Acute esophageal necrosis, commonly referred to as “black esophagus” or “acute necrotizing esophagitis”, is a rare clinical disorder with an unclear etiology. The definition excludes patients with a history of recent caustic ingestion. Oesophageal necrosis can be diagnosed at endoscopy by the presence of black necroting appearing oesophagus. Contrary to the caustic oesophagitis whose treatment is often surgical, treatment of the acute necrositing oesophagitis is primarily medical. The prognosis for patients who develop acute necrotizing oesophagitis is generally poor. We report a new case of acute necrotizing oesophagitis and undertook a literature review of this rare diagnosis.

Amiodarone chlorhydrate is a diiodated benzofuran derivative used to treat cardiac rhythm abnormalities�� Hepatotoxicity is a relatively uncommon side effect of amiodarone and symptomatic hepatic dysfunction occurs in less than 1% to 3% of patients taking amiodarone�� We report here on an unusual case of amiodarone-induced hepatotoxicity�� A 29 year old woman with normal liver function was given amiodarone intravenously to treat her atrial fibrillation. She developed acute toxic hepatitis after 24 h�� The intravenous form of amiodarone was immediately avoided and replaced by the oral form, using conventional loading doses as soon as the deranged liver function tests had normalized, without recurrence of the hepatitis�� These observations show that the occurrence of acute hepatic impairment with intravenous amiodarone does not necessarily preclude the use of this drug by mouth and the necessity of monitoring the hepatic function of patients treated with amiodarone��

IntroductionEndoscopic variceal ligation is widely accepted as the optimum endoscopic treatment for esophageal variceal hemorrhage. In Morocco, there are no data regarding the efficacy of this technique. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of endoscopic variceal ligation in the management of oesophageal variceal bleeding in cirrhosis in a located population in Morocco.MethodsVia a retrospective study over 118 months (December 2001- October 2011), cirrhotic patients with endoscopically proven esophageal variceal hemorrhage were treated by endoscopic variceal ligation. We studied the rate of haemostasis, rebleeding, complications and mortality.Results360 cirrhotic patients were included and 378 haemostatic variceal ligations were performed. Primary haemostasis was obtained in 96.5 % (N=365) of cases. Thirty three patients (8.7%) bled during follow-up. The rate of minor complications was 15.3 % (N=58). Retrosternal pain, fever, dysphagia and Overtube's migration developed in 8.4 % (N=32); 2.6 % (N=10); 3,7 % (N=14) and 0.5 % (N=2) of the patients respectively. Severity of these complications was mild and transient. The rate of oesophageal ulcers was 5 % (N=19), while the mortality rate by haemorrhage was 5 % (N=18).ConclusionOur data showed that band ligation is an effective and safe treatment modality of esophageal variceal bleeding with low rates of rebleeding and complications.

IntroductionLong-term outcome of patients after band ligation have been poorly defined. Therefore, we conducted a long-term follow-up study to delineate the outcome of ligation in patients with portal hypertension in the Hassan II university hospital, Fes, Morocco.MethodsOver 118 months patients treated by endoscopic variceal ligation were received regular follow- up and detailed clinical assessment of at least 24 months.ResultsOne hundred twenty five patients were followed up for a mean of 31 months (range 12-107 months). Obliteration of the varices was achieved in 89.6 % (N = 112) of patients, with 3 +/-1.99 (range 1-8) endoscopy sessions over a period of 14 + /-6.8 weeks (range 3-28). The percentage of variceal recurrence during follow-up after ligation was 20.5 % (N = 23). Recurrence were observed in a mean of 22 months +/- 7.3 (range 3-48). Bleeding rate from recurrent varices was 30.4 % (7/23). Rebleeding from esophageal ulcers occurred in 5.6 % (7/125) of patients. Portal hypertensive gastropathy before and after eradication of varices was 17.6% (N = 22) and 44.6% (N = 50) respectively; p< 0.05. Fundal gastric varices was 30.4% (N = 38) and 35.7% (N = 40) before and after eradication of varices respectively; p> 0.05. The overall mortality was 4 % (N = 5).ConclusionBand ligation was an effective technical approach for variceal obliteration with low rates of variceal recurrence, rebleeding and development of gastric varices. Furthermore, it was associated with frequent development of portal hypertensive gastropathy.

Le cancer de l'estomac est représenté essentiellement par Les adénocarcinomes gastriques, ces derniers demeurent l'une des dix premières causes mondiales de mortalité avec un pronostic qui est péjoratif. Son incidence reste variable à travers le monde, elle est caractérisée par une importante disparité géographique. Le but de notre travail est de décrire les caractéristiques épidémiologiques de l'adénocarcinome gastrique dans notre contexte à travers une étude rétrospective, observationnelle étalée sur une période de 10 ans (Janvier 2001- Janvier 2011), incluant tous les malades admis au service d'hépato-gastroentérologie du CHU Hassan II de Fès pour prise en charge d'un adénocarcinome gastrique. Durant cette période, 343 patients étaient admis pour prise en charge d'une tumeur gastrique, dont 170 patients avaient un adénocarcinome gastrique (49.5%). L’âge moyen de ces patients était de 58±13.4 ans [16 ans-0 ans]. Dans 43.7% des cas, les patients provenaient de la région de Fès, souvent du milieu rurale. On note une nette prédominance masculine, avec une différence significative entre les 2 sexes (p < ;0.05). Les patients âgés de moins de 60ans représentaient la tranche d’âge prédominante (63%) par rapports aux patients âgés de plus de 60ans (p = 0.02). 61% des patients consultaient dans un délai allant de 1 mois à 6 mois, 30.4% des patients étaient tabagiques, ce facteur avait une relation statistiquement significative avec l'adénocarcinome gastrique (p = 0.02). la non consommation de l'alcool est inversement liée et de façon significative à l'apparition de l'adénocarcinome gastrique (p = 0.03) dans notre contexte. L'infection par Hélicobacter pylori n’était mentionnée que chez peu de malades. Les formes métastatiques au moment du diagnostic dépassaient 50% avec un taux de décès au cours de l'hospitalisation de 2.6%. Sur le plan endoscopique, la localisation antropylorique, et la forme ulcéro-végétante étaient prédominantes, elles présentaient successivement 49% (p = 0,002) et 66% (p = 0.00001). Une chirurgie curative n’était proposée que chez 50 patients (30.2%). L'adénocarcinome gastrique représente le type histologique le plus fréquent, son pronostic reste fâcheux dans notre région, touchant une population jeune, minimisant ainsi les chances de tout traitement curatif.