We report 2 cases of isolated hepatic hemangiomatosis: a 76-year-old woman who is, to our knowledge, the oldest person with this diagnosis, and a 74-year-old woman. Magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen showed T2 hyper intense lesions throughout the liver, peripheral nodular arterial enhancement, and filling of contrast on the portal venous and delayed phases. Computed tomography showed liver lesions with peripheral nodular enhancement in the early phase and a centripetal pattern or “filling in” during the late phase; the lesions opacified after a delay of 3 or more minutes and remained isodense or hyperdense on delayed scans. Both images were consistent with hepatic hemangiomatosis. These cases help increase awareness about benign and unusual liver lesions with radiologic characteristics similar to those of malignant liver tumors. The authors also present a review of 15 other cases of isolated hepatic hemangiomatosis reported in English literature from 1970 to present.
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a neuroendocrine skin cancer that typically presents as a painless erythematous nodule on body surfaces visible to the sun. Metastatic disease is typical to the lymph nodes, liver, and lungs. There are previous case reports of patients with metastases to the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach, small intestine, and pancreas. To our knowledge, there are only rare occurrences of metastases to the colon. We report a patient with a history of MCC treated with chemotherapy who presented with hematochezia and underwent a colonoscopy that showed a partially obstructing, edematous, friable 7-cm circumferential mass in the transverse colon. Biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of MCC that metastasized to the transverse colon.
Objective: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is used for decompression of elevated portal pressure; however, there are potential complications. The aim of this study was to compare the risk of complications of TIPS in those who had an episode of infection within 6 months prior to TIPS to those without an infection prior.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients who underwent TIPS at a single transplant centre over 8 years. They were divided into two groups: patients without infection during the 6 months prior to TIPS (n=349) and those with an infection prior (bacterial/fungal) (n=53). The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare continuous variables while chi-squared analysis and Fisher’s exact test was used for categorical variables. Multiple logistic regression was used to ascertain the association between pre-TIPS infection status and likelihood of post-TIPS infection.
Results: In the group of patients who had an infection before TIPS, 26.4% (n=14) had an episode of infection after the procedure, while in the group without infection prior, 16.2% (n=55) had an infection after the procedure (p=0.047; odds ratio: 2.08). In the pre-TIPS infection group, 54.7% (n=29) had an episode of portosystemic encephalopathy post-TIPS versus 39.6% (n=134) in the group without infection before TIPS (p=0.046; odds ratio: 1.93).
Conclusion: Pre-TIPS infection within 6 months of TIPS procedure is a risk factor for post-TIPS portosystemic encephalopathy and infection. Further studies are needed to determine the potential benefit of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients who had an infection in the 6 months preceding TIPS placement.
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