Diagnostic Concordance and Preoperative Risk Factors for Malignancy in Pancreatic Mucinous Cystic Neoplasms

Background/Aims@#As pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) are considered premalignant lesions, the current guidelines recommend their surgical resection. We aimed to investigate the concordance between preoperative and postoperative diagnoses and evaluate preoperative clinical parameters that could predict the malignant potential of MCNs. @*Methods@#Patients who underwent surgical resection at Samsung Medical Center for pancreatic cystic lesions and whose pathology was confirmed to be MCN, between July 2000 and December 2017, were retrospectively analyzed. @*Results@#Among a total of 132 patients 99 (75%) were diagnosed with MCN preoperatively. The most discordant preoperative diagnosis was an indeterminate pancreatic cyst. The proportion of male patients was higher (24.2% vs 7.1%, p=0.05) in the diagnosis-discordance group and the presence of worrisome features in radiologic imaging studies, such as wall thickening/enhancement (12.1% vs 37.4%, p=0.02) or solid component/mural nodule (3.0% vs 27.3%, p=0.02), was lower in the diagnosis-discordance group. The presence of symptoms (57.7% vs 34.9%, p=0.02), tumor size greater than 4 cm (80.8% vs 55.7%, p=0.04), and radiologic presence of a solid component/mural nodule (42.3% vs 16.0%, p=0.01) or duct dilatation (19.2% vs 6.6%, p=0.01) were significantly associated with malignant MCNs. @*Conclusions@#In our study, the overall diagnostic concordance rate was confirmed to be 75%, and our findings suggest that MCNs have a low malignancy potential when they are less than 4cm in size, are asymptomatic and lack worrisome features on preoperative images.

Outcomes of Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Early Gastric Cancer with Undifferentiated-Type Histology: A Clinical Simulation Using a Non-Selected Surgical Cohort

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Outcomes of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for undifferentiated-type early gastric cancer (EGC) need to be further evaluated. We aimed to simulate the outcomes of ESD for undifferentiated-type EGC from a surgical database. METHODS: Among 802 patients who underwent gastrectomy with endoscopic biopsy for poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (PD-type) or signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC-type), ESD candidates meeting the expanded indication (n=280) were selected by reviewing the endoscopic images. According to the surgical pathologic results, the outcomes of the ESD simulation were evaluated. RESULTS: Among the candidates, 104 (37.1%) were PD-type and 176 (62.9%) were SRC-type. The curative resection (CR) rate was 42.1%. Among the patients with CR, three patients (2.5%) showed lymph node metastasis (LNM). Three EGCs with CR and LNM were mucosal cancers ≥1.0 cm in size. The CR rate was higher in the SRC-type than in the PD-type (48.3% vs 31.7%, respectively, p=0.007). In the SRC-type, the CR rate was increased, with a smaller size criterion for the ESD indication, but was similar between the 1.0 cm and 0.6 cm criteria (63.3% and 63.6%, respectively), whereas the CR rate was below 50% in all of the different tumor size criteria (2.0 to 0.6 cm) in the PD-type. CONCLUSIONS: In undifferentiated-type EGC, ESD should be considered in selected patients with tumor sizes < 1 cm and SRC histology.

Endoscopic Findings of Enteropathy-Associated T-Cell Lymphoma Type II: A Case Series

Enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL) is a rare extranodal T-cell lymphoma arising from the intestine. Two types of EATL have been reported. In contrast to the classic EATL type I, EATL type II occurs sporadically, is unrelated to celiac disease, and comprises 10% to 20% of all EATL cases. A total of five cases of EATL type II were diagnosed at our clinic from January 2009 to September 2012. Four of the five patients were diagnosed with the help of endoscopy. Among the four patients, two of the cases involved both the small and large intestines, whereas in the other two patients, EATL was limited to the small intestine. Common endoscopic findings included innumerable fine granularities (also called mosaic mucosal patterns) and diffuse thickening of the mucosa with a semicircular shallow ulceration in the lesions of the small bowel. In contrast, the endoscopic findings of the colon were nonspecific and could not distinguish EATL type II from other diseases. There are only few published reports regarding the representative endoscopic findings of EATL. Here, we present the clinical and endoscopic findings of four cases of EATL type II diagnosed by endoscopy.

