1/52. Gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations of human ehrlichiosis: 8 cases and a review of the literature.BACKGROUND: ehrlichiosis has emerged as an increasingly recognized tick-borne rickettsial disease. It can affect multiple organs including the gastrointestinal tract and liver. signs and symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, and hepatosplenomegaly. patients commonly have elevated liver transaminases early in the course of illness as well as leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. If not diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion, ehrlichiosis can progress to multiorgan failure. methods: Between 1992 and 1998, 8 patients meeting the CDC criteria for ehrlichiosis were diagnosed and treated at the John L. McClellan Memorial veterans Hospital and University Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. These cases and English-language articles relating to gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations of ehrlichiosis, identified by searching medline and manually reviewing bibliographies of retrieved articles, are reviewed. RESULTS: Seven of the eight patients had elevated transaminases on presentation which increased rapidly initially and slowly returned to normal. Three of our patients had hyperbilirubinemia. One of the eight patients presented with hepatomegaly. Three had hyperbilirubinemia with a peak bilirubin of 13.8 mg/dl. Two patients (25%) had a rash on presentation. All 8 patients were treated with and responded to doxycycline. One developed multiorgan failure but eventually recovered with intensive medical care and doxycycline. CONCLUSION: To avoid treatment delay and serious complications, in the appropriate clinical setting ehrlichiosis should be considered as a cause of elevated liver transaminases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = liver, hepatic (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/52. Gastrointestinal manifestations of Behcet's disease.Behcet's disease (BD) is a multisystem, chronic, relapsing vasculitis of unknown origin that affects nearly all organs and systems. While recurrent oral ulcerations are a "sine qua non" of BD, the frequency of extra-oral parts of the gastrointestinal involvement varies widely in different countries. The most frequent extra-oral sites of gastrointestinal involvement are the ileocecal region and the colon. The liver (except with budd-chiari syndrome), pancreas, and spleen are rarely involved. The symptoms associated with these extra-oral manifestations of BD are abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea with or without blood, and constipation. The lesions typically are resistant to medical treatment and frequently recur with surgical treatment. We review the literature regarding the gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary systems in BD. Also, we present a patient who had BD complicated with radiologically-proven hepatic veins involvement (budd-chiari syndrome) and complete occlusion of hepatic portion of inferior vena cava and who had a good response to colchicine and penicillin treatment.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.37280008487211keywords = liver, hepatic (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/52. Inflammatory pseudotumor of the alimentary tract: clinical and surgical experience.BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Initially described in 1937, inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT) inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) or plasma cell granulomas are synonymous for an inflammatory solid tumor that contains spindle cells, myofibroblasts, plasma cells, and histocytes. Common sites of presentation include lung, mesentary, liver, and spleen; intestinal presentations are rare, and the etiology remains obscure. This report details the clinical and surgical experiences in 4 children with alimentary tract IPT at a single institution. methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of pediatric patients with the pathologic diagnosis of IPT. RESULTS: Between 1990 and 1999, 4 patients (4 girls, ages 5 to 15 years) were identified with gastrointestinal tract origins of IPT. Symptoms at presentation included anemia (n = 4), intermittent abdominal pain (n = 3), fever (n = 3), weight loss (n = 2), diarrhea (n = 2), dysphagia (n = 1). Two patients had comorbid conditions of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and mature B cell lymphoma. Three of 4 patients had elevated sedimentation rates. The sites of origin were the gastroesophageal junction, the colon, the rectum, and the appendix, with the referral diagnosis achalasia, perforated appendix, inflammatory bowel disease, and recurrent lymphoma, respectively. All were treated with aggressive surgical resection, and 3 girls have had no recurrences since the initial surgery. One patient had 3 recurrences within 8 months of presentation; she remains disease free 8 years later. CONCLUSIONS: IPT, although rare in the gastrointestinal tract, mimics more common problems. Successful surgical management is possible even in cases of multiple recurrences.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/52. Invasive gastrointestinal zygomycosis in a liver transplant recipient: case report.BACKGROUND: Gastric zygomycosis is a rare but potentially lethal complication in transplant patients. Forty-two cases of gastric mucormycosis have been described in the literature, with a mortality of 98%. methods: We report of a case of gastric mucormycosis in a 45-year-old male undergoing liver transplantation for alcohol-induced cirrhosis. The diagnosis was made 20 days after transplantation in a biopsy of a bleeding gastric ulcer identified during a reoperation for a common bile duct stricture. RESULTS: After the surgical procedure and therapy with amphotericin b, the patient made a good recovery and is alive and well 2 years after transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric mucormycosis should be suspected in those patients in whom gastrointestinal symptoms such a pain or bleeding are present. Because the diagnosis is dependent on histology, the importance of biopsy cannot be underestimated. Once diagnosed, a successful outcome depends on effective treatment with amphotericin.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.67999787819723keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/52. case management in the GI Clinic.nursing case management has been in practice since the 1800s when it was first created to coordinate and improve healthcare delivery to the poor and immigrant populations in the united states. In the 1950s and again in 1972, the government mandated programs that provided a community-based continuum of care for the mentally ill and elderly populations. Historically a community service, nursing case management moved into the acute care setting in the 1980s when medicare implemented its prospective payment system organized as diagnosis-related groups, thus prompting hospitals to use nurse case managers to coordinate care and ultimately reduce costs.