Role of endoscopic ultrasound in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with or without fine needle aspiration has become the main technique for evaluating pancreatobiliary disorders and has proved to have a higher diagnostic yield than positron emission tomography, computed tomography (CT) and transabdominal ultrasound for recognising early pancreatic tumors. As a diagnostic modality for pancreatic cancer, EUS has proved rates higher than 90%, especially for lesions less than 2-3 cm in size in which it reaches a sensitivity rate of 99% vs 55% for CT. Besides, EUS has a very high negative predictive value and thus EUS can reliably exclude pancreatic cancer.

[Solitary pancreatic metastasis from renal carcinoma].

We present the case of a 60-year-old man with a history of left radical nephrectomy due to Fuhrman nuclear grade II renal carcinoma 8 years previously. Abdominal computed tomography was performed due to a closed abdominal injury, revealing a solid, 4-cm hypervascular mass in the head of the pancreas. The suspected diagnosis was pancreatic metastasis from renal carcinoma.

[A rare cause of gastric ulcer].

Drug-induced gastrointestinal tract lesions are becoming more frequent but are generally little known. Although a large number of drugs have gastrointestinal adverse effects, there are few characteristic patterns. Acute ischemic gastritis is an uncommon entity that is rarely distinguished from other forms of intestinal ischemia.

[Primary esophageal melanoma].

Primary Esophageal Melanoma (PEM) is an extremely rare neoplasm, with less than 270 cases described. Although clinical presentation is similar to any other esophageal neoplasm, MEP's behavior is more aggressive and fatal in most cases. We report two new cases of MEP diagnosed through endoscopy and anatomical-pathological analysis of collected biopsies.