Gastroenterology Commons^™

Role Of Mechanoregulation In Mast Cell-Mediated Immune Inflammation Of The Smooth Muscle In The Pathophysiology Of Esophageal Motility Disorders, Raj Goyal, Satish Rattan

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

Major esophageal disorders involve obstructive transport of bolus to the stomach, causing symptoms of dysphagia and impaired clearing of the refluxed gastric contents. These may occur due to mechanical constriction of the esophageal lumen or loss of relaxation associated with deglutitive inhibition, as in achalasia-like disorders. Recently, immune inflammation has been identified as an important cause of esophageal strictures and the loss of inhibitory neurotransmission. These disorders are also associated with smooth muscle hypertrophy and hypercontractility, whose cause is unknown. This review investigated immune inflammation in the causation of smooth muscle changes in obstructive esophageal bolus transport. Findings suggest that …

Hepatitis C Virus Detection And Management After Implementation Of Universal Screening In Pregnancy, Sarah Boudova, Danielle Tholey, Elizabeth Ferries-Rowe

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Accurately identifying cases of hepatitis C virus has important medical and public health consequences. In the setting of rising hepatitis C virus prevalence and highly effective treatment with direct-acting antivirals, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine guidelines recently changed to recommend universal screening for hepatitis C virus during pregnancy. However, there is little data on the influence of this policy change on case identification and management. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the influence of universal hepatitis C virus screening on our patient population. Our primary objective was to determine if there was a difference in the detected hepatitis C virus …

Pharmacotherapy For Primary Biliary Cholangitis: An Assessment Of Medication Candidacy And Rates Of Treatment, Nicholas Macdonald, Rebecca Loh, Jonathan Fenkel, David Sass, Dina Halegoua-De Marzio

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Ursodeoxycholic acid is the preferred first-line therapy for primary biliary cholangitis. Alternative therapies, such as obeticholic acid, are recommended for patients who cannot tolerate ursodeoxycholic acid or who have an inadequate response to ursodeoxycholic acid monotherapy. Prior investigations have suggested that as many as 30% of patients with primary biliary cholangitis may have never received treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid. No prior investigations have examined usage rates of obeticholic acid in the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis.

METHODS: All patients with an ICD-10 diagnosis of primary biliary cholangitis who had any records within the health system were included. A review …