Recurring acute abdominal pains in an adolescent as the presenting manifestations of hereditary angioneurotic oedema.

Unlabelled: An adolescent was hospitalized for recurring abdominal pains, which had previously led to appendicectomy. Laboratory data finally led to the diagnosis of hereditary angioneurotic oedema, after several hypotheses had been raised and ruled out.

Conclusions: Angioneurotic oedema is a rare condition, which should be suspected in children with recurring abdominal pains, especially when there is liquid within the peritoneal cavity.

Balance between pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines in patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis.

Unlabelled: The ability of endogenous IL-10 to modulate inflammatory response and to limit hepatotoxicity has been shown in several models of liver injury.

Aims: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationship between liver disease and the balance between pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines in acute alcoholic hepatitis.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with pure steatosis, 17 with cirrhosis and mild acute alcoholic hepatitis (discriminant function value<32) and 41 patients with cirrhosis and severe acute alcoholic hepatitis (discriminant function value >=32) were studied.

Mesenteric adenitis and portal vein thrombosis due to Fusobacterium nucleatum.

We report the first description of portal and mesenteric vein thrombosis associated with suppurative mesenteric adenitis in a 71-year-old woman. The bacterium detected in mesenteric lymph nodes was Fusobacterium nucleatum, an anaerobic Gram-negative bacillus. Our patient had a clinical syndrome of pharyngitis and fever preceding portal vein thrombosis.

Microsatellite instability is a predictive factor of the tumor response to irinotecan in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between colorectal tumor responsiveness to irinotecan and microsatellite instability (MSI), a feature of colorectal tumors with DNA mismatch repair defect. Seventy-two patients with metastatic colorectal cancer were included in our retrospective study. A complete response to irinotecan was observed in 1 patient and a partial response in 10 patients, whereas 61 patients did not respond to this treatment.

Risk factors of fibrosis in alcohol-induced liver disease.

In patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), age, obesity, and diabetes mellitus are independent predictors of the degree of fibrosis. The relative risk for fibrosis adjusted for sex was also associated with increasing grade of Perls stain. The aim of this study was to determine whether the risk factors for fibrosis described in NASH are also risk factors in alcohol-induced liver disease.