Ulcerative jejunoileitis and enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma.

Ulcerative jejunoileitis and enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma are rare conditions described in patients with refractory coeliac disease. Ulcerations affect the small bowel and are unrelated to drugs, ischaemia, infections or other known causes. We describe a female patient with an unclassified enteropathy who experienced several episodes of jejunoileal ulcerations. Several resections of the small bowel segments were necessary. The repetitive ulcerations were either from cytotoxic T cells, the patient developed a T-cell lymphoma, and malignant cells could be detected at the bottom of the ulcers, or from acid-producing cells in areas of gastric metaplasia. Two mechanisms might thus be responsible for the occurrence of repetitive ulceration, and require different treatment strategies. The patient is currently being treated with proton pump inhibitors, oral steroids and parenteral nutrition.

Cellular hamartoma resembling gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a solid tumor of the pancreas expressing c-kit (CD117).

Solid tumors of the pancreas are usually neoplastic. We report on two adult patients, each with a solid tumor of the pancreas that presented with an unusual histology and seemed to follow a benign course. The tumors, one located in the body and one in the tail, were well demarcated and composed of irregularly arranged but well-differentiated acini and small intralobular and interlobular ducts embedded in predominantly hypocellular fibrotic tissue that contained fascicles of cytologically bland spindle cells. Islets were lacking, but immunohistochemical staining for chromogranin A and insulin revealed individual scattered insulin-producing cells distributed between acinar and ductal cells. The spindle cell component tissue showed coexpression of CD34, c-kit (CD117) and bcl-2. The follow-up (2 and 4 years) of the patients was uneventful. We propose to designate the tumors as 'cellular hamartoma resembling gastrointestinal stromal tumor.