A Case of Light Chain Deposition Disease in a Patient with Diabetes and Nodular Glomerulosclerosis / 대한내과학회지

A 50 year-old male with a 10-year history of diabetes was admitted to the hospital for edema and foamy urine. At the time of admission, serum creatinine was 1.99 mg/dL and 24 h urine protein levels were 4.0 g/day. Renal biopsy showed nodular glomerulosclerosis. Immunofluorescence demonstrated the presence of kappa light chains along the glomerular and tubular basement membrane. Electron microscopy showed granular electron-dense deposits along the glomerular subendothelium and tubular basement membrane. Serum protein electrophoresis was negative for a monoclonal spike; however, urine protein electrophoresis demonstrated a monoclonal spike. Bone marrow examination was compatible with multiple myeloma and the patient was diagnosed with light-chain deposition disease associated with multiple myeloma. This report stresses the significant challenges that occur when diagnosing light-chain deposition disease in kidneys of patients with long standing diabetes, and discusses previously reported cases of light-chain deposition disease in Korea.

Delayed Perforation Occurring after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Early Gastric Cancer

Delayed perforation is a very rare complication of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), with a reported incidence of 0.1% to 0.45%. Few reports exist on the clinical features and outcomes of delayed perforation after ESD, and it is unclear whether the optimal management strategy is emergency surgery or endoscopic closure with conservative treatment. Here, we report two cases of delayed perforation occurring after ESD for early gastric cancer. In both cases, lesions were located in the antrum, and tumor depths were confined to the mucosal layer. Total procedure times for ESD were 25 and 45 minutes, respectively. Because delayed perforation may be associated with excessive thermal damage and necrosis of the muscle layer, treatment with emergency surgery should be used instead of conservative management in cases of delayed perforation after ESD.

Membranous Nephropathy Concurrent with Interstitial Nephritis after Allogenic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in a Patient with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia / 대한수혈학회지

Kidney is rarely an involved organ of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Here, we report on a case of membranous nephropathy and interstitial nephritis after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in a 44-year-old female patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patient received GVHD prophylaxis with low dose steroid, cyclosporin, and short course methotrexate. Cyclosporine was tapered out 17 months after allogeneic HSCT. Thereafter, the patient developed kidney impairment and nephrotic range proteinuria. Kidney biopsy revealed membranous nephropathy concurrent with interstitial nephritis.

Survey on the Endoscopic Diagnosis of Chronic Gastritis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic classification of chronic gastritis has not been standardized yet. Patterns of endoscopic classification in the real clinical practice are not defined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From July 2013 to September 2013, a questionnaire consisting of eight questions on endoscopic gastritis was surveyed. The correct answer for endoscopic diagnosis of chronic gastritis was defined by an advisory group, including professors of gastroenterology. A total of 189 physicians, most of them primary care physicians, participated in the survey. RESULTS: The overall agreement with standard endoscopic diagnoses was 56 percent. The correct answer for each question was 56 percent for erosive gastritis, 58 percent for hypertrophic gastritis, 60 percent for atrophic gastritis, 52 percent for metaplastic gastritis, respectively. In the superficial gastritis case, the ratio of correct answer was 24 percent, which was lowest among all the questions. Forty-four percent of all participants answered superficial gastritis as hemorrhagic gastritis. These results reveal that hemorrhagic gastritis is diagnosed inappropriately and needs further attention to prevent patients from unnecessary worries and misunderstandings. The correct answer for nodular gastritis was 42 percent, which is relatively low as well. Considering the significance of nodular gastritis as a risk factor for gastric cancer, education for endoscopist to detect nodular gastritis is indispensable. CONCLUSIONS: There was significant discrepancy on the endoscopic diagnosis of chronic gastritis. Further studies to develop a new standardized guideline for diagnosis of gastritis should be accompanied.