• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.455-465
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• 2023

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is defined as a chronic inflammatory-mediated disease that causes ulceration and inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Among most patients, the course of chronic inflammation repeatedly shows intermittent exacerbations and alternating remissions. However, despite the various therapeutic options to relieve symptoms, such as corticosteroids, TNF-α inhibitors, and antibiotic drugs, there is no known cure for IBD. Nonetheless, previous research has revealed that the autonomic nervous system is involved in the pathophysiology of IBD. In this study, we reviewed clinical trials confirming the therapeutic effect of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on IBD in vivo. We searched in vivo and human studies on Pubmed using keywords combined with "vagus nerve stimulation", "VNS", and "inflammatory bowel disease". All studies included in this review reported that direct VNS is effective in relieving symptoms of IBD and has no severe adverse effects. The most frequently stimulated site was the unilateral cervical vagus nerve area, and parameters for stimulation were set as 5-20 Hz. Based on the results, we aim to summarize the evidence for the efficacy of VNS on IBD and suggest the possibility of auricular electroacupuncture treatment as a therapeutic option for IBD.

• Hanyang Medical Reviews
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2013

Inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic inflammatory states of the intestinal tract. While the exact mechanisms inducing chronic inflammation are still unclear, it is hypothesized that the inflammation is caused in part by an inappropriate immune response to the intestinal microflora. Although inflammatory diseases are not directly linked to patient survival, symptoms of these diseases significantly decrease quality of life. The incidence rate is higher in western people than eastern people, but the incidence rate of IBD in eastern people, including Korean, is increasing. Recently, it has been reported that IL-17 is an important factor that appears to be involved in IBD induction and progression. This report reviews many recent papers reporting the relationship between IBD and IL-17, which may provide an understanding leading to new means of prevention and treatment for IBD.

• Vascular Specialist International
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.83-87
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• 2018

Purpose: Thrombosis of the portal vein, known as pylephlebitis, is a rare and fatal complication caused by intraperitoneal infections. The disease progression of superior mesenteric venous thrombosis (SMVT) is not severe. This study aimed to determine the clinical features, etiology, and prognosis of SMVT. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 41 patients with SMVT from March 2000 to February 2017. We obtained a list of 305 patients through the International Classification of Disease-9 code system and selected 41 patients with SMVT with computed tomography. Data from the medical records included patient demographics, comorbidities, review of system, laboratory results, clinical courses, and treatment modalities. Results: The causes of SMVT were found to be intraperitoneal inflammation in 27 patients (65.9%), malignancy in 7 patients (17.1%), and unknown in 7 patients (17.1%). Among the patients with intraperitoneal inflammation, 14 presented with appendicitis (51.9%), 7 with diverticulitis (25.9%), and 2 with ileus (7.4%). When comparing patients with and without small bowel resection, the differences in symptom duration, bowel enhancement and blood culture were significant (P=0.010, P=0.039, and P=0.028, respectively). Conclusion: SMVT, caused by intraperitoneal inflammation, unlike portal vein thrombosis including pylephlebitis, shows mild prognosis. In addition, rapid symptom progression and positive blood culture can be the prognostic factors related to extensive bowel resection. Use of appropriate antibiotics and understanding of disease progression can help improve the outcomes of patients with SMVT.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2017

Pediatric onset Crohn's disease (CD) tends to have complicated behavior (stricture or penetration) than elderly onset CD at diagnosis. Considering the longer duration of the disease in pediatric patients, the accumulative chance of surgical treatment is higher than in adult onset CD patients. Possible operative indications include perianal CD, intestinal stricture or obstruction, abdominal abscess or fistula, intestinal hemorrhage, neoplastic changes and medically untreatable inflammation. Growth retardation is an operative indication only for pediatric patients. Surgery can affect a patient's clinical course, especially for pediatric CD patient who are growing physically and mentally, so the decision should be made by careful consideration of several factors. The complex and diverse clinical conditions hinder development of a systemized treatment algorithm. Therefore, timing of surgery in pediatric CD patients should be determined with individualized approach by an experienced and well organized multidisciplinary inflammatory bowel disease team. Best long-term outcomes will require proactive post-operative monitoring and therapeutic modifications according to the conditions.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.563-577
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• 2023

