Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology最新文献

Background: First-degree family history of gastric cancer is a risk factor for gastric cancer and precancerous conditions, but only a few studies exist regarding the endoscopic follow-up of these patients. This study investigates endoscopic and histological findings over a 15-year period in patients with first-degree relatives of gastric cancer intestinal type who underwent follow-up upper gastrointestinal endoscopies.

Research design and methods: We conducted a retrospective real-world observational study involving patients who underwent at least two upper gastrointestinal endoscopies between 2008 and 2023 at Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome. The study analyzed histological findings, dividing participants into four subgroups based on their baseline conditions [H. pylori infection, gastric atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia].

Results: One hundred and six patients were included, only 13% were indicated for follow-up endoscopy according to the MAPS guidelines. An additional 13% of patients developed precancerous conditions, most of whom were H. pylori positive at the index examination, with an odds ratio risk of 6.778 (p = 0.004).

Conclusions: Performing routinely virtual chromoendoscopy during the index endoscopy in these patients could improve the detection of precancerous conditions. Special attention should be given to H. pylori-positive patients due to their increased risk of developing precancerous conditions, for whom follow-up endoscopies may be beneficial.

Introduction: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disorder in children and is increasingly recognized as a multisystem condition. Among its extrahepatic manifestations, gastrointestinal (GI) comorbidities significantly influence disease progression and long-term outcomes. A deeper understanding of the liver - gut pathophysiological interplay is essential for developing integrated, multidisciplinary management strategies.

Areas covered: This narrative review summarizes current evidence on hepatic and GI comorbidities in pediatric MASLD. A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar to identify relevant studies published to date. Beyond disease progression, the review highlights the wide spectrum of GI comorbidities, potential malignancy risks, and emerging pathophysiological insights that may inform the development of targeted therapeutic strategies.

Expert opinion: MASLD is a significant early-life risk factor for various GI comorbidities, highlighting the need for thorough GI assessment in pediatric MASLD management. Early detection, prevention, and comprehensive management are essential to reduce long-term complications and slow disease progression. Developing pediatric-specific guidelines and validated noninvasive biomarkers is crucial to enable standardized screening, risk stratification, and monitoring. Continued research - especially incorporating omics technologies - is vital for improving risk prediction, enabling earlier diagnosis, and advancing personalized therapies, ultimately enhancing outcomes and reducing disease burden.

Introduction: Subcutaneous infliximab (SC-IFX) is an efficacious medication for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, there is limited information about treatment optimization following loss of response (LOR), the role of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), and combination therapy with an immunomodulator (IMM) and efficacy of SC-IFX in perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease (CD).

Areas covered: This narrative review will provide an overview of the efficacy of SC-IFX in IBD including perianal fistulising CD, the effectiveness of dose escalation after LOR, and the role of TDM and IMM use. A literature search was performed using PubMed and reviewed references from applicable manuscripts and abstracts from major gastrointestinal medical congresses between January 2021 and 20 May 2025.

Expert opinion: Current data suggest that SC-IFX is effective in the treatment of IBD. Moreover, cumulative data suggest that dose escalation is effective in recapturing response in patients with LOR, and that higher drug concentrations are associated with better outcomes. However, there are still major gaps in understanding the role of drug clearance, immunogenicity, and the role of TDM for optimizing SC-IFX. Moreover, the impact of body mass index and concomitant IMM therapy on clinical outcomes as well as the efficiency of SC-IFX in more complicated IBD phenotypes remains to be elucidated.

Introduction: Abdominal pain disorders (APDs), including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional abdominal pain - not otherwise specified (FAP), are highly prevalent in children and significantly impact quality of life. This review highlights advances addressing the need for standardized, evidence-based management in this population.

Areas covered: This review summarizes the first evidence-based treatment guidelines for pediatric IBS and FAP, developed jointly by the European and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. The recommendations were based on a systematic review of randomized controlled trials identified through searches in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases [1984 - June 2023]. Strong recommendations were issued for hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, with conditional suggestions for probiotics, symbiotics, peppermint oil, soluble fiber, and selected pharmacologic agents. To complement this work, we performed an updated literature search covering studies published after June 2023.

Expert opinion: These guidelines represent a critical advancement in standardizing the management of pediatric APDs by showing how each recommendation is supported by the available evidence. They offer practical guidance for clinicians navigating a complex and often fragmented treatment landscape. Future efforts should prioritize addressing current knowledge gaps and evaluating the impact of these recommendations on clinical outcomes.

Introduction: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory condition with a highly variable course and unpredictable treatment response. As the therapeutic landscape expands, there is a growing need for biomarkers that can support earlier diagnosis, risk-stratification, treatment selection, and that can inform monitoring or discontinuation strategies.

Areas covered: This review explores the current state of biomarker development and application in CD across multiple disease stages - from prediction and prognosis to therapeutic response and monitoring. It critically appraises the evidence for serologic, genetic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and epigenetic markers, and highlights their potential roles, limitations, and barriers to clinical implementation.

Expert opinion: Despite major scientific advances, precision medicine in CD remains largely unrealized, hindered by a lack of validated and deployable biomarkers. The field must urgently pivot from discovery to implementation, embedding biomarkers into clinical trial design, validating multi-omic signatures across diverse subtypes, and overcoming real-world barriers of cost, standardization, and regulation. We can no longer accept navigating CD management blindfolded. Precision medicine should no longer be a distant aspiration. It should be the standard we hold ourselves to. The ceiling will only break when we stop accepting it.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents a global public health challenge, ranking as the third most prevalent cancer globally. Population-based screening programs for average-risk populations have proven effective in reducing incidence and mortality of CRC through early detection of cancer. The fecal immunochemical test (FIT), the standard diagnostic method in many nations, still falls short in diagnostic effectiveness, resulting in undetected adenomas and, more significantly, unnecessary colonoscopies.

