A Case of Autoimmune Cholangitis Misdiagnosed for Cholangiocarcinoma: How to Avoid Unnecessary Surgical Intervention?

INTRODUCTION: Autoimmune cholangitis or immunoglobulin G4-associated cholangitis (IAC) has been recently regarded as a new clinical and histopathological entity and is a part of a complex autoimmune disorder--IgG4-related systemic disease (ISD). ISD is an autoimmune disease with multi-organic involvement, characterized with IgG4-positive plasmocytic infiltration of various tissues and organs with a consequent sclerosis, which responds well to steroid therapy. Most commonly affected organs are the pancreas (autoimmune pancreatitis, [AIP]) and the common bile duct (IAC). IAC and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) share many clinical, laboratory and imaging findings. CASE OUTLINE: We present a case of a 60-year-old male with a biliary stricture of a common bile duct, which was clinically considered as a bile duct carcinoma and treated surgically. Definite histopathological findings and immunohistochemistry revealed profound chronic inflammation, showing lymphoplasmacytic IgG-positive infiltration of a resected part of a common bile duct, highly suggestive for the diagnosis of IAC. In addition, postoperative IgG4 serum levels were also increased. CONCLUSION: It is of primary clinical importance to make a difference between IAC and CCA, in order to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention. Therefore, IAC should be considered in differential diagnosis in similar cases.

Drain amylase value as an early predictor of pancreatic fistula after cephalic duodenopancreatectomy.

AIM: To determine predictors of clinically relevant pancreatic fistulas (CRPF) by measuring drain fluid amylase (DFA) in the early postoperative period. METHODS: This prospective clinical study included 382 patients with periampullary tumors that were surgically resected at our department between March 2005 and October 2012. A cephalic duodenopancreatectomy (DP) was performed on all patients. Two closed suction drains were placed at the end of the surgery. The highest postoperative DFA value was recorded and analyzed during the first three postoperative days and on subsequent days if the drains were kept longer. Pancreatic fistula (PF) was classified according to the International Study Group of Pancreatic Fistula (ISGPF) criteria. Postoperative complications were defined according to the Dindo-Clavien classification. All data were statistically analyzed. The optimal thresholds of DFA levels on the first, second and third postoperative days were estimated by constructing receiver operating curves, generated by calculating the sensitivities and specificities of the DFA levels. The DFA level limits were used to differentiate between the group without PF and the groups with biochemical pancreatic fistula (BPF) and CRPF. RESULTS: Pylorus-preserving duodenopancreatectomy was performed on 289 (75.6%) patients, while the remaining patients underwent a classic Whipple procedure (CW). The total incidence of PF was 37.7% (grade A 22.8%, grade B 11.0% and grade C 3.9%). Soft pancreatic texture (SPT) was present in 58.3% of patients who developed PF. Mortality was 4.2%. The median DFA value on the first postoperative day (DFA1) in patients who developed PF was 4520 U/L (range 350-99000 U/L) for grade A fistula (BPF) with a SPT and a diameter of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) of ≤ 3 mm. For grade B/C (CRPF), the median DFA1 value was 8501 U/L (range 377-92060 U/L) with a SPT and MPD of ≤ 3 mm. These values were significantly higher when compared to the patients who did not have PF (122; range 5-37875 U/L). The upper limit of DFA values for the first 3 postoperative days in the examined stages of PF were: DFA1 1200 U/L for the BPF and CRPF; DFA3 350 U/L for BPF and DFA3 800 U/L for CRPF. The determined values were highly significant and demonstrated a reliable diagnostic test for both BPF and CRPF. CONCLUSION: DFA1 ≥ 1200 U/L is an important predictive factor for PF of any degree. The trend of DFA3 (decrease of < 50%) compared to DFA1 is a significant factor in the differentiation of CRPF from transient BPF.

Two synchronous somatostatinomas of the duodenum and pancreatic head in one patient.

Somatostatinomas are extremely rare neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, first described in the pancreas in 1977 and in the duodenum in 1979. They may be functional and cause somatostatinoma or inhibitory syndrome, but more frequently are non-functioning pancreatic endocrine tumors that produce somatostatin alone. They are usually single, malignant, large lesions, frequently associated with metastases, and generally with poor prognosis. We present the unique case of a 57-year-old woman with two synchronous non-functioning somatostatinomas, one solid duodenal lesion and one cystic lesion within the head of the pancreas, that were successfully resected with a pylorus-preserving Whipple's procedure. No secondaries were found in the liver, or in any of the removed regional lymph nodes. The patient had an uneventful recovery, and remains well and symptom-free at 18 mo postoperatively. This is an extremely rare case of a patient with two synchronous somatostatinomas of the duodenum and the pancreas. The condition is discussed with reference to the literature.

Perigastric extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma: a case report.

Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is a neoplasm of undifferentiated small round cells, which occurs in the bones and deep soft tissues of children and adolescents. We present a rare case of a 44-year-old woman with gastric ES presenting with epigastric pain and weight loss. Ultrasound and computed tomography scans indicated a solid/cystic mass in the pancreatic tail. At laparotomy, the tumor was found attached to the posterior surface of the stomach, completely free from the pancreas, with no lymphadenopathy or local metastases. The polynodal, partly pseudocystic, dark-red soft tumor was excised. Histopathology revealed an anaplastic small-round-cell tumor with strong membranous CD99 immunoexpression. Additionally, there was patchy immunostaining for S-100 protein, vimentin, protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 and neuron-specific enolase, and weak focal CD117 cytoplasmic immunoreactivity. The patient had no adjuvant chemotherapy; her postoperative recovery was uneventful, and she remains symptom-free, and without any sign of recurrence at 20 mo. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the third ever case of gastric ES.