In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic inflammation leads to unfavorable clinical outcomes and increases the risk of developing colorectal neoplasm (CRN); thereby highlighting the importance of endoscopically evaluating disease activity as well as detecting and characterizing CRN in patients with IBD. With recent advances in image-enhanced endoscopic (IEE) technologies, especially virtual chromoendoscopy (VCE) platforms, this review discusses state-of-the-art IEE techniques and their applicability in assessing disease activity and surveillance colonoscopy in patients with IBD. Among various IEE, VCE demonstrated the capacity to identify quiescent disease activity. And endoscopic remission defined by the new scoring system using VCE platform better predicted clinical outcomes, which may benefit the tailoring of therapeutic strategies in patients with IBD. High-definition dye-chromoendoscopy (HD-DCE) is numerically superior to high-definition white light endoscopy (HD-WLE) in detecting CRN in IBD; however, discrepancy is observed in the statistical significance. VCE showed comparable performance in detecting dysplasia to HD-WLE or DCE and potential for optical diagnosis to differentiate neoplastic from nonneoplastic lesions during surveillance colonoscopy. Applying these novel advanced IEE technologies would provide opportunities for personalized medicine in IBD and optimal treatment of CRN in patients with IBD.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.448-461
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• 2013

Inflammatory bowel disease, known as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is an unexplained disease characterized by chronic inflammation that repeats a cycle of relapse, improvement, and complications. The cause of inflammatory bowel disease is not clearly known, but it is predicted that a complex of various factors precipitate its occurrence. In particular, inflammatory mediators, such as cytokine, induce an increase in cell-mediated inflammatory responses. Focal tissue damage then occurs in the intestinal mucosa because of the weakening of the immune-modulating functions of cotton. Immune and inflammatory responses do not decrease appropriately but continue until they lead to chronic inflammation. Current research has focused on the cytokine genes, which have important roles in these inflammatory responses. Cytokine is a glycoprotein that is produced mostly in activated immune cells. It connects the activation, multiplication, and differentiation between immune cells, which causes focal tissue damage and inflammatory response. Moreover, butyrate, which originates in dietary fiber and plays an important role in the structure and function of the intestinal area, shows control functions in the intestinal immune system by decreasing the proinflammatory cytokine and increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokine. Therefore, this research investigated the molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effects of butyrate to comprehend the cytokine controlling abilities of butyrate in the immune cells. Butyrate is expected to have potential in new treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7673-7677
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• 2014

Background: Patients with long-standing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC). Colon cancer risk in IBD increases with longer duration and greater anatomic extent of colitis, the presence of primary sclerosing cholangitis, family history of CRC and degree of inflammation of the bowel. This study aimed to characterize the histopathological pattern of benign colorectal diseases among Saudi patients and to highlight age and gender variations of lesions as base line data for future studies to investigate the link between benign/IBD and colorectal cancers in the local population. Materials and Methods: The materials consisted of 684 biopsies, reported as benign (excluding malignancies and polyps) at the Department of Pathology, King Fahad Hospital, Madinah, Saudi Arabia from January 2006 to December 2013. Data collected and entered in MS-Excel and were analyzed using SPSS-20. Results: Of 684 colorectal tissues reviewed, 408 specimens (59.6%) were from male patients and 276 specimens (40.4%) were from females giving a male: female ratio of 1.5:1. Age of the patients ranged from 4 to 75 years with a mean of 39.6 years. The most frequent histologic diagnosis was a chronic non specific proctocolitis followed by ulcerative colitis, accounting respectively for 52.6% and 31.7% of all cases. These were followed by Crohn's disease 22 (3.2%), ischemic bowel disease 20 (2.9%), diverticular disease 14 (2%), eosinophilic colitis 12 (1.7%) and solitary rectal ulcer 12 (1.7%). A minority of 21 patients (3.1%) were cases of acute nonspecific proctocolitis, schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, volvulus and pseudomembranous colitis. Conclusions: These data show that although chronic non specific proctocolitis and ulcerative colitis were the dominant diagnoses, Crohn's disease, ischemic bowel disease and diverticular disease also existed to a lesser extent and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of benign colorectal diseases. This study provides a base line data for future studies which would be taken up to investigate the link between benign/IBD and colorectal cancers in the local population.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.213-221
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• 2005

