Toxocara canis and Fasciola hepaticaCo-Infection Leading to Hepatic Abscess: A Case Report

Toxocariasis is a zoonotic disease caused by ingesting eggs from soil contaminated with Toxocara canis and Fasciola hepatica, commonly found in feces of infected dogs and cats, leading to a range of clinical symptoms including fever, abdominal pain and gastrointestinal manifestations. Fascioliasis is also a zoonotic disease caused by liver flukes Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica, which can be contracted through consumption of contaminated water or aquatic plants, leading to various clinical features. Here, we report a case of a 39-yearold woman diagnosed with a liver abscess caused by co-infection of T. canis and F. hepatica, as confirmed by serological tests. Although the existence of a pet dog and an experience of eating raw water dropwort are potential clues for diagnosis, it cannot be determined as the source of infection because the source of infection has not been clearly identified. After administrating albendazole and triclabendazole sequentially, the patient showed improvement in blood test and imaging findings. Clinicians should be aware of parasitic coinfection and take appropriate management.

The Role of High Resolution Manometry in Non-Cardiac Chest Pain / 계명의대학술지

The most common cause of noncardiogenic chest pain is gastroesophageal reflux disease, and other esophageal motility disorders are also frequent. Esophageal manometry is important for diagnosing esophageal motility disease. Recently, high resolution manometry (HRM) has emerged and is reported to be more useful than conventional esophageal manometry in evaluating primary esophageal motility disease. In this study, the role and usefulness of HRM in noncardiac chest pain were investigated. From August 2018 to April 2021, 136 patients with chest pain were enrolled. Classification was carried out according to Chicago classification version 3.0, and 95 out of 136 patients showed normal findings, and 23 patients showed ineffective esophageal motility. When gastroesophageal reflux disease was classified according to Los Angeles (LA) classification, LA-M was 20% (6/30), LA-A was 63.3% (19/30), LA-B was 16.6% (5/30), and LA-C was, there were no patients with LA-D. Through this study, it was confirmed that about 22% of patients with noncardiogenic chest pain had reflux esophagitis, and about 30% of patients had esophageal motility disease. High-resolution esophageal manometry appears to be useful for the differentiation of noncardiogenic chest pain caused by esophageal motility disorders other than reflux esophagitis. After diagnosis of esophageal motor disease, follow-up studies on whether non-cardiac chest pain improves after drug treatment is required.