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/52. A family with gastrointestinal amyloidosis associated with variant lysozyme.Hereditary nonneuropathic systemic lysozyme amyloidosis is a very rare form of amyloidosis, and only 4 families with this condition have been detailed until now in the literature. Clinical manifestations of lysozyme amyloidosis observed until now mainly concerned the kidneys, liver, and digestive tract. We report here a new family with hereditary lysozyme amyloidosis who presented predominantly with gastrointestinal involvement. The proband, a middle-aged woman, underwent partial gastrectomy for a hemorrhagic "gastric peptic ulcer" in 1984. Gastrointestinal amyloidosis was diagnosed in 1998 on biopsies performed on the gastroduodenal anastomosis, which appeared to be very congestive at presentation. Immunohistochemical stainings in tissue sections were positive for lysozyme. Amyloid was also observed in the colonic mucosa. The patient had a mutation in the lysozyme gene characterized by substitution of the amino acid at position 64 in the mature protein from tryptophan to arginine, previously described in only 1 French family with prominent nephropathy. It is interesting to note that her father had died many years before with an uncharacterized digestive amyloidosis. Our observation shows that a search for gastrointestinal amyloidosis is important, particularly when physicians are faced with congestive mucosa, unexplained abdominal hemorrhage, or abdominal symptoms. When gastrointestinal amyloidosis is diagnosed, it is important to determine with precision the nature of the amyloid fibril proteins, because various types of amyloidosis can involve the gastrointestinal tract.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/52. Intestinal candidiasis. A clinical report and comments about this opportunistic pathology.An eight-years-old girl, who presented with recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Afterward she presented with intestinal candidiasis. The isolated species was identified as candida albicans by differential tests. Treatment given was with 500,000 IU of oral nystatin every 8 hours for 10 days and intestinal normal microbiota restoratives. Evolution has been satisfactory, although concomitantly type A hepatitis developed. rest and a soft diet were recommended. The child is now perfectly healthy with normal liver function tests. CONCLUSION: Prolonged treatments with broad-spectrum antibiotics destroyed the indigenous intestinal microbiota, which provoked intestinal C. Albicans proliferation and adversely affected the immunological system of the patient, thus facilitating the establishment of a viral infection.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/52. Gastrointestinal pneumocystosis in hiv-infected patients on aerosolized pentamidine: report of five cases and literature review.Extrapulmonary infection with pneumocystis carinii in AIDS patients on aerosolized pentamidine is occurring more frequently. We report five patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal pneumocystosis while on aerosolized pentamidine prophylaxis and have identified infections involving the peritoneum, liver, and transverse colon, as well as stomach and duodenum. physicians should have a high index of suspicion for extrapulmonary pneumocystosis, especially involving the gastrointestinal system, in hiv-infected patients, and early diagnosis must be pursued aggressively. The use of aerosolized pentamidine as prophylaxis for P. carinii pneumonia is not protective against gastrointestinal pneumocystosis because of inadequate systemic distribution of the drug. To our knowledge, this is the first report in a clinical journal documenting and photographing P. carinii organisms in ascitic fluid.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/52. Unusual causes of acute abdomen in a Nigerian hospital.Acute abdomen is the most common abdominal emergency associated with high morbidity and mortality in General surgical practice. Over a 7-year period, a study of unusual causes of acute abdomen was undertaken, with the aim of identifying these causes and outcome of operative management. Eleven cases were identified accounting for 4% of cases of acute abdomen seen during the period of the study. Four cases of liver diseases (33.3%) comprising 2 patients (16.7%) with ruptured primary liver cell carcinoma, 1 (one) case each of haemoperitoneum due to ruptured liver haemangioma and haemorrhagic disorders from liver cirrhosis. One patient had acute leukaemia with massive haemoperitoneum and acute abdomen. Five (45.5%) had gastrointestinal perforations; 1 patient (9%) each had multiple jejunal perforations, perforation of stomal ulcer at gastrojejunostomy site, perforation of gastric cancer; perforated carcinoid tumour of sigmoid colon and idiopathic perforation of the caecum. There was also a case of caecal volvulus. mortality was 7 patients (63.6%). All patients with liver pathology and acute leukaemia died. The cases of malignant tumour perforation were well and alive 4-6 years after the operation. CONCLUSION: Operation could have been avoided in 45.5% of these cases if the appropriate investigations, had been available and carried out.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.67999787819723keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/52. Clinical and immunological features of adult-onset generalized autoimmune gut disorder.OBJECTIVES: Autoimmune enteropathy is a rare disorder of unknown pathogenesis, characterized by protracted diarrhea, villous atrophy, and enterocyte autoantibodies. Its association with extended inflammation of the whole gastrointestinal tract is termed as generalized autoimmune gut disorder (GAGD), generally a pediatric disease of difficult management due to its association with immunodeficiency. The aim of our work is to describe the mucosal immunological basis of an adult-onset case of GAGD. methods: We studied an adult female with a severe inflammatory involvement of the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, small and large bowel, and liver) and antienterocyte autoantibodies. She had antibody deficiency and a predisposition to systemic autoimmunity. We analyzed, by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry, the phenotypic and functional characteristics of her intestinal intraepithelial and lamina propria (LP) lymphocytes. RESULTS: We observed the prominent and constant presence of an unusual CD4 alphaE/beta7- Tc subset in the jejunal epithelium. Signs of the lymphocyte activation as well as the prominent lymphoid TNF-alpha production observed in the rectal mucosa support the involvement of a cell-mediated pro-inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of GAGD. CONCLUSIONS: We report the second case of an adult fulfilling all diagnostic criteria for GAGD. We propose that the activated LP CD4 T lymphocytes, as well as those atypically located in the epithelium, may play a pathogenic role. The alphaE/beta7- IEL could constitute a diagnostic marker of intestinal autoimmunity in the cases when autoantibodies are not evidenced, and mucosal TNF-alpha might represent a novel therapeutic target in this severe disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.13599957563945keywords = liver (Clic here for more details about this article) |
| | Next -> |