Publications by authors named "Meredith Pittman"

We report a case of a 13-year-old male who presented to the Pediatric Gastroenterology clinic with complaints of abdominal pain and frequent stooling, worsened by hematochezia. Despite undergoing endoscopic evaluation twice within a 1-year period, the diagnosis of an Inflammatory Cloacogenic Polyp (ICP) was only revealed during the second evaluation, in which rectal retroflexion was performed. This case highlights the importance of maintaining the ICP at the anorectal transitional zone as part of the differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with symptoms of distal colitis.

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Gastrointestinal involvement in amyloidosis is reported in 3% of cases, mostly associated with multiple myeloma. An elderly man with chronic kidney disease presented to the hospital after a large melenic bowel movement. The patient was tachycardic and anemic to 3.

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Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is an extremely rare malignant tumor of the colon, presenting with more severe clinical outcomes in comparison to colonic adenocarcinoma. There are very few reported cases in the literature. We hereby add our voice to the incidence of this disease by presenting the first report of a patient with ileocolic intussusception secondary to a large cell neuroendocrine cancer of the cecum.

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Anorectal syphilis is relatively uncommon and diagnostically challenging given the wide differential diagnosis for anal lesions. Risk factors, such as men who have sex with men or HIV-positive status, are especially important to elicit from patients during the clinical history. In this report, we present a rare case of painful anal syphilis diagnosed in an HIV-negative woman by tissue biopsy

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Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), an eosinophil predominant, TH2-mediated condition increasing in prevalence in pediatric and adult populations, is typically treated with dietary manipulations to avoid triggering antigens. However, identifying specific dietary causes remains a persistent challenge, and restrictive diets are burdensome. Total dietary modification using amino acid-based formula does not always produce symptomatic or histologic resolution, suggesting that exposure to ingested aeroallergens drives their disease.

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A 28-year-old man presented with sudden-onset right lower quadrant abdominal pain and shortness of breath at rest. On examination, he had tachycardia with distant heart sounds and right lower quadrant tenderness. A computed tomography scan showed segmental thickening of the proximal ascending colon and ileum with proximal cecal distension.

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Advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a rapidly emerging global health problem associated with pre-disposing genetic polymorphisms, most strikingly an isoleucine to methionine substitution in patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3-I148M). Here, we study how human hepatocytes with PNPLA3 148I and 148M variants engrafted in the livers of broadly immunodeficient chimeric mice respond to hypercaloric diets. As early as four weeks, mice developed dyslipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance, and steatosis with ballooning degeneration selectively in the human graft, followed by pericellular fibrosis after eight weeks of hypercaloric feeding.

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Background And Aims: Although a common pathogen in much of Asia, liver flukes are believed to be a rare cause of disease in the United States. In this series, we describe 3 patients diagnosed with Clonorchis sinensis during ERCP within 1 year at our institution.

Methods: Three patients referred to a large community hospital underwent ERCP with direct visualization of a worm in the biliary tree and subsequent histopathologic confirmation.

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Purpose: To determine if gadolinium is necessary for the diagnosis of a pancreatic cystic lesion (PCL) as benign or malignant by assessing inter- and intra-observer agreement and diagnostic accuracy for the presence of worrisome features/high-risk stigmata on non-contrast MRI compared to MRI with and without contrast, with cytopathology as a reference standard.

Methods: The institutional database was searched to identify consecutive patients that underwent EUS/FNA or surgical resection of an asymptomatic PCL performed from 01/01/2015 to 01/01/2019. Two abdominal radiologists independently evaluated PCLs on MRI with all sequences except for contrast-enhanced sequences followed by a second reading with data from the entire MRI including pre- and post-contrast sequences.

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Objectives: Misplaced epithelium in adenomas can occasionally be difficult to distinguish from invasive adenocarcinoma. We evaluated interobserver variability in the assessment of left-sided colon polypectomies for pseudoinvasion versus invasive adenocarcinoma and further investigated relevant histological findings.

Methods: 28 consecutive left-sided colon polyps with the keywords "pseudoinvasion", "epithelial misplacement", "herniation", "prolapse" or "invasive adenocarcinoma" were collected from 28 patients and reviewed by eight gastrointestinal pathologists.

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This review summarizes our current understanding of lymphocytic esophagitis (LE), a novel form of chronic esophagitis that incorporates distinctive histologic, clinical, and endoscopic features. First described as a histologic entity, a diagnosis of LE requires intraepithelial lymphocytosis without significant granulocytic inflammation and some evidence of epithelial damage; the rationale for and studies supportive of these histologic criteria are discussed within. Clinically, the majority of patients who present with histologically confirmed LE are older women or patients with underlying immunologic abnormalities, such as Crohn disease, rheumatologic disorders, or common variable immunodeficiency.

