Symptoms compatible with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) such as abdominal pain and diarrhea may co exist in approximately one-third of patients with quiescent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD),so called IBS-like symptoms.These symptoms present as a clinical dilemma for management of IBD and diminish the patients' quality of life remarkably.IBS-like symptoms raise much concern in the research field of IBD in recent years.In this article,the latest research progress focusing on the prevalence,pathogenesis and management of IBS-like symptoms coexisting with quiescent IBD was reviewed.

Objective:To analyze the clinical and radiological features of patients with resected pancreatic serous cystic neoplasm (SCN).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and radiological data of 172 patients with pancreatic SCN who underwent surgical resection and were pathological confirmed at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from September 2014 to April 2022. These patients were categorized into two cohorts including 2014—2018 cohort ( n=84) and 2019—2022 ( n=88) for comparative analysis based on the operation time. Results:The radiological diagnostic accuracy for SCN was found to be notably low at 11.6%(20/172), which was mostly misdiagnosed as mucinous cystic neoplasms (86/172, 50.0%) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (35/172, 20.3%). No statistically significant variance was observed on the misdiagnosis rate between the two cohorts. There was a substantial increase of the number of lesions located in pancreatic body and tail (76.1% vs 53.6%, P=0.004) and a marked decrease in the number of those located in pancreatic head and neck (22.7% vs 39.3%, P=0.019) in 2019-2022 cohort, compared to the 2014-2018 cohort. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in the occurrence of SCN calcification and peri-lesional venous alterations (22.8% vs 45.1%, P=0.006; 25.0% vs 46.4%, P=0.003), a decrease in the presence of fibrous scarring within SCN (31.8% vs 45.2%, P=0.070), and an increase in cases with dilatation of the upstream main pancreatic duct (28.2% vs 16.3%, P=0.065). The clinical characteristics and the rate of postoperative complications did not significantly differ between the two cohorts. Complication rates after pancreatoduodenectomy were significantly higher than those following distal pancreatectomy (46.4% vs 22.9%, P=0.010). The presence of clinical symptoms was significantly linked to the size of SCN and the expansion of the main pancreatic duct (45.4% vs 29.3%, P=0.032; 64.9% vs 31.2%, P<0.001). Conclusions:The accuracy of preoperative radiological diagnosis for SCN is still low, with a noted increase in the proportion of SCN exhibiting atypical radiological features in recent years. The frequency of postoperative complications is relatively high and does not have an obvious decreased trend.

Objective:To investigate the clinical value of Tyro3/Axl/Mertk (TAM) receptor tyrosine kinase and ligands in severity evaluation for acute pancreatitis (AP).Methods:The peripheral blood and clinical data of 27 patients with AP admitted in the Department of Gastroenterology of Shanghai General Hospital from February 2020 to July 2022 were prospectively selected. The patients were divided in to mild AP group (MAP, n=13), moderately severe AP (MSAP, n=10) and severe AP group (SAP, n=4) according to the 2012-revised Atlanta classification for AP. Another 10 healthy normal subjects were selected as the control group. The general information, biochemical indicators and blood cell analysis of the patients were recorded, and the levels of serum Gas6, protein S and soluble Axl (sAxl) were measured by ELISA. Linear regression equations were used to analyze the correlation of serum Gas6, protein S and sAxl levels with the white blood cell (WBC) counts, neutrophil percentages, lymphocyte percentages, and monocyte percentages of each group, and to assess the clinical value of Gas6, protein S and sAxl in predicting the severity of AP patients. Results:Compared with the control group, the serum Gas6 level [(31.3±13.0)ng/ml vs (21.2±2.6)ng/ml], protein S level [(24.4±11.3)μg/ml vs (17.7±3.4)μg/ml], and sAxl level [(9.0±4.4)ng/ml vs (6.6±1.3)ng/ml] were significantly higher in the AP group. The Gas6 level was significantly higher in the SAP group (54.1±13.7 ng/ml) than in the MAP group (31.0±9.4 ng/ml) and the MSAP group (25.2±8.9 ng/ml), and the differences were statistically significant (all P value <0.05). The Gas6 level was significantly positively correlated with the WBC count ( r=0.1733) and neutrophils percentage ( r=0.4424), and negatively correlated with lymphocyte percentage(r=-0.363), with statistically significant differences (all P value <0.05). The levels of protein S and sAXL were positively correlated WBC count and neutrophil percentage, and negatively correlated with monocyte percentage and lymphocyte percentage, but the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions:The serum levels of Gas6 increase significantly with the severity grading of AP, which may serve as a relatively good predictor for the early severity assessment of AP.

