Pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma in a pregnant woman: A case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Portal venous thromboembolism caused by malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor metastasis, as the initial presentation of portal hypertension and upper gastrointestinal bleeding, is a rare entity. To our knowledge, there are no reports of this entity in pregnant women. We describe a case of pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma during pregnancy with hematemesis and hematochezia as the initial presentation and review the literature to analyze the demographic, clinical, and pathological features to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. CASE SUMMARY: A 40-year-old woman presented with hematemesis and hematochezia at 26-wk gestation; she had no other remarkable medical history. The physical examination revealed normal vital signs, an anemic appearance, and lower abdominal distension. Abdominal color Doppler ultrasonography showed portal vein thrombosis, splenomegaly, intrauterine pregnancy, and intrauterine fetal death. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed esophageal and gastric varicose veins and portal hypertensive gastropathy. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography demonstrated multiple emboli formation in the portal and splenic veins, multiple round shadows in the liver with a slightly lower density, portal vein broadening, varicose veins in the lower esophagus and gastric fundus, splenomegaly, bilateral pleural effusion, ascites and pelvic effusion, broadening of the common bile duct, and increased uterine volume. According to the results of Positron emission tomography-computed tomography and immunohistochemical staining, the final diagnoses were that the primary lesion was a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor and that there were secondary intrahepatic metastases and venous cancer thrombogenesis. CONCLUSION: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding in a pregnant woman may be caused by portal hypertension due to a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.

Peroral endoscopic myotomy for esophageal motility disorders.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal motility disorders which include achalasia, esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJ outflow obstruction), jackhammer esophagus (JE), distal esophageal spasm (DES), etc. are rare disease of unknown causes. The diagnosis is based on endoscopy, barium meal, and high-resolution manometry (HRM). With the development of endoscopy, peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) has emerged as a standard method for the treatment of achalasia. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to enable gastroenterologists to have a more comprehensive understanding of the application status, technical characteristics, clinical efficacy and future prospect of POEM in the treatment of esophageal motility disorders. METHODS: Through a large number of reading literature, combined with clinical practice, summary and analysis of the indications, procedure, efficacy, complications, and controversies of POEM in the treatment of esophageal motility disorders, as well as the current and future perspectives of POEM were studied. RESULTS: POEM is safe and effective in the treatment of esophageal motility disorders, but the GERD reflux rate is higher. CONCLUSIONS: POEM can be a new option for the treatment of esophageal movement disorders, but large sample, multi-center, long-term study reports are needed, and it promotes the development of NOTES technology.

[Expression of specific antibodies against platelet glycoproteins in patients with mds and its significance].

The aim of this study was to find platelet specific autoantibodies against glycoproteins in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and to explore its role in pathogenesis of MDS. The plasma autoantibodies against GP IIb/IIIa and GP Ib/IX were measured by using a modified monoclonal antibody specific immobolization platelet antigens assay (MAIPA). Absorbance greater than mean value plus tripled standard deviation recorded from the normal controls were regarded as positive. The results indicated that the total positive rate in patients with MDS was 16.67% (5/30), the total positive rate in patients with ITP was 46.67% (14/30), the difference between MDS group and ITP group was significant (P < 0.05). It is concluded that partial patients with MDS have plasma specific autoantibodies against platelet GP II b/III a and GP Ib/IX, indicating correlation of thrombocytopenia of patients with immune factors and the autoantibody-mediated platelet destruction may be involved in the pathogenesis of MDS. It provides a new basis for immunosuppression therapy for MDS.