Autoimmune pancreatitis is a special type of chronic pancreatitis that can lead to abnormal pancreatic exocrine function in patients. Autoimmune pancreatitis comorbid with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency has a complex pathogenesis， and there is limited research on this topic， leading to the lack of understanding of such patients in clinical practice. This article introduces the epidemiology of autoimmune pancreatitis， briefly describes the pathogenesis of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency caused by autoimmune pancreatitis， and summarizes the various detection methods for pancreatic exocrine function， nutritional assessments， lifestyle management， and drug therapy， in order to strengthen the understanding of autoimmune pancreatitis comorbid with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency.

Objective:To compare the diagnostic efficacy of 22 G fine needle aspiration (FNA) needles and 22 G end-cutting fine needle biopsy (FNB) needles for solid pancreatic lesion using both cytological and histological examination.Methods:Clinical data of 116 patients who underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration/biopsy (EUS-FNA/FNB) at the Digestive Endoscopy Center of Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from June 2022 to March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Sixty-three patients sampled with 22 G FNA needles were the FNA group, and 53 sampled with 22 G FNB needles were the FNB group. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and cytological and histological diagnostic yield of FNA needles and FNB needles for solid pancreatic lesions were compared.Results:There were no significant differences in age, gender, lesion location, lesion size, or the number of passes between the FNA group and the FNB group ( P>0.05). There were no significant differences in the diagnostic accuracy [93.7% (59/63) VS 90.6% (48/53), P=0.730], sensitivity [93.0% (53/57) VS 90.2% (46/51), P=0.732], specificity [100.0% (6/6) VS 100.0% (2/2), P=1.000], positive predictive value [100.0% (53/53) VS 100.0% (46/46), P=1.000] and negative predictive value [60.0% (6/10) VS 28.6% (2/7), P=0.335] of combined cytology and histology in distinguishing benign and malignant lesions between the two groups. In the FNA group, the diagnostic accuracy of combined cytology and histology was higher than cytology alone [93.7% (59/63) VS 81.0% (51/63), P=0.008], and was higher than histology alone without statistical significance [93.7% (59/63) VS 87.3% (55/63), P=0.125]. In the FNB group, the diagnostic accuracy of combined cytology and histology was higher than cytology alone [90.6% (48/53) VS 69.8% (37/53), P=0.001], but not than histology alone [90.6% (48/53) VS 90.6% (48/53)， P=1.000]. For solid masses located in pancreatic body/tail, the diagnostic accuracy for malignancy by histology using FNB needles tended to be higher than that of FNA needles [100.0% (17/17) VS 81.3% (26/32), P=0.080]. Conclusion:Both FNA needles and FNB needles exhibit adequate diagnostic yield for solid pancreatic masses when combining cytology and histology. FNB needles may offer a higher histological diagnostic yield.

Due to the difficult eradication of Helicobacter pylori caused by gradual increase of antibiotic resistance, the widespread use of nonsteroidal anti‑inflammatory drugs, and the common use of antithrombotic therapy in the aging population, the diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer are more challenging than ever. To further explore a new model of diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer in accordance with our national conditions, the Editorial Board of Chinese Journal of Digestion organized an expert committee to develop a new version of the consensus based on "Standardized diagnosis and treatment of peptic ulcer (2016, Xi′an)". The consensus has 30 statements, divided into 9 parts, covering the definition, clinical manifestations, pharmacological treatment, treatment of complications, and prevention of peptic ulcer.