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare acquired hematopoietic stem cell disease. Gastrointestinal involvement is rarely seen in PNH. This study aims to analyze the clinical features in PNH patients complicated with ischemic bowel disease. Clinical date of 6 patients were collected at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2010 to December 2020. The clinical manifestations, laboratory tests,imaging, endoscopic,and histopathological features and treatment were analyzed.Five in 6 patients were men, with a median age of 31 years old at onset. Most of disease course were recurrent episodes of chronic disease, with abdominal pain (5/6) and gastrointestinal bleeding (5/6). Laboratory examinations showed pancytopenia, reticulocytosis, elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase, high D-dimer and C-reactive protein levels in all patients. Multiple segments of small intestine were the most commonly involved and colon was also affected. Abdominal CT scan showed thickening and roughness or exudation of the intestinal wall (6/6), increased mesenteric density or “comb sign”(4/6), and cholestasis or gallbladder stones (5/6). Endoscopic manifestations included irregular shallow ulcers in the annular cavity (5/6), swelling mucosa with well-defined margins (6/6). Pathological biopsy revealed chronic inflammation of mucosa. The efficacy of steroids combined with anticoagulant therapy was better than that of steroids alone. Ischemic bowel disease in PNH patients is different from typical ischemic enteritis. Young patients, involvement of intestine with multiple segments are common characteristics. The anticoagulant is an essential agent for these patients.

Objective:To summarize and analyze the clinical, laboratory and imaging characteristics of patients with Caroli syndrome (CS), so as to deepen the understanding of the disease and explore the possible methods for improving early diagnosis.Methods:From January 2008 to June 2021, the clinical data of 18 CS patients who were hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital and diagnosed by pathology or by clinical and imaging features were collected. The general data, clinical manifestations, laboratory examination (white blood cell count, hemoglobin, etc.), imaging features (ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)), and diagnosis and treatment of the patients were retrospectively analyzed. Descriptive method was used for statistical analysis.Results:The median age of 18 CS patients was 18 years old (ranged from 1 to 39 years old); there were 10 male and 8 female patients with a male-to-female ratio of 5∶4. The median time from symptom onset to diagnosis was 24 months (ranged from 1 month to 28 years). At the time of diagnosis, 15 patients had already had portal hypertension-related complications, and 8 patients had biliary infections. The common symptoms included abdominal distension (6 cases), fever with or without abdominal pain (5 cases), and loss of appetite (3 cases). The common abnormal laboratory findings included peripheral white blood cell count, hemoglobin level and platelet count below the normal reference value range, alanine aminotransferase and bilirubin level above the normal reference value range, and 4 patients had positive autoantibodies. Four patients were clearly diagnosed according to the pathology of liver biopsy, 14 patients were clearly diagnosed by imaging. Among which the diagnostic rate of abdominal ultrasonography for CS was 4/18, CT was 11/15, and MRI or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography was 12/16. The typical features of abdominal ultrasonography were liver cysts with splenomegaly, typical manifestation of CT was intrahepatic bile duct dilatation with " central dot sign", and MRI typically manifested as multiple cystic dilatations of intrahepatic bile ducts. Among the 18 patients with CS, 1 case underwent right hepatectomy, 3 cases were waiting for liver transplantation, and the other 14 patients chose symptomatic treatment due to economic reasons.Conclusions:The clinical manifestations and laboratory findings of CS patients lack specificity, and the diagnosis of most patients is delayed. The lack of understanding of the disease by clinical and imaging doctors may be one of the reasons affecting the early diagnosis of CS patients. The findings of splenomegaly and liver cysts by abdominal ultrasound may provide clues for the diagnosis of CS for clinical and imaging doctors.

