Sakiko Hiraoka

Okayama University · Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Background: Given the increasing health concerns for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigated the impact of the pandemic on the anxiety and behavioral changes in Japanese patients with IBD. Methods: We analyzed 3032 questionnaires from patients with IBD, aged 16 years or older visiting 30 hosp...

Background and aims: Ulcerative colitis (UC) can develop colitis-associated colorectal neoplasm (CAN). Adenine-to-inosine RNA editing, which is regulated by adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR), induces the posttranscriptional modification of critical oncogenes, including antizyme inhibitor 1 (AZIN1), leading to colorectal carcinogenesis. Ther...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disorder of the intestine. The incidence of IBD is increasing worldwide, including Japan, and in approximately 25% of all affected patients it is diagnosed before 18 years of age. For the health maintenance of such patients, planned transition to adult care systems is essential. P...

Background The interleukin (IL)-23/Th17 pathway plays a critical role in ulcerative colitis (UC). The IL-12p40 subunit, which is shared by IL-23 and IL-12, is encoded by the IL12B gene. The current case-control study investigated the association between IL12B SNP rs6887695 and the UC risk. Methods There were 384 cases within 4 years of UC diagnosi...

Objectives: Double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) with retrograde contrast is useful as a monitoring tool for small intestinal lesions in Crohn's disease (CD), but these are burdensome for patients. Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) can be used with ease in daily clinical practice, but there is less evidence regarding the accuracy of detection of small intes...

Background and aim: Although endoscopic resection with careful surveillance instead of total proctocolectomy become to be permitted for visible low-grade dysplasia, it is unclear how accurately endoscopists can differentiate these lesions, as classifying neoplasias occurring in inflammatory bowel disease (IBDN) is exceedingly challenging due to ba...

Objectives Transient fever and electrocoagulation syndrome after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) remain a challenge. The aim of this study was to assess the risk factors of post-ESD fever and post-ESD coagulation syndrome (PECS), focusing on the involvement of immunosuppressive drugs and steroids (IM). Methods This retrospective...

Objective Transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS) is a non-invasive procedure that is reportedly useful for managing ulcerative colitis (UC) and assessing bowel wall thickness (BWT), the most common measure of mucosal inflammation. However, the exact range of BWT that reflects disease activity remains undetermined. The present study clarified the BWT...

Metformin, a commonly prescribed drug for type 2 diabetes mellitus, has been shown to activate AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK). Notably, AMPK activation has recently been observed to be associated with anti‐inflammatory responses. Metformin is also reported to elicit anti‐inflammatory responses in CD4+ T cells, resulting in improvement in exper...

Background The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had a major impact on the health of people worldwide. The clinical background and clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) among Japanese patients with COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods This study is an observational cohort of Japanese IBD patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Dat...

Background and aim: Serum glycans are known to be good markers for the early diagnosis and prognostic prediction in many cancers. The aims of this study were to reveal the serum glycan changes comprehensively during the process of carcinogenesis from colorectal adenoma (CRA) to colorectal cancer (CRC) and to evaluate the usefulness of the glycan p...

Background Immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may be influenced by immunomodulatory drugs (IMDs). We investigated the immune responses and safety in fully vaccinated Japanese patients with IBD. Methods IBD patients and control subjects at 39 institutes were invited to participate in the study from March to October 2021. Blood sample co...

Objectives To investigate the distinctive features of lymphocytes promoting inflammation in ulcerative colitis. Methods We performed flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and colorectal mucosa lymphocytes in ulcerative colitis patients ( n = 13) and control patients ( n = 5). Results CD62L ⁺ /CD3 ⁺ CD4 ⁺ (35.7 ± 1...

Background and Aim Although an inverse relationship between current smoking and the development of ulcerative colitis (UC) has been shown in North America and Europe, evidence is limited in Asian countries, where the incidence of UC is rapidly increasing. This Japanese case-control study examined the association between active and passive smoking a...

Background The mortality and risk factors of severe disease and death due to arterial and venous thromboembolism (ATE and VTE, respectively) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remain unclear, especially in Asia. Aims This study aimed to reveal the mortality and risk factors of TE in IBD patients in Japan. Methods In the primary sur...

Background Serum anti-proteinase 3 antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (PR3-ANCA) is a disease-specific antibody against granulomatosis with polyangiitis. PR3-ANCA is a useful serological marker for disease severity in ulcerative colitis (UC). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether PR3-ANCA levels could also predict the success of ind...

