View clinical trials related to Diverticulum.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of a D-dimer based protocol to screen for thrombotic events in colorectal surgical patients. This study is unique because of the multistage screening process for DVT's using a standardized D-dimer testing methodology and ultrasound that will take place throughout the preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative processes. The data collected from this screening study will help establish the baseline DVT rates in UTMB's colorectal surgical patients before and after surgery. Additionally, the data from this study can help determine if a D-dimer blood test has predictive value in UTMB's colorectal surgical patient population. This study may also provide preliminary evidence for further research regarding the adjustment of D-dimer cutoff values. Specifically for patient subsets such as surgical colorectal patients with a moderate pretest probability and clinical conditions associated with low test specificity
Colonic diverticula are outpouchings of the large bowel, and they occur in up to 60% of people over 60 years of age. About 10-25% of patients with diverticula will have symptoms. These can range from acute diverticulitis, which can be a lethal infection to symptomatic diverticular disease, which involves inflammation of the bowel and altered bowel habits, decreasing patients' quality of life. We do not know which patients will develop acute diverticulitis or which patients will develop diverticula in their colon. We believe that diverticulitis may be associated with, or even caused by, alterations in the bacteria that live in the colon, known as the gut microbiome. Until recently it was too expensive and too complex to examine the microbiome in detail. We propose to examine for the first time in detail the microbiome of patients with acute diverticulitis and asymptomatic diverticulosis. Stool samples will be analysed for gut microbiome composition by 16S ribosomal RNA gene pyrosequencing. There is a part of the bacterial cell, the ribosome, which is the same in all bacteria (16S). Through PCR, polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing, we can separate out the different types of bacteria in a sample. We can then look at the different kinds of bacteria in each patient population, as well as how diverse the populations are within the groups, and compared to other groups. We hope to be able to discriminate between the microbiome of patients with acute diverticulitis and asymptomatic diverticulosis. This study many change how diverticulitis and diverticulosis are conceptualized and treated. Alterations in the microbiome in these disease states may be able to be treated, preventing further disease.