Is belching increasing after bariatric bypass surgery in the long term period?

Background and aims: Gastric bypass surgery effectively treats obesity; however, its association with belching, which occurs in other bariatric surgeries, remains unclear. Hence, we aimed to evaluate belching occurrence after gastric bypass surgery. Methods: We enrolled 12 healthy volunteers and 17 patients (12 and 5 underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and mini-gastric bypass surgeries 24 (18–54) months prior, respectively). Gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed. Gastroscopy was performed, followed by the 24-hour pH-impedance analysis. Results: Age and sex were not statistically different between the two groups (P > 0.05). Patients had a significantly higher mean DeMeester score than the healthy controls (9.11 ± 19.40 vs. 6.04 ± 5.60, P = 0.048), but the pathologic acid reflux (DeMeester score > 14) rate was similar in both groups (11.8% vs. 8.3%). Regarding the impedance, symptom-association probability was positive in 11.8% of patients. The patients also had higher alkaline reflux rates (6% vs. 0%); additionally, 50% of them experienced belching based on the questionnaire, and 25% had esophagitis based on gastroscopy. Furthermore, patients had a significantly higher number of gas reflux (123.24 ± 80 vs. 37.2 ± 21.5, P = 0.001) and supragastric/ gastric belches (182 ± 64/228 ± 66.69 vs. 25.08 ± 15.20/12.17 ± 17.65, P = 0.001). Supragastric belching was more frequent than gastric belching in the controls, whereas gastric belching was more frequent in the patients. Conclusion: Belching increases after gastric bypass surgery in a long-term period. Gastric belching was more frequent than supragastric belching in these patients.

788 VARIABLE GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES OF AMBULATORY ESOPHAGEAL REFLUX MONITORING IN MEXICO

Ambulatory esophageal reflux monitoring (AEpH) is useful in evaluating persistent or refractory esophageal symptoms despite adequate pharmacologic and/or surgical therapy. There is limited information whether there are geographical or regional differences in the diagnostic outcome of this test. Aim Characterize the diagnostic outcome of AEpH in a diverse population of Mexico. Analyze whether there is regional geographical diagnostic variability. Methods Data was collected from four major referral centers representing diverse geographical areas of Mexico: Mexico City-Central (two centers, years 2016-2020), Veracruz-South (years 2015-2020) and Monterrey-North (years 2013-2020). Consecutive patients undergoing AEpH with persistent GERD symptoms despite PPI therapy and negative upper endoscopy (no erosive disease >C or D LA classification) were entered into a data base and analyzed. Patients were classified as: NERD (acid exposure time (AET > 6.0%); hypersensitive esophagus (normal AET and positive symptom index (SI) or positive symptom association probability [SAP]); functional heartburn (NL AET, neg SI/SAP). Statistics: ANOVA, Chi-square and descriptive methods were used to compare variables among groups. Results 969 cases met inclusion criteria: 311 (32.1%) Central, 430 (44.3%) South, and 228 (23.5%) North. The results are summarized in the table. There were more women 618(63.8%) than men 351(36.2%); p < 0.001 with a mean age 47.7 ± 14.3. Patients were older in Central-Mexico 49.3 ± 13.6 years vs South 47.5 ± 15 and North 46.1 ± 13.6; p = 0.033. Functional heartburn was the most common diagnosis overall and more prevalent in Central-Mexico 171(55%) vs North 97(42.5%) and South 160(37.2%); p < 0.001. NERD was more predominant in the South 171(39.8%) vs North 72(31.6%) and Central-Mexico 98(31.5%); p = 0.029. Hypersensitive esophagus was more frequent in the North 59(25.9%) vs South 99(23%), and Central 42(13.5%); p < 0.001. Conclusion This is the first large data base study to evaluate the outcome of ambulatory esophageal reflux pH testing in Mexico. Our findings indicate a geographical variability of GERD phenotypes and suggest that further investigations are warranted to determine the causes of this distribution.

Comparison Between Manual and Automated Analyses in Multichannel Intraluminal Impedance: pH Monitoring for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

Objective To evaluate differences between manual and automated analyses of 24-hour multichannel intraluminal impedance–pH monitoring for diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux. Study Design Case series with planned data collection. Setting Academic center outpatient clinic. Methods The study group comprised 127 patients with symptoms suspicious of laryngopharyngeal reflux, who underwent 24-hour multichannel intraluminal impedance–pH monitoring. Automated and manual analyses were performed for each patient. The following parameters were compared between analyses: number of proximal reflux episodes, proximal exposure time, symptom index, and symptom association probability. Results The number of proximal reflux episodes detected by manual analysis was significantly lower than that detected by automated analysis, except in acid reflux cases. The false positive of automated analysis was 39.8%. In addition, the proximal exposure time for manual analysis was significantly lower than that for automated analysis, except in cases of acid reflux. Symptom index and symptom association probability values based on manual analysis were significantly lower than in automated analysis, except in heartburn cases. Conclusions Automated analysis demonstrated a tendency of excessive reflux measurement when compared with manual analysis. It is necessary to increase the accuracy of laryngopharyngeal reflux diagnosis through manual analysis.