Objective:To observe the pathological changes of different intestinal parts and the changes of intestinal barrier function in mice with acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) induced by sodium taurocholate.Methods:A total of 18 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into sham operation group, ANP 24 h group and ANP 48 h group with 6 mice in each group. The ANP model was established by retrograde injection of 2 μl/g 5% sodium taurocholate into the pancreaticobiliary duct. The sham operation group only underwent intubation. The survival status was recorded. The pathology of pancreatic and intestinal tissues were observed using hematoxylin-eosin staining, and the pathological scores were evaluated. The activities of serum amylase and lipase were measured by automatic biochemistry analyzer. Serum D-lactate levels were detected by ELISA. The expression of tight-junction proteins ZO-1 and occludin in small intestinal tissue was detected by Western blotting.Results:The survival rates of sham operation group, ANP 24 h group and ANP 48 h group were 100%, 36.4% and 25.0%, respectively. The pancreatic pathological scores of sham operation group, ANP 24 h group and ANP 48 h group were (0.67±0.82), (10.58±0.64) and (8.81±1.55); the serum amylase activities were (479.14±86.42), (5998.72±2096.31) and (3055.43±2336.5)U/L; the serum lipase activities were (18.56±3.84), (558.20±559.65) and (112.58±94.91)U/L. The pancreatic pathological scores, serum amylase and lipase levels in ANP group were higher than those in sham operation group, and the increase in ANP 24 h group was more significant, and the difference was statistically significant (all P value <0.05). The upper small intestine pathological scores in different groups were (0.17±0.41), (2.11±1.41) and (1.61±0.80); The lower small intestine pathological scores were (0.17±0.41), (1.00±0.76) and (1.06±0.25); the colonic pathological scores were (0.33±0.52), (0.67±0.82) and (0.67±0.52), respectively. The serum D-lactic acid level was (388.92±126.30), (2159.11±386.12) and (307.69±141.18) μmol/L. The expression of ZO-1 was (0.87±0.08), (0.19±0.18) and (0.50±0.19); the expression of occludin was (0.98±0.04), (0.13±0.08) and (0.69±0.04). The pathological scores of upper and lower segments of small intestine in ANP 24 h group and ANP 48 h group were significantly higher than those in the sham operation group (all P value <0.05). There was no significant difference on colonic pathological score among the three groups. The serum D lactate level in the ANP 24 h group was significantly higher than that in the sham operation group ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the ANP 48 h group and the sham operation group. The expression of ZO-1 and occludin was decreased in ANP group compared with that in the sham operation group ( P value <0.05). Conclusions:ANP mouse model was successfully induced by sodium taurocholate, and the intestinal pathological changes were mainly concentrated on the small intestine, especially upper part of small intestine. The dysfunction of intestinal barrier was significantly aggravated within 24 hours after modeling, and the intestinal barrier function gradually recovered after 48 hours.

Objective:To compare the efficacy and safety between WangShiBaoChiWan and mosapride in the treatment of functional dyspepsia (FD).Methods:From September 2019 to September 2020, patients with postprandial fullness and early satiation who met the Rome Ⅳ criteria for FD diagnosis were enrolled from 15 hospitals, including the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University (Shanghai Changhai Hospital), Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical College. The subjects were randomly divided into WangShiBaoChiWan (experimental) group and mosapride (control) group in the ratio of 1∶1. The treatment regimens were WangShiBaoChiWan+ mosapride simulator, WangShiBaoChiWan simulator+ mosapride, respectively with a treatment period of 2 weeks. The primary efficacy outcome was the improvement rates of main symptoms before and after treatment, the secondary efficacy primary efficacy outcome was the total clinical effective rate and the change of the single symptom score. And the safety indicator included adverse events. Independent sample t-test, paired t-test and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results:A total of 251 FD patients were enrolled in the full analysis set, including 124 in the experimental group and 127 in the control group; 241 FD patients were in the per-protocol analysis set, including 117 in the experimental group and 124 in the control group. The analysis of per-protocol analysis set showed that the improvement rates of the main symptoms of the experimental group and the control group were (66±29)% and (60±30)%, respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). The improvement rate of the main symptoms of the experimental group reached 117% of that of the control group, which exceeded the expected non-inferiority standard of 80%. The total clinical effective rates of the experimental group and the control group were 76.07% (89/117) and 75.81% (94/124), respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). The results of full analysis set showed that the incidence of adverse events of the experimental group and the control group was 1.62% (2/124) and 1.57% (2/127), respectively, and the difference was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). There were no serious adverse events in the two groups. Conclusion:The improvement rate of the main symptoms of WangShiBaoChiWan is not inferior to that of mosapride in the treatment of FD, and it has good safety.

