Clinical predictors of severe gallbladder complications in acute acalculous cholecystitis

AIM: To evaluate the relationship between clinical information (including age, laboratory data, and sonographic findings) and severe complications, such as gangrene,perforation, or abscess, in patients with acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC).METHODS: The medical records of patients hospitalized from January1997 to December 2002 with a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis were retrospectively reviewed to find those with AAC, confirmed at operation or by histologic examination. Data collected included age, sex, white blood cell count, AST, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase,bacteriology, mortality, and sonographic findings. The sonographic findings were recorded on a 3-point scale with 1 point each for gallbladder distention, gallbladder wall thickness ＞3.5 mm, and sludge. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on the presence (group A) or absence (group B) of severe gallbladder complications, defined as perforation, gangrene, or abscess.RESULTS: There were 52 cases of AAC, accounting for 3.7% of all cases of acute cholecystitis. Males predominated.Most patients were diagnosed by ultrasonography (48 of 52) or computed tomography (17 of 52). Severe gallbladder complications were present in 27 patients (52 %, group A) and absent in 25(group B).Six patients died with a mortality of 12 %.Four of the 6 who died were in group A.Patients in group A were significantly older than those in group A were significantly older than those in group B (mean 60.88 y vs. 54.12 y, P=0.04) and had a significantly higher white blood cell count (mean 15 885.19 vs. 9 948.40,P=0.0005). All the 6 patients who died had normal white blood cell counts with an elevated percentage of band forms.The most commonly cultured bacteria in both blood and bile were E. Coli and Klebsiella pneurnoniae. The cumulative sonographic points did not reliably distinguish between groups A and B, even though group A tended to have more points.CONCLUSION: Older patients with a high white cell count are more likely to have severe gallbladder complications. In these patients, eadier surgical intervention should be considered if the sonographic findings support the diagnosis of AAC.

Benign esophageal lesions: Endoscopic and pathologic features

Benign esophageal lesions have a wide spectrum of clinical and pathologic features. Understanding the endoscopic and pathologic features of esophageal lesions is essential for their detection, differential diagnosis, and management. The purpose of this review is to provide updated features that may help physicians to appropriately manage these esophageal lesions. The endoscopic features of 2997 patients are reviewed. In epithelial lesions, the frequency of occurrence was in the following order: glycogenic acanthosis, heterotopic gastric mucosa, squamous papilloma, hyperplastic polyp, ectopic sebaceous gland and xanthoma. In subepithelial lesions, the order was as follows: hemangioma, leiomyoma, dysphagia aortica and granular cell tumor. Most benign esophageal lesions can be diagnosed according to their endoscopic appearance and findings on routine biopsy, and submucosal lesions, by endoscopic resection. Management is generally based upon the confidence of diagnosis and whether the lesion causes symptoms. We suggest endoscopic resection of all granular cell tumors and squamous papillomas because, while rare, these lesions have malignant potential. Dysphagia aortica should be considered in the differential diagnosis of dysphagia in the elderly.

Acute transient hepatocellular injury in cholelithiasis and cholecystitis without evidence of choledocholithiasis

AIM： To investigate acute transient hepatocellular injury in patients with cholelithiasis and cholecystitis but no evidence of choledocholithiasis.METHODS： The medical records of patients with cholelithiasis who underwent cholecystectomy between July 2003 and June 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. Imaging studies to detect common bile duct （CBD） stones were performed in 186 patients, who constituted the study population. Biochemical liver tests before and after surgery, and with the presence or absence of CBD stones were analyzed.RESULTS： In 96 patients with cholelithiasis and cholecystitis without evidence of CBD stones, 49 （51.0%） had an alanine aminotransferase level elevated to 2-3 times the upper limit of normal, and 40 （41.2%） had an elevated aspartate aminotransferase level. Similar manifestations of hepatocellular injury were, as would be expected, even more obvious in the 90 patients with CBD stones. These markers of hepatocellular injury resolved almost completely within 2 wk to 1 mo after cholecystectomy. Compared to 59 patients with histologically less severe cholecystitisin the group undergoing urgent surgery （total 74 patients）, the 15 patients with a gangrenous gallbladder had a higher mean level of total bilirubin （2.14 ± 1.27 mg/dL vs 2.66 ± 2.97 mg/dL, P 〈 0.001） and white cell count （9480 ± 4681/μL vs 12840 ± 5273/μL, P = 0.018）.CONCLUSION： Acute hepatocellular injury in cholelithiasis and cholecystitis without choledocholithiasis is mild and transient. Hyperbilirubinemia and leukocytosis may predict severe inflammatory changes in the gallbladder.

