Management of anal fistulas in Crohn's disease after failure of Infliximab.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of complex perianal fistulas in Crohn's disease remains a challenge especially after the failure of Infliximab. AIM: Update on the different therapeutic alternatives for anal fistula in Crohn's disease after failure of Infliximab. METHODS: A research in the medical literature on PubMed and Google Scholar was carried out. We included cohort studies, reviews and randomized double-blinded therapeutic trials. Case reports and fundamental research studies have been excluded. RESULTS: Anti-TNF therapy, notably Infliximab remain the therapeutic option of choice. Since Infliximab efficacy has been estimated at 60%, with a significant loss-of response rate, new therapeutic strategies have been evaluated and may offer new opportunities for the management of anal fistulas: for example, Ustekinumab could be effective after failure of anti-TNF therapy, although further studies are required. Recent guidelines suggest that injection of mesenchymal stem cells is an effective and safe treatment for complex fistulas. Other surgical options have been proposed, such as endorectal advancement flap, fibrin glue injection, anal fistula plug and ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract, but all with limited and debatable efficacy. Given the failure rate of all these options, new strategies are currently being evaluated. CONCLUSION: Anal fistulas in Crohn's disease are a real therapeutic challenge. New medical and surgical therapies are currently being evaluated, with promising results.

Surgical management of giant hepatic hemangioma: A 10-year single center experience.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic hemangiomas are the most typical benign mesenchymal lesions of the liver. Most of these lesions are asymptomatic. Giant hepatic hemangiomas (GHH) (>10 cm) are often symptomatic and require surgical intervention. This study aimed to describe the clinical findings, risk factors, diagnostic approach and management of GHH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with GHH treated at our hospital from January 2008 to December 2018. The medical records of each patient were reviewed to obtain the clinical and surgical data. RESULTS: Twelve patients with GHH were treated during the study period. 9 were female and 3 were male. The mean age of diagnosis was 48,2 years. The most common presenting symptom was abdominal pain. Eight patients presented an abdominal mass. Indications for surgical resections were rupture (n = 2), Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (n = 1) and abdominal pain (n = 9). Right hepatectomy was done in four patients, left lobectomy in four patients, and enucleation in four patients. Embolization was performed in 4 patients, but due to the persistence of symptoms or bleeding, surgery was indicated. The mean operative time was 3.5 h, and median blood loss was 870 ml. The median hospital stay was 5.3 days. For four patients, we registered postoperative complications causing death in one case. All alive patients were asymptomatic at a median follow-up of 55 months. CONCLUSION: Despite limitations and alternative modalities, surgery remains the only effective curative treatment for GHH.

Osteoclastic giant cell tumor of the pancreas with synchronous jejunal gastrointestinal stromal tumor: A case report.

Osteoclastic giant cell tumor of the pancreas is a rare aggressive tumor, counting for 2-7% of all pancreatic cancers. Surgery is considered the most appropriate treatment. We report a case of a 84-year-old man with incidentally detected 11cm tumor in the pancreatic tail and another 6 cm tumor located in the jejunum on abdominal computed tomography. The patient underwent distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy along with segmental resection of the tumor bearing part of the jejunum. On histological examination, osteoclast-like giant cells with some areas of metaplastic bone were observed which confirmed the diagnosis of osteoclastic tumor of the pancreas. The jejunal tumor was strongly c-kit positive on immunohistochemistry which confirmed the diagnosis of GIST. On the last follow up at 2 years after surgery, there is no evidence of recurrence or distant metastasis. Pancreatic OGCT has a better prognosis after resection than pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Its co-existence jejunal GIST, as seen in the index case, has not been reported in the English literature till date.