Background; Sucralfate is a commonly used gastric mucosal protector in clinical practice. It can be dissociated into aluminum hydroxide and sucrose sulfate under the action of gastric acid. As a topical agent, sucralfate is mainly excreted with feces, and the tiny amount of sucralfate absorbed in gastrointestinal tract is excreted with urine in the form of disaccharide sulfate. Aims; To study the effect and safety of a domestic made oral sucralfate suspensoid gel on blood aluminum concentration. Methods; Twenty-three healthy volunteers participated in this study from June 2021 to September 2021 at the Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. All subjects received sucralfate suspensoid gel daily (1 h before breakfast in the morning, and before bedtime in the evening, 1 g each time) for 2 weeks. Blood samples were collected on day 1 (before sucralfate administration) and day 15 (after medication completion) for determination of blood aluminum concentration. Any adverse events (including abnormal laboratory indicators) were recorded. Results: No significant difference was existed in mean blood aluminum concentration of the healthy subjects between time points before and after sucralfate administration [(47. 66 ± 15. 64) μg/L vs. (39. 12 ± 2 0. 42) μg/L, P > 0. 0 5]. All the blood aluminum values after medication were within the reference range (70 μ g/L), so did the blood routine, urine routine and blood biochemical indicators before and after medication. No severe adverse events were reported. Conclusions; The domestic made sucralfate suspensoid gel used in this study for 2 weeks has no adverse effect on blood aluminum concentration in healthy subjects. It is considered to be safe and reliable, and is worthy for clinical application.

Phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) functions as a catalyzing enzyme targeting hydrolyzation of intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and inhibition of PDE4 has been proven to be a competitive strategy for dermatological and pulmonary inflammation. However, the pathological role of PDE4 and the therapeutic feasibility of PDE4 inhibitors in chronic ulcerative colitis (UC) are less clearly understood. This study introduced apremilast, a breakthrough in discovery of PDE4 inhibitors, to explore the therapeutic capacity in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced experimental murine chronic UC. In the inflamed tissues, overexpression of PDE4 isoforms and defective cAMP-mediating pathway were firstly identified in chronic UC patients. Therapeutically, inhibition of PDE4 by apremilast modulated cAMP-predominant protein kinase A (PKA)-cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) signaling and ameliorated the clinical symptoms of chronic UC, as evidenced by improvements on mucosal ulcerations, tissue fibrosis, and inflammatory infiltrations. Consequently, apremilast maintained a normal intestinal physical and chemical barrier function and rebuilt the mucosal homeostasis by interfering with the cross-talk between human epithelial cells and immune cells. Furthermore, we found that apremilast could remap the landscape of gut microbiota and exert regulatory effects on antimicrobial responses and the function of mucus in the gut microenvironment. Taken together, the present study revealed that intervene of PDE4 provided an infusive therapeutic strategy for patients with chronic and relapsing UC.

