ABSTRACT
Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia is a chronic cholestatic entity of unknown origin that was discovered in the past decade. Although it is classically a progressive and severe disease, a benign and responsive-to-therapy form has been reported recently. We present two middle-aged females that represent the extremes of the clinicopathologic spectrum: One with a severe form of the disease for whom liver transplantation was considered and the other with a benign form.
Subject(s)
Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/pathology , Cholestasis, Intrahepatic/pathology , Adult , Biopsy , Disease Progression , Female , Humans , Liver/pathology , Liver Function TestsSubject(s)
Colonic Diseases/diagnosis , Colonoscopy , Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Middle AgedABSTRACT
We present a case of cavernomatous cystic lymphangioma in the hepatic angle of the colon, a extremely rare benign tumor developed in a patient under continued radiologic and endoscopic surveillance because of multiple polyps and colon carcinoma. The lesion was asymptomatic and was diagnosed in a routine follow-up colonoscopy. The endoscopic appearance was similar to that of an adenomatous polyp and was safely resected by polypectomy without evidence of relapse to the present time. Trends in the treatment of lymphangioma have been changing since the development of snare polypectomy; thus before 1980 it was treated mainly by surgery, while at present lymphangiomas less than 2 cm have been removed more frequently by polypectomy.
Subject(s)
Colonic Neoplasms/diagnosis , Colonic Neoplasms/therapy , Colonoscopy , Lymphangioma/diagnosis , Lymphangioma/therapy , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
We studied intestinal zinc absorption and daily urinary zinc excretion in 13 healthy controls and 27 cirrhotic patients (14 alcoholics, 13 non-alcoholics) with normal serum creatinine levels. Intestinal zinc absorption was determined by the oral zinc tolerance test. Serum levels were significantly lower in cirrhotics, whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic, than in healthy controls (6.2 +/- 2.1 mumol/L vs. 11.6 +/- 2.1 mumol/L; p less than 0.001). Daily urinary zinc excretion was significantly higher in alcoholic cirrhotics (17.6 +/- 9.4 mumol/d vs. 11.4 +/- 4.1 mumol/d; p less than 0.05). Intestinal zinc absorption was significantly reduced in cirrhotics and correlated with the degree of liver dysfunction. During the oral tolerance test, urinary zinc excretion was not significantly higher in cirrhotics than in controls. We conclude that the low serum zinc levels in cirrhotics are of multifactorial origin. Impaired intestinal absorption seems to play a role, particularly in patients with more severe liver dysfunction, but increased urinary excretion may contribute to zinc deficiency in alcoholics.
Subject(s)
Intestinal Absorption , Liver Cirrhosis/blood , Zinc/pharmacokinetics , Administration, Oral , Adult , Aged , Female , Hepatitis B/blood , Humans , Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic/blood , Male , Middle Aged , Sulfates , Zinc/deficiency , Zinc SulfateABSTRACT
This report describes the laparoscopic features of two patients with serosal eosinophilic gastroenteritis. In one case only hyperemia of the peritoneal serosa was found. In the other the laparoscopic picture resembled peritoneal carcinomatosis. We show that laparoscopy and peritoneal biopsy may permit diagnosis of the disease without the need for laparotomy.