Can acid exposure time replace the DeMeester score in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux-induced cough?

Background: The objective of this study was to compare the predictive accuracy of the acid exposure time (AET) with the DeMeester score (DMS) for gastroesophageal reflux–induced cough (GERC). Methods: A total of 277 patients who underwent multichannel intraluminal impedance pH monitoring (MII-pH) were enrolled, and their clinical information and laboratory results were retrospectively analyzed. The diagnostic value of AET for GERC was compared with that of the DMS, symptom association probability (SAP), and symptom index (SI). Results: A total of 236 patients met the inclusion criteria, 150 patients (63.65%) were definitely diagnosed with GERC, including 111(74%) acid GERC and 39 (26%) nonacid GERC. The optimal cutoff value of AET for diagnosing GERC was AET > 4.8%, and its diagnostic value was equal to that of DMS > 14.7 (AUC = 0.827 versus 0.818, p = 0.519) and was superior to that of SAP (AUC = 0.827 versus 0.689, p = 0.000) and SI (AUC = 0.827 versus 0.688, p = 0.000). When using both DMS > 14.7 and AET > 4.8% or either of the two for the diagnosis of GERC, the diagnosis rate was not improved over using DMS > 14.7 alone. The diagnostic value of AET and DMS for acid GERC were both high and equivalent (AUC = 0.925 versus 0.922, p = 0.95). The optimal cutoff value of AET for diagnosing acid GERC was AET > 6.2%. Conclusion: AET and DMS are both equal in discriminating GERC. A GERC diagnosis should be considered when AET > 4.8%, whereas an acid GERC diagnosis should be considered when AET > 6.2%.

Effects on gastroesophageal reflux of donkey milk-derived human milk fortifier versus standard fortifier in preterm newborns. Additional data from Fortilat study.

Background : Feeding intolerance, defined as the inability to digest enteral feeding, is a frequent diagnosis in very preterm infants. It is characterized by abdominal distension, delayed gastric emptying and increased frequency and severity of gastroesophageal reflux (GER). As seen in the FortiLat trial, human milk fortification with the new donkey milk-derived human milk fortifier (DF) seems to improve feeding tolerance in these infants. The aim of this ancillary study of the FortiLat trial was to evaluate the effects of using the DF compared with bovine milk-derived fortifier (BF) on GER in VLBW infants.Methods : Over a total of 156 preterm infants enrolled into the FortiLat trial (gestational age <32 weeks and/or birth weight <1500 g) and randomized into BF-arm or DF-arm we selected all infants with clinical signs of GER and cardiorespiratory (CR) symptoms at day 21 of fortification. All the infants underwent CR and multichannel intraluminal impedance and pH (MII/pH) monitoring associated with gastric ultrasound to evaluate GER characteristics, GER-CR temporal associations and gastric emptying time.Results : 10 infants were enrolled, 5 in the DF-arm. At MII/pH infants enrolled into the DF-arm showed a lower GER frequency than BF-arm infants: 2.02(1.95-3.26) vs 4.82(2.84-5.94) GER/hour (p=0.036). No infant had a significant symptom association probability index between GER and CR events. Half gastric emptying time was similar in DF and BF-arm infants: 45.03(42.74-47.02) vs. 48.57(44.73-48.77) min. (p=0.744)Conclusions : The use of donkey derived human milk fortifier reduced the GER frequency and consequently should be recommended in infants with feeding intolerance.Trial Registration : ISRCTN -ISRCTN70022881. Registered 01May 2014 - Retrospectively registered, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN70022881

Frequent Symptom Sets Identification from Uncertain Medical Data in Differentially Private Way

Data mining techniques are applied to identify hidden patterns in large amounts of patient data. These patterns can assist physicians in making more accurate diagnosis. For different physical conditions of patients, the same physiological index corresponds to a different symptom association probability for each patient. Data mining technologies based on certain data cannot be directly applied to these patients’ data. Patient data are sensitive data. An adversary with sufficient background information can make use of the patterns mined from uncertain medical data to obtain the sensitive information of patients. In this paper, a new algorithm is presented to determine the top K most frequent itemsets from uncertain medical data and to protect data privacy. Based on traditional algorithms for mining frequent itemsets from uncertain data, our algorithm applies sparse vector algorithm and the Laplace mechanism to ensure differential privacy for the top K most frequent itemsets for uncertain medical data and the expected supports of these frequent itemsets. We prove that our algorithm can guarantee differential privacy in theory. Moreover, we carry out experiments with four real-world scenario datasets and two synthetic datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of our algorithm.