Eosinophilic gastroenteritis: Clinical experience with 15 patients

AIM: To evaluate the clinic features of eosinophilicgastroenteritis and to examine the diagnosis, treatment,long-term outcome of this disease.METHODS: Charts with a diagnosis of eosinophilicgastroenteritis from 1984 to 2002 at Mackay Memorial Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. There were 15 patients diagnosed with eosinophilic gastroenteritis. The diagnosis was established in 13 by histologic evaluation of endoscopic biopsy or operative specimen and in 2 by radiologic imaging and the presence of eosinophilic ascites.RESULTS: All the patients had gastrointestinal symptoms and 12 (80 %) had hypereosinophilia (absolute eosinophil count 1 008 to 31 360/cm3). The most common symptoms were abdominal pain and diarrhea. Five of the 15 patients had a history of allergy. Seven patients had involvement of the mucosa, 2 of muscularis, and 6 of subserosa. One with a history of seafood allergy was successfully treated with an elimination diet. Another patient improved spontaneously after fasted for several days. The remaining 13 patients were treated with oral prednisolone, 10 to 40 mg/day initially,which was then tapered. The symptoms in all the patients subsided within two weeks. Eleven of the 15 patients were followed up for more than 12 months (12 to 104 months,mean 48.7), of whom 5 had relapses after discontinuing steroids (13 episodes). Two of these patients required longterm maintenance oral prednisolone (5 to 10 mg/day).CONCLUSION: Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a rare condition of unclear etiology characterized by relapses and remissions. Short courses of corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment, although some patients with relapsing disease require long-term low-dose steroids.

Solid-pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas: Clinical experience and literature review

AIM: To evaluate the clinical presentations of solidpseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPT) and examine the diagnosis, treatment, low grade malignant potential of this rare disease.METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a series of seven patients with SPT managed in our hospital between July 1990 and October 2003. Six females and one male with mean age of 31 years (range 13 to 50 years) were diagnosed with SPT at our institution.RESULTS: Clinical presentation included a palpable abdominal mass in two patients and vague abdominal discomfort in another two. Two patients were asymptomatic;their tumors were found incidentally on abdominal sonographic examination for other reasons. The final patient was admitted with hemoperitoneum secondary to tumor rupture. The mean diameter of the tumors in the seven patients was 10.5 cm (range 5 to 20 cm). The lesions were located in the body and tail in five cases and in the head of the pancreas in two. Surgical procedures included distal pancreatectomy (3), distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy (2), pancreaticoduodenectomy (1) and a pylorus-preserving Whipple procedure (1). There were gross adhesions or histological evidence of infiltration to the adjacent pancreas and/or splenic capsule in four cases. None of the patients received adjuvant therapy.The mean follow up was 7 years (range 0.5 to 14 years).One patient developed multiple liver metastases after 14 years of follow up.CONCLUSION: SPT is a rare tumor that behaves less aggressively than other pancreatic tumor. However, in cases with local invasion, long-term follow up is advisable.

Esophagectomy for locally advanced esophageal cancer, followed by chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy

AIM: To compare the efficacy and toxicity of a three-step combination therapy with post-operative radiation alone for locally advanced esophageal cancer.METHODS: Patients with T3-4 and N0-1 esophageal carcinoma from a number of institutions were non-randomly,prospectively enrolled in the study. All patients underwent single-stage curative en bloc esophagectomy. The patients were then assigned into one of two treatment groups based on treatment consisting of either post-operative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) with weekly cisplatin 30 mg/m2 followed by systemic adjuvant chemotherapy (four monthly cycles of cisplatin 20 mg/m2 and 5-fiuorouracil 1 000 mg/m2 for five consecutive days),or, post-operative radiation alone. The radiotherapy dose was 55-60 Gy for all patients. Primary end-point of this study was to assess the per-protocol patients' improvement of overall survival benefit. Secondary end-point was designed to evaluate both the per-protocol and intent-to-treat patients' outcome of survival.RESULTS: A total of 60 patients (n = 30 per group) were enrolled in this study. The two groups were generally comparable for demographic characteristics and hematological and non-hematological toxicities. The CCRT with weekly cisplatin was well tolerated, with significantly better overall survival (30.9 mo vs 20.7 mo; 95% CI,27.5-36.4 vs15.2-26.1) and 3-year survival (70.0% vs 33.7%; P = 0.003). Low histological grade of tumor (P＜0.001) was associated with favorable survival in these locally advanced patients.CONCLUSION: For locally advanced esophageal cancer,the combination of esophagectomy, post-operative CCRT with weekly cisplatin and systemic adjuvant chemotherapy is well tolerated and effective. A large-scale, prospective randomized trial of this regimen is in progress.

