Electrohydraulic lithotripsy of an impacted enterolith causing acute afferent loop syndrome.

Afferent loop syndrome caused by an impacted enterolith is very rare, and endoscopic removal of the enterolith may be difficult if a stricture is present or the normal anatomy has been altered. Electrohydraulic lithotripsy is commonly used for endoscopic fragmentation of biliary and pancreatic duct stones. A 64-year-old man who had undergone subtotal gastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy presented with acute, severe abdominal pain for a duration of 2 hours. Initially, he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis because of an elevated amylase level and pain, but was finally diagnosed with acute afferent loop syndrome when an impacted enterolith was identified by computed tomography. We successfully removed the enterolith using direct electrohydraulic lithotripsy conducted using a transparent cap-fitted endoscope without complications. We found that this procedure was therapeutically beneficial.

Sequential algorithm analysis to facilitate selective biliary access for difficult biliary cannulation in ERCP: a prospective clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Numerous clinical trials to improve the success rate of biliary access in difficult biliary cannulation (DBC) during ERCP have been reported. However, standard guidelines or sequential protocol analysis according to different methods are limited in place. We planned to investigate a sequential protocol to facilitate selective biliary access for DBC during ERCP. METHODS: This prospective clinical study enrolled 711 patients with naïve papillae at a tertiary referral center. If wire-guided cannulation was deemed to have failed due to the DBC criteria, then according to the cannulation algorithm early precut fistulotomy (EPF; cannulation time > 5 min, papillary contacts > 5 times, or hook-nose-shaped papilla), double-guidewire cannulation (DGC; unintentional pancreatic duct cannulation ≥ 3 times), and precut after placement of a pancreatic stent (PPS; if DGC was difficult or failed) were performed sequentially. The main outcome measurements were the technical success, procedure outcomes, and complications. RESULTS: Initially, a total of 140 (19.7%) patients with DBC underwent EPF (n = 71) and DGC (n = 69). Then, in DGC group 36 patients switched to PPS due to difficulty criteria. The successful biliary cannulation rate was 97.1% (136/140; 94.4% [67/71] with EPF, 47.8% [33/69] with DGC, and 100% [36/36] with PPS; P < 0.001). The mean successful cannulation time (standard deviation) was 559.4 (412.8) seconds in EPF, 314.8 (65.2) seconds in DGC, and 706.0 (469.4) seconds in PPS (P < 0.05). The DGC group had a relatively low successful cannulation rate (47.8%) but had a shorter cannulation time compared to the other groups due to early switching to the PPS method in difficult or failed DGC. Post-ERCP pancreatitis developed in 14 (10%) patients (9 mild, 1 moderate), which did not differ significantly among the groups (P = 0.870) or compared with the conventional group (P = 0.125). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the sequential protocol analysis, EPF, DGC, and PPS may be safe and feasible for DBC. The use of EPF in selected DBC criteria, DGC in unintentional pancreatic duct cannulations, and PPS in failed or difficult DGC may facilitate successful biliary cannulation.

Transformation of Castleman's disease into follicular dendritic cell sarcoma, presenting as an asymptomatic intra-abdominal mass.

Follicular dendritic cell (FDC) sarcoma is an extremely rare malignant neoplasm arising from FDCs. The exact origin of FDCs remains unclear; both a hematopoietic lineage origin and a stromal cell derivation have been proposed. Proliferation of FDCs can lead to benign reactive lesions or generate neoplastic conditions. The lesions are most commonly found in lymph nodes and usually involve the head and neck area. Castleman's disease is a rare non-neoplasitic lymphoproliferative disorder. Rare cases of hyaline-vascular Castleman's disease have been associated with FDC sarcoma, but a clonal relationship has not been convincingly demonstrated. A pathway toward tumor evolution, beginning with hyperplasia and dysplasia of FDCs, has been proposed. Despite this known association between Castleman's disease and FDC sarcoma, there have only been few reported cases of sarcoma arising as a complication of pre-existing Castleman's disease, especially in abdominal lesions. We describe here a 51-year-old female with an FDC sarcoma arising from unicentric, hyaline-vascular type Castleman's disease in an intra-abdominal mass. Pathologically, the lesion showed a series of changes during the process of transformation from Castleman's disease to FDC sarcoma. (Korean J Gastroenterol 2013;62:131-134).

Diverticular Choledochal Cyst with a Large Impacted Stone Masquerading as Mirizzi's Syndrome.

Choledochal cysts are congenital anomalies of the biliary tract manifested by cystic dilatation of the extrahepatic and intrahepatic bile ducts. Choledochal cyst is not rare in far-East Asian countries. Type II choledochal cysts account for 2% of all such cysts. They are true diverticula of the extrahepatic bile duct and communicate with the bile duct through a narrow stalk. This condition is associated with significant complications, such as ductal strictures, stone formation, cholangitis, rupture and secondary biliary cirrhosis. We describe a case of a huge impacted stone in a diverticular choledochal cyst which masqueraded as an unusual cystic duct stone causing Mirizzi's syndrome.