Objective:To study the clinical characteristics and endoscopic manifestations of patients with systemic amyloidosis involved in digestive tract.Methods:Clinical and endoscopic features, biopsy locations and positive rate of patients with systemic amyloidosis involved in digestive tract at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from December, 1991 to December, 2004 (1991 to 2004 diagnosed group, 18 cases) and from March 17th, 2009 to November 4th, 2020 (2009 to 2020 diagnosed group, 47 cases) were retrospectively analyzed and compared. Independent sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results:Among 47 patients in 2009 to 2020 diagnosed group, 41 were primary amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis, and the age of onset was older than that of 1991 to 2004 diagnosed group ((57.15±9.10) years old vs. (50.75±10.90) years old), and the time from disease onset to diagnosis was shorter than that of 1991 to 2004 diagnosed group ((13.48±11.72) months vs. (26.38±23.02) months), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=2.08 and -2.13, P=0.048 and 0.047). There was no significant difference in time from disease onset to diagnosis between patients with gastrointestinal manifestations at disease onset and patients without gastrointestinal manifestations at disease onset (10.5 months (6.0 months, 17.3 months) vs.14.0 months (5.8 months, 25.0 months), P>0.05). Among primary AL amyloidosis patients in 2009 to 2020 diagnosed group, weight loss was the most common clinical symptom, the proportion of patients was 87.8%(36/41); secondary was gastrointestinal bleeding, among which 18 patients (43.9%) were stool occult blood test positive and 4 patients (9.8%) were with melena or bloody stool. The endoscopic features of patients with biopsy-confirmed digestive tract involvemen vary, including mucosa hemorrhage and oozing of blood in 4 cases, fragile mucosa and easy to bleed in 3 cases, and 4 cases with bulged mucosa and all the 4 cases of biopsy at bulged mucosa was positive. Gingiva and tongue were the most common biopsy locations and the positive rate of biopsy was ≥60.0%. Rectal mucosa biopsy was performed in 15 patients and 6 were Congo red staining positive. Heart or kidney biopsy was performed in 3 and 6 patients, and the number of positive cases was 2 and 4, respectively. Conclusions:Weight loss and gastrointestinal bleeding are the common gastrointestinal symptoms of primary AL amyloidosis. The common endoscopic manifestations included mucosal bleeding, fragile and bulged mucosa. Biopsy at multiple locations according to experience may help earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Behcet′s disease is a chronic systemic vasculitis with unknown etiology that can involve multiple organs. Behcet′s disease with predominant gastrointestinal manifestations is diagnosed with intestinal Behcet′s disease. Severe complications such as gastrointestinal massive hemorrhage, perforation and obstruction may occur in intestinal Behcet′s disease. If not treated in time, they are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Here, we will review the lesion distribution, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and disease activity of intestinal Behcet′s disease for better understanding of clinicians.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide pandemic. During the rapid spread time, it is a great challenge for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who use immunosuppressive drugs from vaccination and drug application. This article is intended to supplement and revise the recommendations of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Group of the Chinese Society of Gastroenterology in 2020 on the "Management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease during epidemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia", mainly including the treatment and vaccination of IBD patients complicated with COVID-19. It is expected to guide clinicians in drug use, vaccination of IBD patients at an appropriate time, also help patients getting through the epidemic period of COVID-19.

Objective To sum up the experience in diagnosis of fungal esophagitis. Methods An analysis was per-formed on clinical data of 38 cases of fungal esophagitis diagnosed through gastroscopy in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2015. Results Of 38 cases, 26 were males and 12 were females. The mean age was(54.0±1.5) years old.76.3% had at least one risk factor.7 patients had oral candidiasis and 10 pa-tients had typical symptom of fungal esophagitis. Endoscopic severity was classified according to Kodsi's grade:gradeⅠ6 cases,grade Ⅱ29 cases, grade Ⅲ 1 case,grade Ⅳ 2 cases. Most patients were treated with systemic antifungal therapy. However,one patient's fungal esophagitis resolved without any treatment. Conclusions Endos-copy with biopsy is a valuable definitive diagnostic method for fungal esophagitis, especially for asymptomatic pa-tients or those without oral candidiasis. Systemic antifungal treatment is recommended with fluconazole as the first choice. More evaluation is needed to determine if systemic antifungal therapy is necessary for asymptomatic and im-munocompetent patients with mild fungal esophagitis.