Endoscopic findings in a patient with Henoch-Schonlein purpura

Hcnoch Schoenlein purpura (HSP) is a systemic vasculitis of the small vessels of the skin,joints,GI tract, and kidney.It preferentially affects children but may also occur in adults.We report a 60-rear-old man with HSP who presented with colicky abdominal pain,blondy diarrhea,arthralgia,and skin rash.The gastrointestinal tract was viewed by upper endoscopy and colonoscopy.We found characterislic endoscopic findings in the stomach,cecum and sigmoid colon,the combination of which has rarely been demonstrated in one patient.Histologic examination of skin biopsy specimens revealed leukocytoclastic vasculitis with positive staining for IgA in the capillaries.Endoscopy appears to have substantial diagnostic utility in patients suspected of having HSP,especially when abdominal symptoms precede the cutaneous lesions.

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 Decemberz 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.

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.

Management of Helicobacter pylori infection after gastric surgery

The Maastricht IV/Florence Consensus Report and the Second Asia-Pacific Consensus Guidelines strongly recommend eradication of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)in patients with previous gastric neoplasia who have undergone gastric surgery.However,the guidelines do not mention optimal timing,eradication regimens,diagnostic tools,and follow-up strategies for patients undergoing gastrectomy and do not indicate if eradication of H.pylori reduces the risk of marginal ulcer or stump cancer in the residual stomach after gastrectomy.The purpose of this review is to provide an update which may help physicians to properly manage H.pylori infection in patients who have undergone gastric surgery.This review focuses on(1)the microenvironment change in the stomach after gastrectomy;(2)the phenomenon of spontaneous clearance of H.pylori after gastrectomy;(3)the effects of H.pylori on gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia after gastrectomy;(4)incidence and clinical features of ulcers developing after gastrectomy;(5)does eradication of H.pylori reduce the risk of gastric stump cancer in the residual stomach?(6)does eradication of H.pylori reduce the risk of secondary metachronous gastric cancer in the residual stomach?and(7)optimal timing and regimens for H.pylori eradication,diagnostic tools and follow-up strategies for patients undergoing gastrectomy.

Using typical endoscopic features to diagnose esophagealsquamous papilloma

AIM: To better understand some of the superficial tiny lesions that are recognized as squamous papilloma of the esophagus(SPE) and receive a different pathological diagnosis.METHODS: All consecutive patients with esophageal polypoid lesions detected by routine endoscopy at our Endoscopy Centre between October 2009 and June 2014 were retrospectively analysed. We enrolled patients with SPE or other superficial lesions to investigate four key endoscopic appearances(whitish color, exophytic growth, wart-like shape, and surface vessels) and used narrow band imaging(NBI) to distinguish their differences. These series endoscopic images of each patient were retrospectively reviewed by three experienced endoscopists with no prior access to the images. All lesion specimens obtained by forceps biopsy were fixed in formalin and processed for pathological examination. The following data were collected from patient medical records: gender, age, indications for esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and endoscopic characteristics including lesion location, number, color, size, surface morphology, surrounding mucosa, and surface vessels under NBI. Clinicopathological features were also compared.RESULTS: During the study period, 41 esophageal polypoid lesions from 5698 endoscopic examinations were identified retrospectively. These included 24 patients with pathologically confirmed SPE, 11 patients with squamous hyperplasia, three patients with glycogenic acanthosis, two patients with ectopic sebaceous glands, and one patient with a xanthoma. In the χ2 test, exophytic growth(P = 0.003), a wartlike shape(P < 0.001), and crossing surface vessels under NBI(P = 0.001) were more frequently observed in SPE than in other lesion types. By contrast, there was no significant difference regarding the appearance of a whitish color between SPE and other lesion types(P = 0.872). The most sensitive characteristic was wart-like projections(81.3%) and the most specific was exophytic growth(87.5%). Promising positive predictive values of 84.2%, 80.8%, and 82.6% were noted for exophytic growth, wart-like projections, and surface vessel crossing on NBI, respectively.CONCLUSION: The use of three key typical endoscopic appearances- exophytic growth, a wart-like shape, and vessel crossing on the lesion surface under NBI- has a promising positive predictive value of 88.2%. This diagnostic triad is useful for the endoscopic diagnosis of SPE.

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.

