Hypopituitarism caused by carotid cavernous fistula.

Here we report a 79-year-old woman who presented with a 7-day history of headache, nausea, vomiting, and was found to have proptosis and ptosis. Laboratory findings showed hyponatremia, hypocortisolism, secondary hypothyroidism and low follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels. CT angiography (CTA) showed a vascular lesion in sella causing a mass affect on the pituitary gland which proved to be a carotid cavernous fistula (CCF) by conventional angiography. The lesion was subsequently treated with coil placement and patient's hyponatremia was successfully treated with corticosteroid and thyroid hormone replacement. Though rare, CCF should be considered in the differential diagnosis of sellar lesions. Also, in patients with CCF hyponatremia, hypotension or signs of hypothyroidism should warrant a work-up for pituitary function.

Management of intractable hypoglycemia with Yttirum-90 radioembolization in a patient with malignant insulinoma.

Metastatic insulinomas may present with recurrent life-threatening hypoglycemia. Treatment of hypoglycemia in such patients is difficult and frequently fails to respond to numerous therapeutic agents, requiring continuous dextrose infusion. The authors present our experience with Yttirum-90 radioembolization in a patient with metastatic malignant insulinoma who failed to respond to distal pancreatectomy, systemic chemotherapy with capecitabine and everolimus and medical treatment with somatostatin analogues, diazoxide and corticosteroids. Treatment with repeated Y-90 radioembolization resulted in rapid resolution of hypoglycemic events, allowing discontinuation of dextrose infusion and hospital discharge. However, the effect of Y-90 administration seems to be transient and without evidence of tumor shrinkage in imaging studies.

Overlapping gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome: increased dysfunctional symptoms.

AIM: To investigate the association of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in Iranian patients and examine the prevalence of functional symptoms of the gastrointestinal tract in patients presenting with either IBS, GERD or both. METHODS: Six thousand four hundred and seventy six patients presented to the Gastro-intestinal (GI) clinic with symptoms of functional dysfunction of GI tract, 1419 patients (62.0% women, 38.0% men; mean age: 37.4 +/- 11.5 years) met Rome II or Rome III criteria (depending on the year of diagnosis) for IBS. 2658 patients were diagnosed with GERD based on clinical presentation and endoscopic findings. We assessed other functional symptoms (epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting, belching, constipation and diarrhea) in patients suffering from GERD, IBS or both. RESULTS: Among IBS subjects, 63.6% (69.0% women, 31.0% men; mean age: 36.4 +/- 10.3 years) also had GERD, whereas 34.7% of the non-IBS patients had GERD [odds ratio (OR) = 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.9-3.7, P < 0.0001]. Among patients with GERD, 33.9% of subjects met Rome criteria compared to 13.5% of non-GERD patients (OR = 3.6, 95% CI: 3.1-4.3, P < 0.0001). Prevalence of all functional symptoms was higher in overlapping GERD and IBS subjects, when compared with their prevalence in the IBS subjects without GERD or GERD only subjects (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This finding shows that in overlapping GERD and IBS, other functional abnormalities of the GI tract are also highly prevalent, suggesting a common underlying dysfunction.