Early paracentesis in decompensated cirrhosis As I write this piece, the newspaper front pages are in overdrive over the spread of Coronovirus from central China. There has been talk of military evacuations of Brits in high incidence regions. The medical registrar WhatsApp group at my hospital is replete with protocols to follow should we encounter […]
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Treat to target in IBD? Should this be part of an individualised treatment plan?
Acceptability of a ‘treat to target’ approach in inflammatory bowel disease to patients in clinical remission 1. Christian Selinger1,2, 2. Jenelyn Carbonell1, 3. John Kane1, 4. Mandour Omer1, 5. Alexander Charles Ford1,2 Historically the goal in inflammatory bowel disease was to enable the patient to have absence of symptoms, ideally in the absence of requiring […]
Gastropexy can be as safe as conventional percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), and biomarkers do not predict short-term or long-term outcomes: a 7-year follow-up audit
Porter, R.J., McKinlay, A.W. and Metcalfe, E.L. Gastropexy can be as safe as conventional percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), and biomarkers do not predict short-term or long-term outcomes: a 7-year follow-up audit. Frontline Gastroenterology. 2019 Nov 13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2019-101306 Gastrostomy, the process in which the stomach is anchored to the abdominal wall and a gastrostomy tract […]
Nutrition in Cirrhosis- a case-based review to chew on
Nutrition is important in the management of liver disease. I’m sure for anyone working with cirrhotic patients this is not news, and even for those without extensive nutrition training the fact that the skeletal, sarcopenic patients do very badly is a clear reality we experience regularly on the clinical coal face. However, the challenge we […]
Shape of training review: an impact assessment for UK gastroenterology trainees
Higher specialty training is changing! We need to know how and what the data shows to plan ahead and assure the training of tomorrow’s consultant meets the health requirements of the populations they serve. The below article published in Frontline Gastroenterology examined the potential impact condensing five years into four will have on achieving the key […]
Consensus standards of healthcare for adults and children with inflammatory bowel disease in the UK
Kapasi R, Glatter J, Lamb CA, et al Consensus standards of healthcare for adults and children with inflammatory bowel disease in the UK Frontline Gastroenterology Published Online First: 24 July 2019. doi: 10.1136/flgastro-2019-101260 How do you provide quality care for a patient with IBD? What standards define good quality IBD care? Building on previous IBD standards published in 2009 and 2013 this […]
Paediatric Parenteral Nutrition: Where are we now? What is best practice?
Parenteral nutrition brought about a paradigm shift in the way we approached feeding patients with intestinal failure. Yet despite its 50 year history, this life saving treatment still brings challenges faced by both patients and clinicians. Over the years the number of studies published has grown at an exponential rate, and so the 2005 guidelines […]
Are gluten-free food staples accessible to all patients with coeliac disease?
Original article by: Ozan Hanci, Yvonne M Jeanes I think as gastroenterologists advice regarding lifestyle becomes a standard part of our everyday consultation. Eat less saturated fats, increase fruit and vegetables, decrease the amount of alcohol and in the case of a patient with coeliac disease, stop all gluten products. I am certainly guilty of […]
A hot topic- how to manage acute liver injury from checkpoint inhibitors
In my last piece for this blog I wrote about the revolution in the treatment of hepatitis C. There is always a danger of buying into excessive hype around new treatments- frequently followed by the ‘nadir of despair’ as reality sets in- and therefore I hesitate to begin my current piece again talking about paradigm-shifting […]
Frontline blog: Antibiotics and probiotics in IBD: when to use them?
Original article by: Bincy Abraham and Eamonn M M Quigley We have all been there haven’t we? A patient with IBD, a crp that is through the roof with evidence of co-existing sepsis. To give steroids? To give antibiotics? I have been involved in many cases where antibiotics and steroids combined have been used […]