscope; (ii) adjustment of the direction of trocar penetration under fluoroscopy and direct vision; (iii) confirmation of the exact trocar position and penetration by antegrade flexible cystoscope; and (iv) placement of the guidewire following the trocar penetration as guidance for urethrotomy. A Foley catheter was left in place for 6 weeks. To date, no further endoscopic revision has been required. Although long-term follow up and more experience are required, this technique is reported because it appears to be safe, reproducible, simple and minimally invasive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA patient with a müllerian duct cyst, which caused acute renal failure secondary to urinary retention, is reported. The case was treated successfully by transurethral unroofing of the cyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]