Secondary Polycythemia and Non-Islet Cell Tumor-induced Hypoglycemia in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Case Report.

Continuously holding its position as the sixth most common cause of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death, globally, Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) remains as a healthcare priority. Production of various substances may result into systemic or metabolic complications, often known as paraneoplastic phenomena of HCC. A 56-year-old male with history of untreated chronic hepatitis B arrived with generalized weakness and intermittent headache in the last two days prior to admission. Laboratory findings demonstrated elevated hemoglobin (20.5 g/dl), alpha-fetoprotein (29,845 ng/dl), and d-Dimer (2,120 ng/ml) levels. Hypoglycemia (44 mg/dl) was documented with normal basal insulin level, confirming non-islet cell tumor hypoglycemia. Abdominal multiphasic CT-scan demonstrated a large solid lesion involving the whole right liver lobe, hyper-enhanced at arterial phase and wash-out pattern at venous and delayed phases, with portal vein thrombosis; thus, confirming HCC BCLC C. Further examinations revealed hypercellularity from bone marrow biopsy with the absence of JAK2 mutation. He underwent serial phlebotomy and received 80 mg acetylsalicylic acid orally, as well as cytoreductive agent to reduce the risk of thrombosis. Despite applications of different interventions, control of hypoglycemia could not be achieved without parenteral administration of high dextrose load. He was planned to receive oral multikinase inhibitor, however, he passed away due to severe hospital-acquired pneumonia. Paraneoplastic phenomena are common in HCC. Increased risk of blood hyper-viscosity and thrombosis attributed to polycythemia, as well as medical emergency resulting from hypoglycemia showed that both conditions should not be overlooked since they may worsen the patient's prognosis.

The role of endoscopic ultrasound for portal hypertension in liver cirrhosis.

Chronic liver disease is still a major problem because disease progression will ultimately lead to liver cirrhosis. Portal hypertension is the hallmark in advanced liver disease management. By establishing portal vein access, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has been utilized in various clinical applications. In comparison to standard upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, EUS-Doppler has been shown to be a better modality for detecting esophageal and gastric varices along with peri-esophageal collateral veins, para-esophageal collateral veins, and perforating veins, and may be used to objectively predict the recurrence of bleeding. EUS-guided portal vein catheterization has also been proposed to overcome the limitations of trans-jugular approaches. The combination of EUS-elastography and azygos vein evaluation can also enhance the diagnostic accuracy of each modality. Another well-known implementation of EUS-guided procedures is in the management of ascites; particularly in paracentesis and ascitic fluid analysis. In addition, the most common clinical application of EUS in the treatment of portal hypertension is through vascular therapy or creation of intrahepatic portosystemic shunts. Major drawbacks of EUS mainly revolve around technical difficulties, the high cost of the procedure, as well as the requirement of more studies in humans to evaluate EUS-guided advanced therapeutic modalities in portal hypertension.

Innovation of endoscopic management in difficult common bile duct stone in the era of laparoscopic surgery.

Common bile duct (CBD) stone is a common biliary problem, which often requires endoscopic approach as the initial treatment option. Roughly, 7%-12% of the subjects who experience cholecystectomy were subsequently referred to biliary endoscopist for further management. In general, there are three classifications of difficult CBD stone, which are based on the characteristics of the stone (larger than 15 mm, barrel or square-shaped stones, and hard consistency), accessibility to papilla related to anatomical variations, and other clinical conditions or comorbidities of the patients. Currently, endoscopic papillary large balloon dilation (EPLBD) of a previous sphincterotomy and EPLBD combined with limited sphincterotomy performed on the same session is still recommended by the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy as the main approach in difficult CBD stones with history of failed sphincterotomy and balloon and/or basket attempts. If failed extraction is still encountered, mechanical lithotripsy or cholangioscopy-assisted lithotripsy or extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy can be considered. Surgical approach can be considered when stone extraction is still failed or the facilities to perform lithotripsy are not available. To our knowledge, conflicting evidence are still found from previous studies related to the comparison between endoscopic and surgical approaches. The availability of experienced operator and resources needs to be considered in creating individualized treatment strategies for managing difficult biliary stones.

Therapeutic interventional endoscopic ultrasound in pancreato-biliary disorders: Does it really replace the surgical/percutaneous approach?

Pancreato-biliary disorders are still incredibly challenging in the field of gastroenterology, as they would sometimes require multi-approach interventional procedures. Recently, therapeutic interventional endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has emerged as a potential alternative to surgical or percutaneous approaches. Unfortunately, considering the high cost of EUS, lack of facility and expertise, most gastroenterologists still often refer cases to undergo surgical interventions without contemplating the possibility of utilizing EUS first. EUS-guided biliary drainage has become one of the best choices for establishing access to biliary system, given the clear visualization of pancreas, gallbladder, and common bile duct. Although there are still only a few studies which directly compare EUS-guided and surgical approaches for biliary drainage, current evidence demonstrated the superiority of EUS-guided approach in terms of adverse events and re-intervention rates, with similarly high technical and clinical success rates compared to percutaneous and surgical approaches, especially in patients with history of failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography attempt. Comparable success rates with shorter length of hospital stay between endoscopic and surgical approaches have also been exhibited for pancreatic pseudocysts and walled-off necrosis. Recent findings about the progress of EUS approach in gastroenterostomy/jejunostomy also indicated a promising potential of EUS, as a less invasive approach, for managing gastric outlet obstruction.

The Role of Interventional Endoscopic Ultrasound in Liver Diseases: What Have We Learnt?

Chronic liver disease (CLD) is still a major problem, where the disease progression will lead to liver cirrhosis (LC) or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Portal hypertension (PH) management and loco-regional therapy for HCC have become the cornerstones in advanced liver disease management. Recently, there are studies looking at the potential role of interventional endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in liver diseases. EUS may be useful in vascular changes of the digestive wall evaluation, performing dynamic assessment of hemodynamic changes, predicting variceal bleeding and rebleeding risk, and assessing the pharmacological effects. In PH management, EUS-guided vascular therapy-which revolves around glue injection, endovascular coil placement/embolization, and combination of both-has shown promising results. As a diagnostic modality for liver cancer, the implementation of EUS in liver diseases is currently not only limited to liver biopsy (EUS-LB) but also in shear-wave elastography (SWE) and portal pressure gradient measurement, as well as portal vein sampling. The application of EUS-guided radiofrequency ablation (EUS-RFA) and tumor injection can also overcome the limitations shown by both modalities without EUS. Nevertheless, establishing EUS as a firm diagnostic and therapeutic modality is still challenging since the performance of interventional EUS requires high expertise and adequate facilities.