Vol 50, No 6 (2022)

Chronic pancreatitis is one of the most challenging disorders from the perspective of its early diagnosis and effective treatment. Within the last decade, the diagnosis of “early chronic pancreatitis” has been firmly introduced into the practice of gastroenterology. The delineation of this form as an initial stage of chronic pancreatitis is based on the need in early and effective treatment that could cease the progression of the disease and reduce the possibility of its complications.

The diagnostic criteria of chronic pancreatitis have been described in details in the literature; however, specifics of the diagnosis in its early stage have been scarcely highlighted. Chronic pancreatitis is commonly diagnosed with a number of imaging techniques (they can show abnormalities in morphology of the pancreas), as well as laboratory tests (showing functional organ deficit). However, morphological and imaging techniques are insufficient for the diagnosis of the early chronic pancreatitis. A new integral strategy towards early diagnosis seems necessary, that would consider not only the morphology, but also potential etiology, risk factors of the disease and its complications in patients with suspected chronic pancreatitis.

The review of the literature presents the definition of the early pancreatitis and discusses the potential of imaging techniques and functional tests in its diagnosis. An adequate strategy for the diagnosis of the early pancreatitis is formulated, based on an individual patient characteristic with suspected early chronic pancreatitis, namely, risk factors, clinical manifestations, imaging results and serological biomarkers.

Food safety all over the world is largely dependent on production of grains that are cultivated in 60% of agricultural lands. Wheat is the main food for millions of people and one of the three most commonly cultivated grain cultures worldwide, along with corn and rice. Modern wheat is a product of gene engineering interventions aimed at increased productivity, yields, nutrient quota, and storage time, as well as immunogenic properties. However, the consumption of gluten, a proline and glutamine-rich wheat, rye and barley protein, triggers gluten-dependent disorders, such as celiac disease, wheat allergy, baker's asthma and wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis. This group of disorders are curable provided the correct diagnosis has been made and strict lifelong gluten-free diet is implemented. Continuous patient's adherence to the gluten-free diet is associated with a number of medical and paramedical challenges, and the adherence level of the most compliant patients does not exceed 80%. The paper discuss other treatment strategies to improve the nutrition of people with gluten-sensitive disorders, in particular, the reduction grain gluten content, gluten sequestration in the gut before its digestion, prevention of gluten absorption and subsequent immune cell activation, and administration of tissue transglutaminase 2 inhibitors.

Aim: To analyze prevalence and type of symptomatic gastrointestinal involvement during symptomatic COVID-19 (up to 4–12 weeks after the disease) and post-COVID-19 syndrome (more than 12 weeks from the disease onset).

Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data from 785 in-patients with the diagnosis of COVID-19, who were treated in the infectious disease hospital from May to December 2020. At the first phase of the study we analyzed how frequently they were referred for out-patient care by a gastroenterology specialist after they were discharged from the hospital (all 785 patient medical files). At the 2nd study phase we performed phone calls to 247 patients, that were discharged from the infectious disease hospital, during which a specially designed questionnaire was filled with items on their comorbidities, general and specific complaints, as well as the standardized Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS).

Results: Within 2 years after their discharge from the infectious disease hospital, 88 patients asked for specialized gastroenterological care on an out-patient basis. The most common diagnoses were pancreatic diseases (33%), gastric disorders (31%), intestinal disorders (25%), liver and biliary disorders (11%). At referral, the most common complaints were dyspeptic: nausea, bitter taste in the mouth, heartburn, bloating (25%), abdominal pains of various location (17%) and stool abnormalities, such as diarrhea and constipation (11%).

Among patients who participated in the phone survey (N = 247), symptomatic COVID-19 was observed in 90 (11.46%) cases, with predominant complaints being loss of taste, loss of smell, and fever. Post-COVID-19 syndrome was identified in 157 (20%) cases, with their main complaints being weakness, shortness of breath and joint pain. Stool abnormalities and abdominal pain occurred during symptomatic COVID-19 and in the post-COVID-19 period with the same frequency (9% and 10%, respectively). According to the GSRS results, the post-COVID-19 dyspeptic syndrome was characterized by prevailing complaints of heartburn (24%), upper abdominal pain and discomfort (20%), and bloating (15%).

Conclusion: In the patients with a history of COVID-19, along with respiratory syndromes, gastrointestinal symptoms are seen, with their types being variable at various period of the coronavirus infection. In the early COVID-19, these are stool abnormalities and abdominal pain, and during the post-COVID-19 syndrome, nausea, bitter taste in the mouth, heartburn and bloating are more common.

In Russia, amebiasis is sporadically registered mainly in the southern regions. An endemic area is the Republic of Dagestan. We describe a clinical case, which illustrates challenges in the diagnosis of amebial colitis related to low awareness of physicians of parasitic diseases in non-endemic regions. A 38-year old female patient living in Moscow was initially misdiagnosed with Crohn's disease. Erosive and ulcerative colonic lesions found at colonoscopy were interpreted by a gastroenterologist as symptoms of an inflammatory bowel disease. No differential diagnosis with infections and parasitic diseases was performed. Long (2 years) persistence of symptoms despite treatment with 5-aminosalicylic agents for suspected Crohn's disease, absence of any significant laboratory abnormalities and no history of travelling to Asian countries were the reason for subsequent additional diagnostic work-up. After the patient was finally diagnosed with intestinal amebiasis, she was treated with metronidazole with some positive effect of decreased abdominal bloating and bowel growling. At the control colonoscopy, there was a positive trend seen in colonic mucosa, with healing of ulcers without any scarring. No protozoan cysts were any more found in her feces. According to the recommendations, the patient is regularly seen by a specialist in infectious diseases and a gastroenterologist. Expansion of amebiasis outside endemic regions points to the necessity to perform a wider diagnostic work-up in cases of mucosal lesions found at colonoscopy.