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The diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated dysplasia is challenging, and past studies have demonstrated considerable interobserver variability in such diagnoses. This study aimed to assess interobserver agreement in IBD dysplasia diagnoses among subspecialty GI pathologists and to explore the impact of mentorship on diagnostic variability. Twelve GI pathologist mentees and 7 GI pathologist mentors reviewed 163 digitized slides.

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Purpose: We examined cabazitaxel, a novel next-generation taxoid, in patients with metastatic gastric cancer in a multicenter phase II study.

Patients And Methods: Patients who have progressed on one or more prior therapies for locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic disease were eligible, and prior taxane therapy was allowed. Taxane-naïve and pretreated cohorts were analyzed independently for efficacy.

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Background: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a sensitive and specific tool in the risk stratification of pancreatic lesions, including cysts. The sensitivity and specificity of EUS-FNA has been shown to improve when cytology is combined with next-generation sequencing (NGS). Ideally, fresh cyst fluid is used for NGS.

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Lymphoepithelioma-like intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is a rare variant of cholangiocarcinoma that is associated with the Epstein-Barr virus. The intimate relationship between the malignant epithelial cells and the numerous lymphoid cells can make the diagnosis challenging on limited tissue samples. We present 2 cases in which the presence of a dense hematolymphoid infiltrate served to mask the diagnosis of carcinoma on initial frozen section and biopsy review, respectively.

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Malakoplakia is an inflammatory process related to defective macrophage response to bacterial infection. To further characterize the clinicopathologic manifestations of gastrointestinal malakoplakia, 26 cases were identified from 6 institutions. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides and available stains were reviewed, and pertinent clinicopathologic features analyzed.

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Lymphocytic esophagitis is a well-known manifestation of Crohn disease among children but is not considered to be an immune-mediated mucositis in adults. We hypothesize that adult-onset lymphocyte-predominant esophagitis is also an immune-mediated inflammatory pattern, the nature of which has been masked by other conditions that feature esophageal lymphocytosis and occur in older patients. We performed this study to consolidate diagnostic criteria for lymphocyte-predominant esophagitis and determine its clinical significance.

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Colorectal carcinoma screening programs have shown success in lowering both the incidence and mortality rate of colorectal carcinoma at a population level, in part because this carcinoma is relatively slow growing and has an identifiable premalignant lesion. Still, many patients do not undergo the recommended screening for colorectal carcinoma, and of those who do, a subset may be over- or under-diagnosed by the currently available testing methods. The primary purpose of this article is to review the data regarding currently available colorectal cancer screening modalities, which include fecal occult blood testing, direct colonic visualization, and noninvasive imaging techniques.

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A new evaluation of previously published data suggested to us that the accumulation of mutations might slow, rather than increase, as individuals age. To explain this unexpected finding, we hypothesized that normal stem cell division rates might decrease as we age. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated cell division rates in the epithelium of human colonic, duodenal, esophageal, and posterior ethmoid sinonasal tissues.

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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is implicated in the tumorigenesis of a variety of malignancies, including Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). EBV+ lymphoepithelioma-like cholangiocarcinoma (LELCC) is a rare type of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with a distinct pathology and poorly understood treatment options. Morphologically, this neoplasm resembles undifferentiated NPC, a commonly EBV+ tumour with a prominent lymphoid infiltrate.

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Selective internal radiation therapy with Y-TheraSphere or Y-SIRSphere is used in the treatment of unresectable hepatic malignancies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Y-TheraSpheres series. BTG International Canada Inc.

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Objectives: Portal cavernoma cholangiopathy (formerly portal biliopathy) is a type of biliary injury that occurs in association with a portal vein thrombus or cavernoma. Although the radiographic features of portal cavernoma cholangiopathy have been enumerated in the literature, its histologic features have not been described in detail.

Methods: We describe the histologic findings in liver specimens from three patients with radiologically confirmed portal cavernoma cholangiopathy.

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Background: The Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) is being adapted by many clinical practices. To support continuation of its use, LI-RADS (LR) is in need of multicenter validation studies of recent LI-RADS iterations. Furthermore, while both gadoxetate and extracellular agents have been incorporated into LI-RADS, comparison of the diagnostic performance between the two has yet to be determined.

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