We herein report two patients with endometriosis in the cecum. Both patients presented with a protruding, subepithelial tumor on colonoscopy and were diagnosed with cecal endometriosis after surgical resection. It is notable that the cecal lesions were not initially identified on computed tomography (CT), while CT colonography with air/carbon dioxi...

Objective: Oxidative stress is considered to be one of the etiologic factors involved in ulcerative colitis (UC), yet there is limited epidemiological information regarding the relationship between antioxidant intake and the risk of UC. The aim of the present case–control study in Japan was to examine the association between intake of green and yel...

Leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG) may be a novel serum biomarker for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The association of LRG with the endoscopic activity and predictability of mucosal healing (MH) was determined and compared with those of C-reactive protein (CRP) and fecal markers (fecal immunochemical test [FIT] and fecal calprotect...

Background This multicenter prospective study (UMIN000019958) aimed to evaluate the usefulness of serum leucin-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG) levels in monitoring disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods Patients with moderate-to-severe IBD initiated on adalimumab therapy were enrolled herein. Serum LRG, C-reactive protein (C...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a general term for chronic or remitting/relapsing inflammatory diseases of the intestinal tract and generally refers to ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Since 1950, the number of patients with IBD in Japan has been increasing. The etiology of IBD remains unclear; however, recent research data ind...

Background Anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents are the mainstay of long-term treatment for refractory ulcerative colitis. However, long-term use of anti-TNF therapy might lead to an increased risk of malignancy or infection. To date, no randomised controlled trial has evaluated whether anti-TNF agents can be safely discontinued in patients wit...

Background Some patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who were under mesalamine treatment develop adverse reactions called “mesalamine allergy,” which includes high fever and worsening diarrhea. Currently, there is no method to predict mesalamine allergy. Pharmacogenomic approaches may help identify these patients. Here we analyzed the gen...

Background and Aim Ustekinumab (UST), a fully‐humanized monoclonal antibody against the p40 subunit of interleukin‐12/23, is effective for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). The benefit of concomitant use of an immunomodulator (IM) with UST, however, is unclear. This study aimed to provide a systematic review and meta‐analysis comparing the eff...

A 77-year-old Japanese woman who had been treated for follicular lymphoma for 8 years developed abdominal pain and intra-abdominal lymphadenopathies. Colonoscopy revealed an elevated lesion in the rectum, which presented as two humps with erosions. A diagnosis of histologic transformation of follicular lymphoma to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was...

Background: Transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS) is a non-invasive method that can be performed repeatedly. Although the usefulness of TUS in ulcerative colitis (UC) has been reported, no well-established data exist yet. This study aimed to determine the usefulness of TUS, compared with colonoscopy (CS), in detecting the presence of mucosal inflamm...

Background It is often difficult to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated neoplasia endoscopically due to background inflammation. In addition, due to the absence of sensitive tumor biomarkers, countermeasures against IBD-associated neoplasia are crucial. The purpose of this study is to develop a new diagnostic method through the app...

Background and Study Aims The propriety of cold forceps polypectomy (CFP) using jumbo biopsy forceps for diminutive polyps remains controversial. We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the complete CFP resection rate of 3–5‐mm polyps using additional endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) specimens following CFP. Patients and Methods Patients wi...

Background and aim: Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) is involved in colorectal cancer (CRC) growth and is a biomarker for patient prognosis and management. However, the ecology of Fn in CRC and the distribution of intratumoral Fn are unknown. Methods: We evaluated Fn and the status of KRAS and BRAF in 200 colorectal neoplasms (118 adenomas and 82 ca...

A 55-year-old Japanese woman, who had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 18 years of age, underwent screening endoscopy examinations. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed an extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma) of the stomach. Colonoscopy showed a slightly elevated reddish lesion with dilated...

Background and aim: Anti-tumour necrosis factor α (TNF) agents are now well known to function as effective treatments for Crohn's disease (CD). Several meta-analyses have revealed the efficacy of anti-TNF therapy for preventing recurrence after surgery; however, the efficacies reported in some prospective studies differed according to the outcomes...

Background and Aim Although surveillance colonoscopy is recommended by several guidelines for Crohn’s disease (CD), the evidence is insufficient to support the validity of this recommendation. Moreover, the efficacy of surveillance colonoscopy for anorectal cancer remains unclear. Therefore, we performed a systematic review of cancer in patients wi...

Determining factors that predict a favorable disease course without anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents would help establish a more cost-effective strategy for Crohn's disease (CD). A retrospective chart review was performed for CD patients with disease durations > 10 years who had not received anti-TNF agents as first-line therapy. Patients we...

