Self-expandable metal stents for relieving malignant colorectal obstruction: short-term safety and efficacy within 30 days of stent procedure in 447 patients.

Background: The self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) can alleviate malignant colonic obstruction and avoid emergency decompressive surgery.

Objective: To document performance, safety, and effectiveness of colorectal stents used per local standards of practice in patients with malignant large-bowel obstruction to avoid palliative stoma surgery in incurable patients (PAL) and facilitate bowel decompression as a bridge to surgery for curable patients (BTS).

Design: Prospective clinical cohort study.

The global impact of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) regarding the survival of a pancreatic adenocarcinoma in a tertiary hospital.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a type of neoplasm with a high mortality rate. There are a number of different procedures that may be followed in the study of the pancreas; one such procedure is endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS).

Objective: This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the impact on patient survival of a biliopancreatic EUS performed 2 months prior to the first treatment session of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Types of pancreatic cancer in EUS-FNA and chemotherapy.

To determine the variety of chemotherapy drugs administrable for malignant pancreatic neoplasm as a result of typification with endoscopic ultrasonography-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). A retrospective assessment, in one center, over a period of 1 year. Only malignant pancreatic neoplasm diagnosed by EUS-FNA was recorded.

[Virchow's node as the form of onset of squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas].

Unlabelled: Squamous carcinoma of the pancreas is a highly uncommon tumor.

Case Report: A 63-year-old man was referred to the gastroenterology department because of hyporexia, cachexia and weight loss. A left supraclavicular node was noted.

[Onset of celiac disease after acute hepatitis B infection].

Celiac disease is characterized by small intestinal mucosal injury and nutrient malabsorption in genetically susceptible individuals following dietary ingestion of gluten. The pathogenesis of the disease involves interactions between environmental, genetic, and immunologic factors. Transient infections or increased permeability of the mucosa may facilitate disease onset induced by the uptake of gluten peptides into a microenvironmental milieu in the small intestinal mucosa.

[Gastrointestinal bleeding of obscure origin caused by a metastatic endometrial adenocarcinoma. Response to hormonal therapy].

Background: Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy. Gastrointestinal tract involvement is unusual and is often limited to local invasion of the rectum in advanced disease.

Case Report: We report the case of a 77-year-old woman who presented with intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding 2 years after treatment of stage IIb EC.

Pseudoachalasia of the cardia secondary to nongastrointestinal neoplasia.

A minor proportion of patients with achalasia eventually have a neoplasm and, as a consequence, pseudoachalasia is diagnosed. A neoplasm may either involve gastrointestinal junction or present a paraneoplastic effect. Over the global diagnoses of achalasia issued in 5 years of experience in our motility unit, we have found 13% (3/23 cases) of pseudoachalasia (2-4% in previous series, probably due to the fact that the population assisted was mainly composed of elderly patients).

Plantar keratoderma as a presenting sign of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

A 76-year-old woman presented with a 1-year history of back pain and sudden onset of plantar keratoderma. Her serum carbohydrate antigen (CA 19.9) levels were elevated.

Radial endoscopic ultrasonography and buried bumper endoscopic solution.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a widely used technique for long-term enteral nutrition. Buried bumper syndrome is one of the long-term complications of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, and occurs when the internal retention bolster ulcerates the gastric mucosa, migrates into the deeper gastric wall and becomes covered by gastric mucosa. Clinically, this migration is revealed by a gradual increase of resistance at feeding administration and during catheter cleaning.

Evaluation of the bilio-pancreatic region using endoscopic ultrasonography in patients referred with and without abdominal pain and CA 19-9 serum level elevation.

Context: When assessing the bilio-pancreatic region, collating the findings of serum CA 19-9 values together with findings from various imaging tests--especially endoscopic ultrasonography--is not a simple issue in daily clinical practice.

Aim: To assess the usefulness of endoscopic ultrasonography in an Endoscopic Ultrasonography Unit in two situations: patients with asymptomatic elevation of serum CA 19-9 and patients who presented with abdominal pain plus elevation of CA 19-9.

Methods: A retrospective study of those patients who underwent radial endoscopic ultrasonography between October 2004 and September 2005 in our institution, considering an elevation of CA 19-9 (equal to or greater than 37 U/mL) with or without symptoms.