Bleeding Risk Related to Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Biopsy in Patients Receiving Antithrombotic Therapy: A Multicenter Prospective Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Although antithrombotic agents are widely used for cardiac and cerebrovascular disease prevention, they increase the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. OBJECTIVE: To examine GI bleeding risk in association with an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) biopsy performed in patients without cessation of antithrombotic therapy. METHODS: This study was prospectively conducted at 14 centers. EGD biopsies were performed in patients receiving antithrombotic agents without cessation, as well as age- and sex-matched controls not receiving antithrombotic therapy. Patients treated with warfarin before the biopsy had a prothrombin time-international normalized ratio level <3.0. The proportion of GI bleeding events was compared between the groups. RESULTS: The patient group (n = 277) underwent a total of 560 biopsies while continuing antithrombotic therapy, of whom 24 were receiving multiple antiplatelet drugs, and 9 were receiving both antiplatelet and anticoagulant agents. The control patients (n = 263) underwent 557 biopsies. The upper-GI bleeding rate within 30 days after the EGD biopsy did not increase in patients without cessation of antithrombotic treatment, regardless of receiving single or multiple antithrombotic agents. CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant increase in upper-GI bleeding risk following an EGD biopsy in patients taking antithrombotic agents, suggesting its safety without the need for antithrombotic treatment interruption.

Clinicopathological and patient characteristics of early gastric neoplasia endoscopically resected with loss of Mlh1 expression.

Hypermethylation of the promoter region of the MLH1 gene leads to loss of Mlh1 protein expression and plays a key role in the development of gastric cancer. Little is known about the association between Mlh1 expression and the clinicopathological and patient characteristics in early gastric neoplasia, particularly in endoscopically resected tumors. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine Mlh1 expression in 140 early gastric neoplasias obtained by endoscopic resection and comprising 31 gastric adenomas (GAs) and 109 early gastric cancers (EGCs), and compared them to corresponding clinicopathological and patient data. P53 expression and phenotypic profiles were also analyzed. The rate of reduced Mlh1 expression and P53 overexpression was 9.6 and 6.5% in GAs, and 27.5 and 27.5% in EGCs, respectively. In elderly patients (≥65 years of age), the aberrant expression of Mlh1 in EGCs was more significant in female than in male patients (59.9 vs. 29.8%; P=0.016). In addition, the frequency of aberrant Mlh1 expression in EGCs increased significantly in patients with oncological family histories and elevated gross type (P=0.033 and P=0.04, respectively). Moreover, a significant correlation was observed among aberrant Mlh1, P53-negative and HGM expression. The present findings suggest that loss of Mlh1 expression is associated with age, gender, oncological family history and tumor growth pattern in EGC. Patient and tumor characteristics are key factors in the screening, surveillance and diagnosis of early gastric neoplasia, particularly in elderly individuals.

[Case of villous tumor of the rectum presenting with severe diarrhea and electrolyte depletion syndrome].

A 83-year-old man with a 2-year history of diarrhea was admitted hospital because of increased diarrhea and general fatigue. He had severe dehydration, hyponatremia, hypokalemia and hypochloremia. Abdominal CT showed tumor and fluid in the rectum. Colonoscopy revealed large tumor with a villous structure in the rectum. Low anterior resection was performed. The histopathological diagnosis was adenocarcinoma with villous adenoma. The immunostaining of the tumor revealed positive COX-2 expression. The diarrhea and electrolyte disturbance disappeared after the resection of tumor.

[A case of splenic abscess in which percutaneous abscess drainage was an effective].

An eighty-six-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for bacterial septic shock due to splenic abscess. He had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention 3 weeks earlier. Percutaneous splenic abscess drainage was urgently performed under ultrasonography, and then the general state of the patient rapidly improved. Staphylococcus hemolyticus was isolated from the splenic abscess. We reported that percutaneous catheter drainage was effective for splenic abscess.

Fhit, Mlh1, P53 and phenotypic expression in the early stage of colorectal neoplasms.

There are two different pathways for the development of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), adenoma-carcinoma sequence (ACS) and de novo (DN) carcinogenesis. To clarify the molecular and clinicopathological characteristics in colorectal carcinogenesis, we examined endoscopically resected specimens of 30 adenomas, 30 carcinoma in adenomas (CIAs), and 18 early pure colorectal carcinomas without any adenoma component (EPCs, so called DN carcinoma) and compared the expression of Fhit, Mlh1, Msh2, P53 and cellular phenotype (HGM, MUC2 and CD10). Markedly reduced or absent Fhit expression was noted in 8 (44%) of 18 EPCs, but none of the adenomas or CIAs (p<0.0001). Six (33%) of 18 EPCs showed loss of Mlh1 expression, but rarely in adenomas and CIAs (p=0.008). This altered Fhit expression was significantly higher in submucosal invasive cancers (p=0.001), lymphatic or venous invasive cancers (p=0.0018), and tumors with altered expression of Mlh1 (p=0.01). The incidence of P53 overexpression was significantly higher in EPCs (39%) and CIAs (27%) than in adenomas (3.3%) (p<0.05). There were significant differences in phenotypic expression between the adenomatous and carcinomatous areas. Moreover, in CIAs and EPCs, the rate of P53 overexpression was significantly higher in the CD10-positive cases (53%) than CD10-negative cases (19%) (p=0.04). The present findings suggested that aberrant Fhit and Mlh1 expression could be related to DN carcinogenesis and that P53 overexpression and changes in phenotypic expression could contribute to the malignant transformation of colorectal precursor lesions.

Expression of Fhit, Mlh1, p16INK4A and E-cadherin in early gastric neoplasia: Correlation with histological grade and gastric phenotype.

An increasing number of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) that are inactivated by hypermethylation of CpG islands in the promoter have been reported in gastric carcinomas. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical significance of TSG protein expression, which correlates with the promoter status, methylated or not, during the early stages of gastric carcinogenesis and to examine its relationship with mucin phenotype. The protein expression of 4 TSGs including Fhit, Mlh1, p16INK4A and E-cadherin was examined using immunohistochemical methods in 103 early gastric neoplasias, comprising 41 adenomas and 62 intramucosal carcinomas, obtained by endoscopic mucosal resection. In addition, phenotypic expression patterns (gastric-, intestinal- and mixed-phenotypes) were also examined. The expression of Fhit, Mlh1, p16 and E-cadherin was lost or reduced in 7.3, 12.2, 12.2 and 9.8% of the adenomas and in 35.5, 29.0, 29.0 and 32.3% of the intramucosal carcinomas, respectively. The absent expression of p16 was significantly associated with the degree of dysplasia in the adenomas (p=0.038). The average number of proteins among the 4 TSGs, whose expression was lost or reduced per sample, was significantly higher in the intramucosal carcinomas (1.35) than in the adenomas (0.41) (p=0.00013). Similarly, the average number was significantly higher in the gastric-type tumors (2.05) than in the intestinal-type tumors (0.49) (p=0.0000019). We demonstrated an increase in the number of TSG proteins whose expression is reduced or lost in the early stages of gastric tumorigenesis, and that this increase is associated with histological grade and gastric phenotype.

[Two cases of primary T cell lymphoma of the small intestine diagnosed by perforated peritonitis].

We encountered 2 cases (a 28-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman) of primary T cell lymphoma of the small intestine diagnosed by perforated peritonitis. T cell lymphoma perforates the small intestine more easily than B cell lymphoma, because T cell lymphoma infiltrates the intestinal tract wall, and forms an ulcerative tumor.