Congenital Variants of Gastrointestinal Rotation Found at Resection of Hepatopancreatobiliary Tumors: A Case Series with Review of the Literature.

Abstract

Background: Gastrointestinal malrotation arises from intrauterine events that occur early in the first trimester of gestation, and can result in a midgut volvulus that classically presents in the neonatal period with bilious emesis. Gastrointestinal malrotation can present clinically with symptoms such as chronic abdominal pain or bowel obstruction, or remain completely asymptomatic only to be discovered as an incidental finding much later in life during surgical exploration for other diseases. We sought to identify the prevalence of gastrointestinal malrotation in patients undergoing surgical exploration for hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) malignancy and describe the operative considerations of these cases. Case Presentation: We performed a retrospective review of our prospectively acquired HPB surgery database from January 1, 2006, to December 1, 2013. We identified three cases of gastrointestinal malrotation out of a total of 1220 HPB cases reviewed, which represents 0.2%. We found two cases of gastrointestinal malrotation in the setting of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and one case in the setting of cholangiocarcinoma. All three patients underwent exploratory laparotomy with resection of their respective primary tumors. We searched the English literature for cases of HPB malignancy in the setting of gastrointestinal malrotation. Conclusion: Our case series and review of the literature underscore the rarity and complexity of these cases.