Acute Transverse Myelitis is a syndrome, not a disease, in which acute inflammation affects gray and white matter in one or more adjacent thoracic segments. Almost all patients will develope ascending weakness and numbness of feet and leg, difficulty voiding, urinary retention, and loss of bowel control. We concluded this case to MAMOK( 마목) due to Qi ascent, Qi deficiency, Qi stoppage(상기, 기허, 기체). So we used herbal medication, acupuncture, and homeopuncture according to oriental medical theory. Weakness and numbness of feet and leg, difficulty voiding, urinary retention, and loss of bowel control are reduced. Herbal medication, acupuncture, and homeopuncture helped the care of this syndrome and further study will be investigated in oriental medicine for this syndrome.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.294-304
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• 2020

The sacroiliac joints connect the base of the sacrum to the ilium. When inflamed, they are suspected to cause low back pain. Inflammation of the sacroiliac joints is called sacroiliitis. The severity of the pain varies and depends on the degree of inflammation. Sacroiliitis is a hallmark of seronegative spondyloarthropathies. The presence or absence of chronic sacroiliitis is an important clue in the diagnosis of low back pain. This article aims to provide a concise overview of the anatomy, physiology, and molecular biology of sacroiliitis to aid clinicians in the assessment and management of sacroiliitis. For this narrative review, we evaluated articles in English published before August 2019 in PubMed. Then, we selected articles related to the painful manifestations of the sacroiliac joint. From the retrieved articles, we found that chronic sacroiliitis may be caused by various forms of spondyloarthritis, such as ankylosing spondyloarthritis. Sacroiliitis can also be associated with inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, gout, tuberculosis, brucellosis, and osteoarthritis, indicating common underlying etiological factors. The pathophysiology of sacroiliitis is complex and may involve internal, environmental, immunological, and genetic factors. Finally, genetic factors may also play a central role in progression of the disease. Knowing the genetic pre-disposition for sacroiliitis can be useful for diagnosis and for formulating treatment regimens, and may lead to a substantial reduction in disease severity and duration and to improved patient performance.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.201-212
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• 2020

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease are characterized by chronic inflammation throughout the gastrointestinal tract. The prevalence of IBD has been increasing worldwide, and has sometimes led to irreversible impairment of gastrointestinal structure and functions. In the present study, we identified a new sulfoquinovosylmonoacylglycerols (SQMG) (1) together with two known SQMGs (2 and 3) regulating intestinal inflammation from the brown alga Turbinaria ornata. The anti-inflammatory properties of two bioactive SQMGs, 1 and 2 were evaluated using an in vitro co-culture system consisting of human epithelial Caco-2 cells and PMA (phorbol 12-myristate 12-acetate)-differentiated THP-1 macrophages. Treatment with 1 or 2 inhibited the production nitric oxide and prostaglandin E₂ induced by lipopolysaccharide and interferon γ challenge. The expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase 2 were markedly down-regulated in response to inhibition of nuclear factor κB translocation to nucleus. These findings suggest the potential use of the brown alga T. ornata and its biologically active metabolites SQMGs as pharmaceutical adjuvants in the treatment of inflammation-related diseases, including IBD.