Introduction: Small bowel adenocarcinoma is a rare but well-known complication of Crohn's disease. Diagnosis can be challenging, as clinical presentation may mimic an exacerbation of Crohn's disease and imaging findings may be indistinguishable from benign strictures. The result is that the majority of cases are diagnosed at the time of operation or postoperatively at an advanced stage.
Case presentation: A 48-year-old male with a previous 20-year history of ileal stenosing Crohn's disease presented with iron deficiency anemia. The patient reported melena approximately 1 month earlier but was currently asymptomatic. There were no other laboratory abnormalities. Anemia was refractory to intravenous iron replacement. The patient underwent computerized tomography enterography, which revealed multiple ileal strictures with features suggesting underlying inflammation and an area of sacculation with circumferential thickening of adjacent bowel loops. Therefore, the patient underwent retrograde balloon-assisted small bowel enteroscopy, where an area of irregular mucosa and ulceration was found at the region of ileo-ileal anastomosis. Biopsies were performed and histopathological examination revealed tubular adenocarcinoma infiltrating the muscularis mucosae. The patient underwent right hemicolectomy plus segmental enterectomy of the anastomotic region where the neoplasia was located. After 2 months, he is asymptomatic and there is no evidence of recurrence.
Discussion: This case demonstrates that small bowel adenocarcinoma may have a subtle clinical presentation and that computed tomography enterography may not be accurate enough to distinguish benign from malignant strictures. Clinicians must, therefore, maintain a high index of suspicion for this complication in patients with long-standing small bowel Crohn's disease. In this setting, balloon-assisted enteroscopy may be a useful tool when there is raised concern for malignancy, and it is expected that its more widespread use could contribute to an earlier diagnosis of this severe complication.
Background/aims: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been proposed for removal of gastrointestinal subepithelial tumors (GI-SETs), but data are still scanty. This study aimed to report a case series from a western country.
Patients and methods: Data of patients with upper GI-SETs suitable for ESD removal observed in 4 centers were retrospectively reviewed. Before endoscopic procedure, the lesion was characterized by endosonographic evaluation, histology, and CT scan. The en bloc resection and the R0 resection rates were calculated, as well as incidence of complications, and the 1-year follow-up was reported.
Results: Data of 84 patients with esophageal (N = 13), gastric (N = 61), and duodenal (N = 10) GI-SETs were collected. The mean diameter of lesions was 26 mm (range: 12-110 mm). There were 17 gastrointestinal stromal tumors, 12 neuroendocrine tumors, 35 leiomyomas, 18 lipomas, and 2 hamartomas. En bloc and R0 resection were achieved in 83 (98.8%) and in 80 (95.2%) patients, respectively. Overall, a complication occurred in 11 (13.1%) patients, including bleeding (N = 7) and perforation (N = 4). Endoscopic approach was successful in all bleedings, but 1 patient who required radiological embolization, and in 2 perforations, while surgery was performed in the other patients. Overall, a surgical approach was eventually needed in 5 (5.9%), including 3 in whom R0 resection failed and 2 with perforation.
Conclusions: Our study found that ESD may be an effective and safe alternative to surgical intervention for both benign and localized malignant GI-SETs.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000525994.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000524060.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000525993.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000525964.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000526032.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1159/000525809.].
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