Outcome of simple use of mechanical lithotripsy of difficult common bile duct stones

AIM: The usual bile duct stone may be removed by means of Dormia basket or balloon catheter, and results are quite good. However, the degree of difficulty is increased when stones are larger. Studies on the subject reported many cases where mechanical lithotripsy is combined with a second technique, e.g. electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL), where stones are crushed using baby-mother scope electric shock. The extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) or laser lithotripsy also yields an excellent success rate of greater than 90%. However, the equipment for these techniques are very expensive; hence we opted for the simple mechanical lithotripsy and evaluated its performance. METHODS: During the period from August 1996 to December 2002, Mackay Memorial Hospital treated 304 patients suffering from difficult bile duct stones (stone>1.5 cm or stones that could not be removed by the ordinary Dormia basket or balloon catheter). These patients underwent endoscopic papillotomy (EPT) procedure, and stones were removed by means of the Olympus BML-4Q lithotripsy. A follow-up was conducted on the post-treatment conditions and complications of the patients. RESULTS: Out of the 304 patients, bile duct stones were successfully removed from 272 patients, a success rate of about 90%. The procedure failed in 32 patients, for whom surgery was needed. Out of the 272 successfully treated patients, 8 developed cholangitis, 21 developed pancreatitis, and 10 patients had delayed bleeding, and no patient died. Among these 272 successful removal cases, successful bile duct stone removal was achieved after the first lithotripsy in 211 patients, whereas 61 patients underwent multiple sessions of lithotripsy. As for the 61 patients that underwent multiple sessions of mechanical lithotripsy, 6 (9.8%) had post-procedure cholangitis, 12 (19.6%) had pancreatitis, and 9 patients (14.7%) had delayed bleeding. Compared with the 211 patients undergoing a single session of mechanical lithotripsy, 3 (1.4%) had cholangitis, 1 (0.4%) had delayed bleeding, and 7 patients (3.3%) had pancreatitis. Statistical deviation was present in post-procedure cholangitis, delayed bleeding, and pancreatitis of both groups. CONCLUSION: Mechanical bile stone lithotripsy on difficult bile duct stones could produce around 90% successful rate. Moreover, complications are minimal. This finding further confirms the significance of mechanical lithotripsy in the treatment of patients with difficult bile duct stones.

Biloma following repeated transcatheter arterial embolization and complicated by intrahepatic duct stones: A case report

Biloma is an encapsulated bile collection outside the biliary tree due to a bile leak. It is occasionally found following traumatic liver injury or iatrogenic injury to the biliary tract, induced either during an endoscopic or surgical procedure. It is a rare complication of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). Although biloma can be shrunk by appropriate aspiration or drainage in majority of cases,we report a case of intrahepatic biloma following repeated TAE for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and complicated by infection and intrahepatic stones. This particular constellation of problems has not been reported before and the intrahepatic stones need to be removed by percutaneous procedure.

Training gastroenterology fellows to perform gastric polypectomy using a novel ex vivo model

AIM:To evaluate the effect of hands-on training of gastroenterology fellows in gastric polypectomy using an ex vivo simulator.METHODS:Eight gastroenterology fellows at Mackay Memorial Hospital,Taipei were evaluated in gastricpolypectomy techniques using a pig stomach with artificial polyps created by a rubber band ligation device.The performance of four second year(year-2)fellows who had undergone one year of clinical training was compared with that of four f irst year(year-1)fellows both before and after a 4-h workshop using the ex vivo simulator.The workshop allowed for hands-on train-ing in the removal of multiple artif icial polyps and the placement of hemoclips at the excision site.Evaluation included observation of technical skills,procedure time,and the fellows' conf idence scale.RESULTS:One week after the workshop,the year-1 fellows were re-evaluated and had significantly im-proved mean performance scores(from 17.9 ± 1.8 to 22.5 ± 0.7),conf idence scale(from 4.5 ± 1.0 to 7.8 ± 0.5)and procedure time(from 615.0 ± 57.4 s to 357.5 ± 85.0 s)compared with their baseline performance.After 4 h of training using the ex vivo simulator,the skills of the year-1 fellows were statistically similar to those of the year-2 fellows.CONCLUSION:Use of this ex vivo simulator significantly improved the endoscopic gastric polypectomy skills of gastroenterology fellows who had not had previous clinical training in gastric polypectomy.

Etoposide sensitizes CT26 colorectal adenocarcinoma to radiation therapy in BALB/c mice

AIM： To investigate the combined effect of etoposide and radiation on CT26 colorectal adenocarcinoma implanted into BALB/c mice. METHODS： We evaluated the radiosensitizing effect of etoposide on CT26 colorectal adenocarcinoma in a syngeneic animal model. BALB/c mice were subcutaneously implanted with CT26 cells and divided into four groups： Gonlyol （intra-peritoneal saline×2） group, etoposide （5 mg/kg intra-peritoneally×2） group, radiation therapy （RT 5 Gy×2 fractions） group, and combination therapy with etoposide （5 mg/kg intra-peritoneally 1 h before radiation） group. RESULTS： Tumor growth was significantly inhibited by RT and combination therapy. The effect of combination therapy was better than that of RT. No significant changes were noted in body weight, plasma alanine aminotransferase, or creatinine in any group. The leukocyte count significantly but transiently decreased in the RT and combination therapy groups, but not in the etoposide and control groups. There was no skin change or hair loss in the RT and combination therapy groups. CONCLUSION： Etoposide can sensitize CT26 colorectal adenocarcinoma in BALB/c mice to RT without significant toxicity.