Objective:To explore the value of detachable string-magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy (DS-MCE) in the evaluation of post-endoscopic treatment of liver cirrhosis patients with gastroesophageal varices during follow-up, and conventional electronic esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was used as the gold standard.Methods:From July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021, 50 follow-up patients with gastroesophageal varices due to liver cirrhosis and had a past medical history of endoscopic treatment in Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine were selected. DS-MCE and EGD were performed in turn. The 2 endoscopic examination methods were compared and analyzed in the assessment of detecting gastroesophageal varices, grading of diameter of esophageal varices and classification of bleeding risk factors (including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value), diagnosis of portal hypertensive gastropathy and its severity, and the patients′ satisfaction (pre-procedural perceptual and post-procedural satisfaction). Kruskal-Wallis test and Kappa test were used for statistical analysis.Results:The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of DS-MCE in the diagnosis of esophageal varices were 100.0% (43/43), 85.7%(6/7), 97.7% (43/44) and 100.0%(6/6), respectively.The accuracy of DS-MCE in evaluating the grading of esophageal varices was 86.0% (43/50), with good consistency of EGD, and the Kappa value was 0.797 ( P<0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of DS-MCE in the diagnosis of esophageal varices with bleeding risk factors were 94.4% (34/36), 100.0%(14/14), 100.0% (34/34) and 87.5%(14/16), respectively. The accuracy of DS-MCE in evaluating esophageal varices with bleeding risk factors was 94.0% (47/50), with good consistency of EGD, and the Kappa value was 0.862 ( P<0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of DS-MCE in the diagnosis of gastric varices were 85.7% (18/21), 93.1% (27/29), 90.0% (18/20) and 90.0% (27/30), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of DS-MCE in the diagnosis of portal hypertensive gastropathy were all 100.0% (50/50). The consistency of DS-MCE and EGD in the severity grading of portal hypertensive gastropathy was good, the Kappa value was 0.962 ( P<0.001). The results of pre-procedural perceptual analysis showed that patients′ psychological tension before examination and expected pain before examination of DS-MCE were better than those of EGD ( H=16.04 and 23.74, both P<0.001). The results of satisfactory analysis after examination indicated that DS-MCE was better than EGD in the degree of difficulty in swallowing, pain and discomfort during examination, pain and discomfort after examination, comfort degree during examination, convenience of the procedure and willingness of receiving such examination again as gastric examination method ( H=17.28, 30.88, 44.68, 34.66, 48.05, 22.74, 13.03 and 17.19, all P<0.001). Conclusions:With EGD as the gold standard, DS-MCE can accurately evaluate gastroesophageal varices and portal hypertensive gastroenteropathy after endoscopic treatment in patients with liver cirrhosis and gastroesophageal varices, and it is a safe and comfortable method. DS-MCE can be an efficient alternative method in endoscopic follow-up of such patients.

Objective To investigate factors affecting ampullary access of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in patients undergoing Billroth Ⅱ gastrectomy.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on data of 261 patients with Billroth Ⅱ gastrectomy who underwent ERCP at Changhai Hospital from January 2008 to December 2017.Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the potential factors affecting successful ampullary access,and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the predictive ability of potential factors.Results A total of 345 ERCP sessions were collected.The successful ampullary access and cannulation rate were 82.3％ (284/345) and 89.1％ (253/284),respectively.The main reasons for ERCP procedural failure were unable to reach the duodenal blind end and find the papilla (66.3％,61/92) and failure of selective cannulation (33.7％,31/92).The ERCP-related complication rate was 14.2％ (49/345),with post-ERCP pancreatitis rate was 3.2％ (11/345).Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the first ERCP attempt (OR=7.717,95％CI:2.581-23.068.P＜0.001),with Braun anastomosis (OR =8.737,95％CI:2.479-30.797,P =0.001),and no cap-assisted forward-viewing gastroscope (OR =2.774,95％ CI:1.283-5.997,P=0.009) were independent risk factors for failure of ampullary access.According to the B value of each risk factor in logistic regression analysis,that is,no cap-assisted as 1 point,the first ERCP attempt as 2 points,and Braun anastomosis as 2 points,the area under ROC curve was 0.773.When the cut-off point was 2.5,the sensitivity and specificity were 75.0％ and 70.8％,respectively.Conclusion The first ERCP attempt,with Braun anastomosis,and no cap-assisted forward-viewing gastroscope are risk factors for failure of ampullary access of ERCP in Billroth Ⅱ gastrectomy patients.Early identification of high-risk patients may help to improve the success rate of ampullary access.

At present, the diagnostic criteria for autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) mainly rely on imaging findings. As a type of imaging examination, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has not been included in the diagnostic criteria for AIP. More and more studies have shown the value of EUS in the diagnosis of AIP. As an minimally invasive procedure, EUS-guided biopsy can accurately obtain histological samples and thus avoid open biopsy or unnecessary surgeries, and therefore, it shows unique advantages in clarifying pathological diagnosis. This article reviews the role of EUS in the diagnosis of AIP, including the features of EUS images, new image enhancement pattern, and EUS-guided biopsy.