Areas covered: One of the primary research focuses in the field of CRC is the discovery of new, noninvasive biomarkers. Recent studies, including metagenomic meta-analyses, have discovered common microbial signatures able to reproducibly discriminate between patients with CRC and healthy controls. Based on this evidence, international guidelines have recently recommended the use of microbiome-based biomarkers for CRC screening in clinical settings, although such studies have yet to be conducted.

Expert opinion: This field of research needs considerable multidisciplinary efforts, including large and geographically different meta-cohorts, and the application of state-of-the-art computational approaches, to identify reproducible signatures able to predict early lesions. Such diagnostic tool would revolutionize CRC screening. More widely, it would provide a mind-set shift in the clinical and scientific community promoting the exploitation of diagnostic and therapeutic microbiome tools in clinical practice.

Introduction: Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGIB) is a common gastroenterological emergency associated with significant morbidity and mortality. According to current gastroenterological guidelines, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) represents the first-line modality for both diagnosis and treatment of NVUGIB. As opposed to lower gastrointestinal bleeding, multidetector-row computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) has a limited and no well-established role in the diagnostic process of NVUGIB. However, gastroenterological guidelines mainly focus on peptic-related NVUGIB only. Moreover, the adoption of MDCTA in NVUGIB has recently been encountered in radiological guidelines for special situations.

Areas covered: The aim of our study was to comprehensively review and discuss the current and potential indications of MDCTA and its technical aspects in the diagnostic process of NVUGIB. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases was conducted through May 2025 to identify pertinent studies.

Expert opinion: Although EGD undoubtedly represents the cornerstone in both diagnosis and treatment of most NVUGIB cases, MDCTA has emerged as a promising adjunct diagnostic tool, especially among clinically severe cases and those due to rare, non-peptic sources. However, evidence is still scarce, and further studies are needed to clarify its role in this scenario.

Introduction: The degree of fibrosis is the most significant indicator of clinical prognosis in chronic liver disease (CLD). While liver biopsy remains the gold standard for assessing liver disease activity and fibrosis, its invasive nature, potential complications, and high cost have spurred the development of alternative diagnostic methods. This has led to significant interest in noninvasive, cost-effective, and easily replicable techniques for evaluating liver fibrosis. Among these noninvasive tests, vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) has emerged as the most extensively researched and validated imaging-based method for staging liver fibrosis.

Areas covered: A selective literature search was conducted across electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library) to identify relevant publications on VCTE. Randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and selected expert consensus statements and narrative reviews were included.Given its increasing use, clinicians must know common pitfalls in VCTE applications when evaluating CLD. This review aims to outline these potential errors and provide evidence-based guidelines to help clinicians avoid them, thereby improving the accuracy and utility of VCTE in clinical practice.

Expert opinion: The future of VCTE involves improved accuracy, accessibility, and integration, leading to earlier detection and personalized management of CLD.

Introduction: Asymptomatic bile duct stones are increasingly diagnosed by imaging studies. Guidelines recommend endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for the treatment of bile duct stones, but evidence regarding short- and long-term outcomes of asymptomatic bile duct stones remains inadequate.

Area covered: This review summarized evidence about clinical outcomes and technical tips of ERCP for asymptomatic bile duct stones through a literature search of PubMed until March 2025. Long-term outcomes including cholangitis, cholecystitis, biliary pancreatitis, and spontaneous passage of bile duct stones among patients who selected the wait-and-see strategy were also summarized. According to the recent evidence of short- and long-term outcomes, we discussed the pros and cons of each treatment option and proposed a treatment strategy for asymptomatic bile duct stones.

Expert opinion: Despite guideline recommendations for endoscopic removal, ERCP for asymptomatic bile duct stones is associated with a high incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) and clinicians need to mitigate the risk of PEP by including administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, prophylactic pancreatic stent, or peri-procedural aggressive hydration. Considering the probability of spontaneous stone passage, the wait-and-see strategy might be a treatment option.

Introduction: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) are being increasingly explored in regenerative medicine because of their accessibility and potent immunomodulatory properties. Their application is gaining traction in gastroenterology, where inflammation and tissue degeneration are central to disease progression.

Areas covered: This review aims to provide an in-depth overview of the biological mechanisms, therapeutic effects, and clinical applications of ADMSCs, focusing on gastrointestinal disorders. We conducted a narrative literature review of relevant studies in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus, covering key findings from gastroenterology, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, and plastic surgery (editor comment#4b). Original studies evaluating ADMSCs use in gastroenterology and related medical fields were included. Data were organized to illustrate the cellular pathways, cytokine profiles, and paracrine signaling mechanisms through which ADMSCs exert therapeutic effects. ADMSCs consistently reduced inflammation, enhanced tissue repair, and modulated immune responses.

Expert opinion: In gastroenterology, ADMSCs have demonstrated potential in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and liver disorders by promoting mucosal healing and limiting fibrosis. They hold significant promise because of their robust immunomodulatory and regenerative properties. Future studies should focus on refining the isolation methods, validating therapeutic protocols, and establishing safety and efficacy through controlled trials to bring ADMSCs into clinical practice.