Accidental late PEG dislodgment in 3 cases with a narrow stoma: Bougie dilatation rescue.

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) is a simple and effective method of enteral nutrition in many patients who cannot take oral food. The accidental dislodgement of the PEG tube after the maturation of the gastro-cutaneous fistula (stoma) is called late dislodgement. If it is not detected early, the stoma lumen gets narrower; and does not permit the passage of the replacement tube. In this case, the commonly followed method is to continue enteral nutrition by opening a new gastro-cutaneous fistula after the complete closing of the original stoma. Here, we present a stoma-saving bougie dilatation method in 3 cases with severely narrowed stomas after late accidental dislodgement of the PEG tube.

Upper airway tract and upper gastrointestinal tract involvement in patients with pemphigus vulgaris.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune disease involving the skin and mucous membranes. The frequency of upper airway tract (UAT) and upper gastrointestinal tract (UGIT) involvement in PV is not clearly known. Our aim was to determine the incidence of UAT and UGIT involvement in patients with PV. Thirty-seven patients who were diagnosed with PV and treated between March 2008 and April 2009 at the Dermatology Department of the Vakif Gureba Teaching and Research Hospital were included. All patients were evaluated for UAT manifestations by endoscopic examination, and 22 of 37 patients were investigated for UGIT involvement by gastrointestinal endoscopy. Mucosal biopsies were obtained by UGIT endoscopy for direct immunofluorescence (DIF) examination, and a histopathological examination was conducted in patients with active UGIT mucosal lesions. Thirty-five of 37 patients (94.6%) had active pharyngeal, laryngeal, or nasal PV lesions on endoscopic evaluation. Oral symptoms (83.8%) and active oral PV lesions were the most frequent findings (100%). Pharyngeal lesions (64.9%) were the most commonly present lesions on UAT examination. The frequency for laryngeal and nasal lesions was 51.4% and 21.6%, respectively. Five of 22 patients (22.7%) presented with active laryngeal and esophageal lesions. Twenty-one of 22 (95.4%) patients had positive DIF results. We believe that UAT and UGIT endoscopies are useful and necessary diagnostic methods in patients with PV with or without UAT and UGIT symptoms. UAT and UGIT endoscopies should be performed as standard diagnostic procedures in all patients with PV.

Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 are not increased in dyspeptic patients with Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis.

INTRODUCTION: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a non-invasive microorganism causing intense gastric mucosal inflammatory and immune reaction. H. pylori-induced gastric mucosal cytokine overproduction has been clearly documented previously. The stomach has a large surface area and continuous spill-over of locally produced cytokines into the blood stream is a possibility. There are few and conflicting data on circulatory proinflammatory cytokine levels in patients with H. pylori infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-two dyspeptic patients were enrolled into the study. The presence of H. pylori infection was diagnosed with antral histopathologic examination. After overnight fasting; serum samples were obtained from each patient to determine circulating interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels. RESULTS: H. pylori was shown in 30 cases using Giemsa stain in antral histopathologic evaluation. Twelve cases were negative for H. pylori staining. Both the age and sex distribution had an insignificant difference in both H pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative groups. The mean circulatory levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-a in both groups were not different. The situation was same in respect to the serum levels of these cytokines and the degree of inflammation, H. pylori density and activation scores according to Sydney classification. CONCLUSION: We could not show elevated circulatory levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha in H. pylori-infected cases. We believe that H. pylori-related cytokine activation become concentrated on gastric mucosa and this pathogen-induced local inflammatory cascade does not cause changes in circulatory levels of these cytokines. Moreover, there is no correlation between the levels of serum cytokines and Sydney parameters.