Background Serum anti-proteinase 3 anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (PR3-ANCA) is a disease-specific antibody against granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Some patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) have positive results for PR3-ANCA but the clinical significance of PR3-ANCA is not clear. Thus, we conducted a multicenter, retrospective, observation...

Background Although oral mesalamine is the first‐choice drug for treating mild‐to moderate ulcerative colitis (UC), some patients show symptoms of intolerance, including exacerbation of diarrhea and abdominal pain. The present study clarified the current state and clinical courses of patients with mesalamine intolerance. Methods Patients who were...

Intestinal graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) is a serious complication of allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Villous atrophy in the terminal ileum is considered a useful diagnostic indicator for GVHD. However, the inter- and intra-observer agreement regarding the ileocolonoscopic findings indicative of acute intestinal GVHD, i.e....

A 64-year-old Japanese man suffered cardiopulmonary arrest, which may have resulted from sepsis and/or hyperosmolar hyperglycemic non-ketonic coma, and was admitted after successful resuscitation. He had watery diarrhea on day 18 and was diagnosed with cytomegalovirus enterocolitis. In addition, computed tomography performed on day 27 and colonosco...

Objective With the advent of capsule endoscopy (CE) and double-balloon endoscopy (DBE), the diagnosis and treatment of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) have markedly progressed. However, rebleeding sometimes occurs and is difficult to diagnose and treat. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical features of OGIB and risk...

Objectives: Underwater endoscopic mucosal resection (UEMR) has become widespread for treating colorectal polyps. However, which observational mode is best suited for determining polyp margins underwater remains unclear. To determine the best mode, we analyzed three imaging modes: white light imaging (WLI), blue laser imaging (BLI) and linked color...

Background The genetic variants of NUDT15 have been verified to induce adverse events (AEs) of thiopurines. Codon 139 variants are frequently observed in Asians, while multiple variants are seen in codon 18 which also cause AEs including the European ancestry. The purpose of this study is to establish a technique capable of the simple genotyping of...

A 60-year-old Caucasian male was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma and multiple metastases to the bone, spleen, and brain. He underwent radiotherapy for the brain and lumbar spine metastases, plus chemotherapy (cisplatin and pemetrexed). The chemotherapy was discontinued due to vomiting and hyponatremia, and nivolumab was then administered. Eight...

The herbal medicine berberine (BBR) has been recently shown to be an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) productive activator with various properties that induce anti-inflammatory responses. We investigated the effects of BBR on the mechanisms of mucosal CD4+T cell activation in vitro and on the inflammatory responses in T cell transfer mouse model...

Supplementary Fig. 1. The percentage of calprotectin recovery compared with the baseline over time at different temperatures (n=15). (A) The residual calprotectin recovery of specimens preserved in special buffer at 4°C for 21 days was 81% to 115%, average 97.3%, exceeding 80%. (B) The residual calprotectin recovery of specimens preserved in specia...

Supplementary Fig. 2. The correlation between Fcal-LATIA and Fcal-ELISA (measured using the same sample from an OC-Auto sampling bottle). Y=1.27x+30.6, R2=0.69. Fcal, fecal calprotectin; LATIA, latex agglutination turbidimetric immunoassay.

Introduction: Prediction of treatment outcome and clinical relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), either ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD), is particularly important because therapeutics for IBD are not always effective and patients in remission could frequently relapse. Because undergoing endoscopy for the purpose...

Oxidative stress is recognized as a cancer-initiating stress response in the digestive system. It is produced through mitochondrial respiration and induces DNA damage, resulting in cancer cell transformation. However, recent findings indicate that oxidative stress is also a necessary anticancer response for destroying cancer cells. The oxidative st...

Background and Aim Although previous studies compared the efficacy of infliximab (IFX) versus adalimumab (ADA) as the first‐line biologics for Crohn's disease (CD), the difference in long‐term prognosis based on which biologic was used first has scarcely been reported. In particular, the clinical courses after loss of response (LOR) of the first‐li...

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is reportedly one of the standard treatment strategies for large superficial colorectal neoplasms in Japan because of its high en bloc resection rate. A few technical issues regarding ESD should be considered, one of which is the selection of the Endo-cut I mode versus the Swift-coagulation mode as the electro...

