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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common liver disease that progressively develops in four stages (steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-NASH, fibrosis, cirrhosis). In order to accurately evaluate the amount of fat content inside the hepatocytes, non-invasive imaging studies such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the liver can be used as an alternative method to the traditional invasive liver biopsy. The main objective of our study was to quantitatively assess hepatic steatosis before and after treatment using liver MRS. The study group included 35 patients diagnosed with NAFLD who freely expressed their agreement to take part in this study. The treatment lasted 6 months and consisted of administering a local commercially available liver protection supplement combined with dietary and lifestyle adjustments. The initial quantitative assessment of the liver fat content using MRS revealed a hepatic lipid accumulation ranging from 15.70% to 68.03%, with a mean value of 41.26%. The subsequent liver MRS performed after 6 months of proper treatment indicated a fat content inside the liver parenchyma ranging from 15.47% to 58.98%, with a mean value of 36.07%. The therapeutic measures that were applied to the patients managed to reduce the amount of fat content inside the liver parenchyma in 24 patients (68.57%), while in 11 patients (31.43%) the results revealed an increase in hepatic lipid content. In conclusion, the current study reached its initial objective and offered a modern approach regarding the pre and post-treatment evaluation of hepatic steatosis using MRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can sometimes be challenging. By corroborating clinical, imaging and histological data, the two main entities of IBD, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (CD), can be differentiated in most cases. However, there remains 10–20% of patients where the diagnosis cannot be accurately established, in which case the term "IBD unclassified" is used. The imaging techniques most used to evaluate patients with IBD include colonoscopy, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging. Endoscopic ultrasonography is mainly recommended for the evaluation of perianal CD. Through this work, we aim to identify other uses of this method in the case of patients with IBD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In some cases, there may be a discrepancy between the symptomatology alleged by Crohn's disease (CD) patients and the results of laboratory tests or imaging investigations. Ileocolonoscopy with biopsy is the primary investigation for diagnosing and monitoring CD patients. Cross-sectional imaging techniques such as CT or MR enterography (MRE) and intestinal ultrasonography (IUS) have been proposed as complementary methods to colonoscopy for a complete evaluation of this category of patients. This study aims to identify the role of IUS, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and MRE in evaluating ileal CD activity, using clinical severity scores (Crohn's disease activity index—CDAI, Harvey–Bradshaw index—HBI) and faecal calprotectin or C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as reference methods. Materials and Methods: A total of 44 adult patients with ileal CD confirmed using an ileocolonoscopy with biopsy and histopathological examination were assessed by IUS, CEUS and MRE. The evaluation of the disease activity based on the results obtained from the cross-sectional imaging tests was carried out by using some severity scores available in the literature. The sensitivity and specificity of IUS + CEUS and MRE for differentiating active from inactive forms of CD were determined using CDAI, HBI, faecal calprotectin and CRP as reference methods. The accuracy of the results was assessed by the receiver operating characteristics method. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the types of correlation. A p-value less than 0.05 suggested a statistically significant relationship. Results: Compared to CDAI, the best correlation was identified for Limberg score (r = 0.667, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.46, 0.8], p < 0.001), followed by MaRIAs score (r = 0.614, 95% CI [0.39, 0.77], p < 0.001). A sensitivity of 93.33% and a specificity of 71.43% (AUC = 0.98) were demonstrated in the case of Limberg score for differentiating patients with active disease from those in remission and for MaRIAs score a sensitivity of 100.00% and a specificity of 57.14% (AUC = 0.97). Regarding HBI, the best correlation was observed for MaRIAs score (r = 0.594, 95% CI [0.36, 0.76], p < 0.001). Also, faecal calprotectin showed the best correlation with MaRIAs score (r = 0.697, 95% CI [0.46, 0.84], p < 0.001), but in the case of CRP, there was only a weak correlation for all evaluated scores. Conclusions: Although magnetic resonance imaging does not appear to be superior to ultrasonography in terms of accuracy for differentiating active forms of CD from those in remission, the results of our study suggest that MRE associates a better correlation with clinical severity scores and faecal calprotectin levels compared to ultrasonography. More studies are needed to validate these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite progresses made in oncology, pancreatic adenocarcinoma has a grim prognosis and commonly presents with rapidly advancing jaundice which requires endoscopic treatment. Aim: Our objective was to show the perspective of a high ERCP volume dedicated Center on endoscopic stenting for malignant biliary obstruction consecutive to pancreatic cancer. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study, between October 2017 and October 2020, and enrolled hospitalized patients within the Gastroenterology Department of the Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with secondary malignant biliary obstruction which underwent ERCP stenting. Results: We identified 269 patients which were admitted in our Clinic with a pancreatic lesion on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging and underwent EUS-FNA. 115 patients with proven pancreatic malignancy were selected and underwent ERCP stenting. 69 received plastic stents and 46 metal biliary stents, with the stent chosen based on patient's characteristics and availability at the time of the procedure. Per total 234 stents were used for relief of the cholestasis syndrome. The number of ERCP procedures was higher in the plastic stents group with a median of 1,8 whereas the SEMS had 1,5 range of procedures. Procedures were successful in 54 patients following plastic stents and 33 that underwent SEMS. At 30 days, overall mortality rate was of 5%. Conclusions: Malignant obstruction secondary to pancreatic cancer is amenable by ERCP. However, choosing the right stents still varies. SEMS seem to be more efficient on a long term with fewer complications rates and further studies should be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increased number of pancreatic cysts are being diagnosed due to the increased usage of cross-sectional imaging. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology and molecular analysis of these cystic lesions have led to their better detection and characterization. The aim of this review is to assess the value of cyst fluid analysis for the differential diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions, in view of the recent progresses of molecular analysis methods. Pancreatic cysts can be either simple (retention) cysts, pseudocysts and cystic neoplasms, while these are further subdivided into serous cystadenomas, mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) or intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). EUS is now being used to investigate cystic pancreatic lesions, particularly by means of EUS-guided cyst aspiration and sampling of the cyst wall or septa, as well as mural nodules. Cyst fluid can be further studied after aspiration in order to analyze cytology, viscosity, extracellular mucin, other tumor markers (CEA, CA 19-9, CA 15-3, Ca 72-4, etc.), enzymes (amylase, lipase), as well as DNA analysis of DNA quality/content or mutational analysis to study allelic imbalance/LOH (loss of heterozygosity) and K-ras mutations. After careful review of the published studies, a conclusion was reached that the use of tumor and molecular markers in conjunction with multimodality detection methods such as CT, MR and EUS-FNA allows risk stratification, while being also cost-effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]