0000000000621072
AUTHOR
Livio Cipolletta
Bloating is associated with worse quality of life, treatment satisfaction, and treatment responsiveness among patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome and functional constipation
Background The management of bloating is unclear and its relationship with patients' well-being and treatment satisfaction independent of other abdominal symptoms is uncharacterized. We evaluated the association of bloating with patient-reported outcomes. Methods Thirty-nine centers for functional gastrointestinal disorders joined the laxative inadequate relief survey. We enrolled 2203 consecutive outpatients with functional constipation (FC) or constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) in two cross-sectional waves. Both wave 1 and 2 included the SF-12, the patient assessment of constipation-symptoms (PAC-SYM), and the treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication (TSQ…
Endoscopic treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a common chronic disorder which has a severe effect on the patient's quality of life. In view of the high cost of medical therapy and the limitations of surgery, a variety of endoscopic techniques have been developed for the treatment of this condition, and these have shown apparently encouraging results, at least in the short term. However, promising results have been obtained in only around two-thirds of patients over a short-term follow-up period of about 6 months. Moreover, several inconsistencies have emerged between the efficacy of this form of treatment in improving symptoms and quality of life and a lack of improvement of objective parameters, such…
White Paper of Italian Gastroenterology: Delivery of services for digestive diseases in Italy: Weaknesses and strengths
In 2011 the three major Italian gastroenterological scientific societies (AIGO, the Italian Society of Hospital Gastroenterologists and Endoscopists; SIED, the Italian Society of Endoscopy; SIGE, the Italian Society of Gastroenterology) prepared their official document aimed at analysing medical care for digestive diseases in Italy, on the basis of national and regional data (Health Ministry and Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna databases) and to make proposals for planning of care. Digestive diseases were the first or second cause of hospitalizations in Italy in 1999–2009, with more than 1,500,000 admissions/year; however only 5–9% of these admissions was in specialized Gastroenterology un…
Appropriateness of upper-GI endoscopy: an Italian survey on behalf of the Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Open-access endoscopy allows physicians to directly schedule endoscopic procedures for their patients without prior consultation. An evaluation of both appropriateness and diagnostic yield of endoscopic procedures is critical when assessing the costs and benefits of endoscopy in an open-access setting. The aim of this Italian multicenter study was to assess the appropriate use of upper endoscopy (EGD) in an open-access system and to establish the yield of diagnostic information relevant to patient care. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional, prospective, multicenter study. PATIENTS: A total of 6270 patients referred to 44 Italian centers for open-access EGD during 1 …