[Gastroenterologic pathology and replacement organotherapy in thyroidectomized patients]. / Patologia gastroenterica e opoterapia sostitutiva nei pazienti tiroidectomizzati.

Thyroid replacement therapy in patients treated by near-total or total thyroidectomy, as well as spontaneous hypothyroidism , can be difficult in patients with alterations in absorption functions or specific gastroenteric diseases. We have studied 25 patients, 22 women and 3 men, 18-72 years old (mean 47 years), affected by spontaneous or post-surgical hypothyroidism, who presented, during the usual replacement therapy, persistently elevated or high-normal TSH levels, and therefore required repeated variations in the prescribed dose of thyroxine. In these patients we evaluated hormone pattern, the presence of autoantibodies (anti-tyroglobulin, anti-Sm, anti-DNA, anti-microsomal antigens, anti-gliadin and anti-parietal cell), and performed an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with histological examination. In all patients, plasma TSH ranged from 2.5 to 20 microU/ml. Only 17% of patients exhibited the presence of antibodies against thyroglobulin, 17% of patients had antibodies against microsomal antigens, 6% of patients presented antibodies against nuclear antigens; 4% had against gliadin. Histological examination revealed chronic gastritis (98%) with atrophic aspects (20%) and intestinal metaplasia (28%); and chronic duodenitis (86%) with villus abnormalities (23%) and total villus atrophy (4%). We underline the case of a patient, treated by total thyroidectomy for papillary carcinoma, who presented, two months after starting L-thyroxine therapy, a recurrence of celiac disease, that had been silent after childhood. The EGD showed, at the level of the second duodenal segment, a reduction of number and thickness of mucosal folds; the histological examination showed total villus atrophy, elongated crypts and a dense infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells in the lamina propria. Our experience underlines the frequent association of gastroenteric disease and hypothyroidism.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the liver: report of two cases.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a very rare tumour of vascular origin, the most peculiar feature of which is that it is composed of endothelial cells closely resembling epithelial cells. Confirmation of its endothelial origin is achieved by positive staining for Factor VIII-related antigen or by the demonstration of Weibel-Palade bodies by electron microscopy. We report two cases of primary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of the liver that occurred in our center in the last ten years. The first patient is a 21 year old woman who presented with a right upper quadrant pain and an echographic finding of multiple hepatic lesions suggestive of metastases. The second patient is a 32 year old woman operated on for a cerebral glioma, in whom an abdominal CT scan, performed in view of radiotherapy, revealed multiple hepatic lesions, originally interpreted as being metastatic. In both cases, diagnosis was made based on the histologic examination of biopsies have been adopted in each case: the first patient has undergone successful liver transplantation. In the second patient an attentive surveillance appeared to be the best option, due to the presence of a previous cerebral glioma.