Gastric carcinoid tumor in a patient with a past history of gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the stomach

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor is the most common mesenchymal tumor in the gastrointestinal tract. It may coexist with other type of cancers,and if so,the tumors usually involve the stomach. The most common associated cancers are gastrointestinal carcinomas. We report a 65-year-old woman with a history of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor who had undergone subtotal segmental gastrectomy. New polypoid lesions were detected on a follow-up gastroscopy one year later. The lesions were biopsied and found to be carcinoid tumors. There was serum hypergastrinemia,and type 1 gastric carcinoid tumor was diagnosed. A total gastrectomy was performed. Pathologic examination revealed both carcinoid tumors and a recurrent gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Effects of Helicobacter pylori infection in gastrointestinal tract malignant diseases:From the oral cavity to rectum

Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)has infected approximately fifty percent of humans for a long period of time.However,improvements in the public health environment have led to a decreased chance of H.pylori infection.However,a high infection rate is noted in populations with a high incidence rate of gastric cancer(GC).The worldwide fraction of GC attributable to H.pylori is greater than 85%,and a high H.pylori prevalence is noted in gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma patients.These results indicate that the majority of GC cases can be prevented if H.pylori infection is eliminated.Because H.pylori exhibits oral-oral or fecal-oral transmission,the relationship between this microorganism and other digestive tract malignant diseases has also attracted attention.This review article provides an overview of H.pylori and the condition of the whole gastrointestinal tract environment to further understand the correlation between the pathogen and the host,thus allowing improved realization of disease presentation.

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.

Ultrasonography of splenic abnormalities

AIM: This report gives a comprehensive overview of ultrasonography of splenic abnormalities. Certain ultrasonic features are also discussed with pathologic correlation.METHODS: We review the typical ultrasonic characteristics of a wide range of splenic lesions, illustrating them with images obtained in our institution from 2000 to 2003.One hundred and three patients (47 men, 56 women),with a mean age of 54 years (range 9-92 years), were found to have an abnormal ultrasonic pattern of spleen.RESULTS: We describe the ultrasonic features of various splenic lesions such as accessory spleen, splenomegaly,cysts, cavernous hemangiomas, lymphomas, abscesses,metastatic tumors, splenic infarctions, hematomas, and rupture, based on traditional gray-scale and color Doppler sonography.CONCLUSION: Ultrasound is a widely available, noninvasive,and useful means of diagnosing splenic abnormalities. A combination of ultrasonic characteristics and clinical data may provide an accurate diagnosis. If the US appearance alone is not enough, US may also be used to guide biopsy of suspicious lesions.

Carcinoid tumor of the duodenum and accessory papilla associated with polycythemia vera

Carcinoid tumors have been reported in a wide range of organs but most frequently involve the gastrointestinal tract; however, duodenal carcinoid tumors are rare. We report a 50-year-old male patient complaining of multiple melenas for 3 wk. The panendoscopy and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography revealed swelling accessory papilla with an ulcer. The biopsy taken showed a carcinoid tumor. The lesion was removed by wide resection. Patient was found to have an abnormal blood cell count during the follow-up period with elevated levels of hemoglobin and hematocrit of 21.2 g/dL and 63.5%,respectively, thrombocytosis of 501 000/μL, and leukocytosis of 20 410/μL. He was diagnosed as a polycythemia vera by a hematologist after further evaluation. He received periodic phlebotomy and hydroxyurea treatment. The response was good and his hematocrit was stabilized by periodic phlebotomy in the range of 44-49% during the last 2 years. The possible origin of UGI bleeding by a duodenal carcinoid tumor, although rare, should be considered. There has been one case report of a duodenal carcinoid tumor that involved accessory papilla of the pancreas divisum and one case report of metastatic carcinoid tumor associated with polycythemia vera. It is different in our patient as compared with the latter report, which mentioned a polycythemia vera patient who was found to have a metastatic carcinoid in the 17 years follow-up period. Chemotherapy had been given before the carcinoid tumor was revealed. Our patient had no previous chemotherapy for polycythemia vera before he was found to have duodenal carcinoid tumor; this excludes the possibility of chemotherapy induced carcinoid tumor, although it had been suspected in the previous report. In our patient, the existence of both diseases may be by predisposition of each other since both diseases have an increased incidence of other neoplasm, or they may be coexistent incidentally.

Impact of COVID-19 on liver

The incidence of liver injury after coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)infection ranged from 15%-53%.The mechanism includes direct viral cytopathic effect,cytokinesis,and treatment drug-induced liver injury.The symptoms include nausea,vomiting,diarrhea,and loss of appetite.The laboratory results include increased liver enzyme levels,decreased monocyte count,and longer prothrombin time.The most common imaging findings are hepatomegaly on ultrasound,ground-glass opacity on chest computed tomography(CT),and liver hypodensity and pericholecystic fat stranding on abdominal CT.Patients may also have different presentations and poor outcomes of different liver diseases concomitant with COVID-19 infection.Liver function test(LFT)results should be monitored,and all factors known to cause or predispose liver injury should be investigated while managing the patients.The risks of transfer to an intensive care unit,need for mechanical ventilator support,and acute kidney injury is higher in COVID-19 patients with than without abnormal LFTs.Increased mortality and length of hospital stay are both observed.