My approach to water assisted colonoscopy: Keith Siau, Iosif Beintaris Unless you are an innately skilled endoscopist, learning colonoscopy can be a difficult process for both the trainee, the trainer and even sometimes the patient. The learning curve for me in colonoscopy was a steep one. So often would I be parked up against the […]
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Controversies in functional bowel disease
The Frontline team are really excited to relaunch our twitter debates. Historically these have been a great source of education not only healthcare professionals but public and patients alike. We will now provide a monthly twitter debate entitled “controversies in……”. These aim to discuss some of the more contentious topics in the field of gastroenterology. […]
Blog: Impact of therapeutic drug level monitoring on outcomes of patients with Crohn’s disease treated with Infliximab: real world data from a retrospective single centre cohort study
Authors of paper Nikolaos Kamperidis, Paul Middleton, Tracey Tyrrell, Ioannis Stasinos, Naila Arebi To switch infliximab or not to switch infliximab that may be the question for many physicians looking after Inflammatory Bowel Disease…Prior to our ability to measure infliximab drug levels or ‘therapeutic drug monitoring’ (TDM) this may have been a bit of […]
New BMJ ORCID Policy- A Simple System to Link Your Research
Have you ever noticed that as soon as people begin to publish papers in academic journals, their protectiveness over a thus far long forgotten middle initial suddenly assumes unprecedented significance? Personally, my middle name was primarily a source of embarrassment before I began to insist my name appeared as ‘James B Maurice’ on papers, however […]
Yellowish lesion in the colon
An 82-year-old woman with a history of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis treated with 4 mg/day prednisolone underwent a colonoscopy because of a positive fecal occult blood test. This revealed a 2-mm slightly elevated yellowish lesion in the transverse colon (figure 1). Narrow-band imaging showed intact pits of the colonic mucosa (figure 2). Physical examination was […]
A blushing ulcer?
An elderly lady was admitted to hospital following recurrent episodes of malaena. She had an oesophagoduodenoscopy which revealed a large bleeding gastric ulcer (50mm) near the lesser curvature of the stomach (Forrest III). (Figure 1). The vessel was clipped and spray applied with haemospray. She had a repeat CT angiogram the next day. (Figure 2). […]
Thoracic and abdominal pain in a 28-year old woman with a failing kidney transplant
A 28-year old woman with a failing kidney transplant due to rejection (on high dose Prednisolone and Alemtuzumab) presented with increasing right-sided thoracic pain and abdominal discomfort. Physical examination revealed no abnormalities. Laboratory results showed a normal white blood cell count, low serum C-reactive protein, normal level of liver enzymes and electrolytes, an elevated serum […]
When food gets stuck…?
An 86-year-old woman with a background of ischaemic heart disease presented with dysphagia and odynophagia while eating toast for breakfast followed by sudden onset severe sharp retrosternal and epigastric pain radiating to her back and 3 episodes of coffee-ground vomiting. There were no reported episodes of melaena or syncope. She remained haemodynamically stable. Her blood […]
#FGdebate: Gastroenterology and hepatology training: time for a divorce?
Date: Monday 9th October Time: 8-9pm GMT Guest: Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy @aelsharkawy75 Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy was appointed as a Consultant Hepatologist in March 2012. He qualified from Southampton in 1999 before doing his core medical training in Nottingham followed by registrar training on both the Wessex and Northern Deanery schemes. His PhD was in the […]
An unusual cause of intestinal failure
A 62 year old man with well controlled type 2 diabetes presented with abdominal symptoms, significant weight loss and night blindness. He was vitamin A deficient, had marked peripheral oedema and a serum albumin of 12g/l, requiring TPN. Stool culture and testing for HIV and TB were negative. Immunoglobulin levels were normal. Computed tomography showed […]