Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2017; 23(17): 3193-3194
Published online May 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i17.3193
Efficacy and safety of stellate ganglion block in chronic ulcerative colitis
Eugene Lipov, Ken Candido
Eugene Lipov, Ken Candido, Department of Anesthesiology, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
Author contributions: Lipov E wrote the paper, analyzed data; Candido K revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Eugene Lipov, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, 3000 N Halsted St 700, Chicago, IL 60657, United States. elipovmd@aol.com
Telephone: +1-312-6180829 Fax: +1-312-6444343
Received: January 27, 2017
Peer-review started: February 4, 2017
First decision: March 16, 2017
Revised: April 10, 2017
Accepted: April 12, 2017
Article in press: April 12, 2017
Published online: May 7, 2017
Processing time: 99 Days and 18.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Utility of stellate ganglion block (SGB) seems to be expanding rapidly at this time, finding of its effect on ulcerative colitis is novel. Dr. Zhao’s explanation of the clinical observation seems to be increased blood flow. This theory may be refined based on prior reports of SGB having a significant immunologic effects. Since, ulcerative colitis is considered to be an auto immune disease, modulation immune system by SGB seems a more likely explanation. Further research of modulating immunologic system by utilizing sympathetic blocks may be spurred on by Dr. Zhao’s observation.