Because the ocular complaints of IBD patients are often nonspecific, it may be helpful to performed eye examinations as a routine component in the follow-up of these patients. It is well-known that early diagnosis and treatment of ocular involvement may prevent serious ocular complications that could be associated with significant visual morbidity. In addition, clinicians should be aware that some ocular diseases, such as uveitis and scleritis, might precede a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

Functional atherosclerosis is present in inflammatory bowel disease before early structural changes occur in vasculature. Higher sCD40L may indicate worse vascular outcome for IBD.

Background/Aims: The removal of small colon polyps by hot snare polypectomy (HP) is a commonly used method. Polypectomy with a cold snare (CP) has been increasingly utilized in recent years. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Herein, we explored the efficacy and safety of each method. Materials and Methods: Between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012, 97 consecutive patients with small colorectal polyps ranging from 5-9 mm in size were separated into either the CP or HP group. Demographic data, the duration of polypectomy, and pathology reports were recorded. Results: Seventy-seven polyps were removed from 49 patients in the CP group, and 71 polyps were removed from 48 patients in the HP group. There was no significant difference between the groups with respect to gender, age distribution, number of polyps, or indications for colonoscopy. The mean polyp size was 7.21±1.4 mm in the CP group and 7.56±1.45 mm in the HP group (p=0.111). There was a significant difference in the mean procedure time between the two groups (CP, 25.71±4.3 sec; HP, 70.28±11.3 sec, p<0.001). One patient (1.3/1.4%) from each group developed post-polypectomy bleeding that required treatment. Histological evaluation revealed that 10 of the polyps (6.75%) were advanced adenomas. Pathological examination showed that the polyps were not completely removed in 4 patients (5.13%) in the CP group and 4 patients (5.63%) in the HP group (p=0.89). Conclusion: CP is an effective and safe method that shortens the polypectomy duration in small polyps (≤9 mm) compared to HP.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate general anesthesia or propofol-based sedation methods at gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) procedures.The anesthetic method administered to cases undergoing upper gastrointestinal ESD between 2013 and 2015 was retrospectively investigated. Procedure time, lesion size, dissection speed, anesthesia time, adverse effects such as gag reflex, nausea, vomiting, cough, number of desaturation episodes (SpO2 < 90%), oropharyngeal suctioning requirements, hemorrhage, perforation, and amount of anesthetic medications were recorded.There were 54 and 37 patients who were administered sedation (group S) and general anesthesia (group G), respectively. The demographics of the groups were similar. The calculated dissection speed was significantly high in group G (36.02 ± 20.96 mm2/min) compared with group S (26.04 ± 17.56 mm2/min; P = 0.010). The incidence of nausea, cough, number of oropharyngeal suctioning, and desaturation episodes were significantly high in group S compared with that in group G (P < 0.5). While there was no difference between the groups in terms of hemodynamic parameters, in group S the use of propofol and in group G the use of midazolam and fentanyl were significantly higher (P < 0.05). Anesthesia time, postoperative anesthesia care unit, and hospital stay durations were not significantly different between the groups.General anesthesia increased dissection speed and enhanced endoscopist performance when compared with propofol-based sedation technique.

Amaç: Anksiyete invaziv medikal giriflimlere maruz kalan hastalarda yayg›n bir problemdir. Kolonoskopi emek isteyen bir prosedürdür ve baflar›l› sonuç için hastan›n kooperasyonunun iyi olmas› gereklidir. Biz kolonoskopi öncesi rutin bilgilendirmeye ilave-

RP values is reduced in active and inactive UC patients compared to healthy donors. To our knowledge, this is the first study about proportion of RP with UC in literature. However, the role of low RP values have not been determined clinically. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of platelet abnormalities and changes in megakaryopoiesis caused by inflammatory state on low MPV and RP values during the course of UC.

Background/Aims: The frequency of gastric polyps increases with the widespread use of endoscopy for diagnosis and treatment. As gastric polyps can be malignant or premalignant, histopathological evaluation is needed. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and characteristics of gastric polyps in patients undergoing endoscopy. Materials and Methods: This study consisted of a retrospective analysis of 36650 consecutive endoscopy and associated pathology reports of 29940 patients between December 2005 and February 2012 in a tertiary-referral center. Results: Gastric polypoid lesions were detected in 666 (2.22%) patients. Hyperplastic polyps were the most common type of polyps (36.2%), followed by fundic gland polyps (8.3%), inflammatory fibroid polyps (2.4%) and adenomatous polyps (1.9%). Foveolar hyperplasia, neuroendocrine tumor, xanthoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, adenocarcinoma and lymphoma were less commonly seen. Malignant transformation was seen in 0.42% of hyperplastic polyps and in 23.1% of adenomatous polyps. Conclusion: Endoscopic appearance of gastric polyps can be variable, distinguishing macroscopically can be misleading. Because of their malignant potential histopathological evaluation is mandatory and polypectomy should be performed whenever possible.

It is recommended to investigate the serology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and vaccinate seronegative patients at the time of diagnosis in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of HBV vaccine and factors affecting the response.In this retrospective, observational study, HBV-seronegative IBD patients were administered 3 doses (at months 0, 1, and 6) recombinant 20 μg HbsAg. Patients’ demographics, IBD attributes, and treatment methods were investigated as the factors with potential impacts on vaccination outcomes.One hundred twenty-five patients with IBD were evaluated. The number of patients with Anti-HBs >10 IU/L was 71 (56.8%), and the number of patients with anti-HBs >100 IU/L was 50 (40%). Age, disease activity, Crohn disease subtype, and immunosuppressive treatment (IST) were found to have significant effects on immune response (P = 0.011, P < 0.001, P = 0.003, and P < 0.001, respectively). With multivariate analysis, age < 45 years (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.2–8.3, P = 0.020), vaccination during remission (OR 5.6, 95% CI 2.3–14, P < 0.001), and non-IST (OR 11.1, 95% CI 2.9–43.2, P = 0.001) had favorable effects on the occurrence of adequate vaccine response.The likelihood of achieving adequate immune response with standard HBV vaccination protocol in IBD is low. Selecting vaccination protocols with more potent immunogenicity is a better approach to achieve effective vaccine response in patients with multiple unfavorable factors.