Background/Aims Fecal calprotectin (Fcal) as well as the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) are useful biomarkers for detecting activity and mucosal healing in inflammatory bowel diseases. Here, we report the performance of simultaneous measurements of Fcal and FIT for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients using the newly-developed latex agglutination turb...

Approximately 10 years have passed since video capsule endoscopy （VCE） was introduced in routine clinical practice in Japan. We started using VCE in January 2009. Here we investigated the contribution of VCE and its level of recognition at our 855-bed hospital. We compared the clinical characteristics of intra-hospital consultation cases with non-c...

The indications for peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) have been expanded to include diffuse esophageal spasm (DES). A 67-year-old Japanese man presented with a 4-year history of dysphagia. Endoscopy and upper gastrography revealed abnormal peristaltic movements involving interruption of normal peristalsis, and a diverticulum located at the 2 o'cloc...

Background/aims: Clip closure of mucosal defects after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (C-ESD) may decrease the incidence of delayed adverse events. The size of the defect to be closed by conventional clip is limited, however, and we sometimes encounter incomplete closure when the defect is located at the flexure. As, theoretically, un...

Lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) are sometimes found in patients with autoimmune diseases receiving immunosuppressive treatments. However, LPDs in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK) were not reported previously. A 41-year-old woman with TAK and ulcerative colitis (UC) maintained remission with 5 mg/day of prednisolone (PSL) and 100 mg/day o...

Esophageal achalasia is a disorder of the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. Our patient, a Japanese male in his 80's, had been experiencing dysphagia for almost 60 years. He was treated with balloon dilations and Heller-Dor 5 years prior to his present admission. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, esophageal radiography, and high-myotomy manometry indica...

Background/aims: Although mucosal healing (MH) has been considered a treatment goal for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), the risk factors predictive of relapse in patients who achieve MH are unknown. Because the platelet count has been shown to be a marker of inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases, this study aimed to assess whether the...

Background: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a common complication of allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Endoscopic biopsy can provide a definitive diagnosis, but the optimal endoscopic approach for diagnosis remains uncertain. This study evaluated whether ileocolonoscopic imaging can predict acute GVHD severity after all...

Background: Despite NUDT15 variants showing significant association with thiopurine-induced adverse events (AEs) in Asians, it remains unclear which variants of NUDT15 or whether additional genetic variants should be tested to predict AEs. To clarify the best pharmacogenetic test to be used clinically, we performed association studies of NUDT15 va...

We describe two cases of leiomyoma in the colon that were diagnosed histologically after endoscopic resection. The first case was a 79-year-old Japanese woman who presented with a pedunculated polyp of 14 mm length at the splenic flexure. Preoperative diagnosis suggested a colonic mucosubmucosal elongated polyp. The second case was a 29-year-old Ja...

A 74-year-old Japanese woman was diagnosed with pseudolipomatosis of the cecum and ascending colon. Colonoscopy was performed, which revealed the presence of slightly elevated white lesions, while a magnifying observation showed microbubbles within the mucosa. A month after colonoscopy, the patient was diagnosed with pneumatosis intestinalis. Altho...

To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with ulcerative colitis who have upper gastrointestinal lesions, we retrospectively reviewed the data of 216 patients with ulcerative colitis who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy at our institute in April 2008-March 2016. We investigated the endoscopic features and compared the clinical charac...

Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for treatment of esophageal motility disorders has recently been reported to be highly effective and less invasive than other treatment. POEM was recently introduced in Okayama University Hospital under the supervision of a physician from a high-volume center. To verify the safety and efficacy of POEM during its in...

Background We have debated which of the anti-TNF agents we should use first for the biologic-naïve Crohn’s disease (CD) patients; infliximab (IFX) or adalimumab (ADA). There are few multicentre studies to compare the efficacy between those agents. The aim of this study was to clarify the long-term efficacy of those agents in the treatment of CD pat...

Background/Aims The efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor α (anti-TNFα) antibodies for postoperative Crohn's disease (CD) in patients who were treated with these agents prior to surgery is largely unknown. Methods CD patients who underwent intestinal resection and received anti-TNFα agents after surgery were divided into 2 groups according to the...

A 40-year-old Japanese man with abdominal pain was referred to our hospital. The patient had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 21 years and had since then received treatment with mesalazine and had been advocated an elemental diet. About 30 months before his visit to the hospital, he had swallowed a patency capsule, the retention of...

Several reports discussed colonoscopic surveillance after polypectomy and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for colorectal polyps, but only a few reports focused on prognostic analyses, and none involved metachronous neoplasia after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). We conducted the present study to assess the risk of adenoma recu...