Digestive diseases and sciences
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Comparative Study
Fecal occult blood test in patients on low-dose aspirin, warfarin, clopidogrel, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
To determine the effect of anticoagulants and antiplatelet medications on the positive-predictive-value of fecal occult blood test (FOBT). ⋯ Anticoagulants and antiplatelet medications lower the positive-predictive-value of FOBT for advance colonic neoplasia and should be stopped if clinically feasible prior to stool collection.
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Determine the rates of follow-up, incident rate of cancer during surveillance, and changes in pathologic grade of patients with Barrett's esophagus during surveillance in a gastroenterology practice without a formal surveillance program. ⋯ Most veteran patients with Barrett's esophagus do not undergo surveillance endoscopies. Veteran patients with Barrett's esophagus undergoing SE rarely progress to high-grade dysplasia or esophageal adenocarcinoma. Veteran patients with Barrett's esophagus who have longer SE up to twice the recommended intervals because they missed their scheduled SE did not have a worse outcome when compared to the general Barrett's esophagus surveillance group. Veteran patients with low-grade dysplasia are most likely to miss their SE by twice the recommended intervals or more, though the reason for this is unknown.
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Administrative procedure code data can estimate colonoscopy utilization; however, determining colonoscopy indication is more difficult as procedure codes do not inherently reflect the purpose (screening, surveillance, diagnosis) of the colonoscopy. ⋯ VHA procedure codes are very accurate for colonoscopy utilization; however, algorithms to ascertain indication have only moderate accuracy.