Clinical patterns of hepatocellular carcinoma in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A multicenter prospective study

107noNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome and may evolve into hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Only scanty clinical information is available on HCC in NAFLD. The aim of this multicenter observational prospective study was to assess the clinical features of patients with NAFLD-related HCC (NAFLD-HCC) and to compare them to those of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC. A total of 756 patients with either NAFLD (145) or HCV-related chronic liver disease (611) were enrolled in secondary care Italian centers. Survival was modeled according to clinical parameters, lead-time bias, and propensity analysis. Compared to HCV, HCC in NAFLD patients had a larger volume, showed more often an infiltrative pattern, and was detected outside specific surveillance. Cirrhosis was present in only about 50% of NAFLD-HCC patients, in contrast to the near totality of HCV-HCC. Regardless of tumor stage, survival was significantly shorter (P = 0.017) in patients with NAFLD-HCC, 25.5 months (95% confidence interval 21.9-29.1), than in those with HCV-HCC, 33.7 months (95% confidence interval 31.9-35.4). To eliminate possible confounders, a propensity score analysis was performed, which showed no more significant difference between the two groups. Additionally, analysis of patients within Milan criteria submitted to curative treatments did not show any difference in survival between NAFLD-HCC and HCV-HCC (respectively, 38.6 versus 41.0 months, P = nonsignificant) Conclusions: NAFLD-HCC is more often detected at a later tumor stage and could arise also in the absence of cirrhosis, but after patient matching, it has a similar survival rate compared to HCV infection; a future challenge will be to identify patients with NAFLD who require more stringent surveillance in order to offer the most timely and effective treatment. (Hepatology 2016;63:827-838)openopenPiscaglia F.; Svegliati-Baroni G.; Barchetti A.; Pecorelli A.; Marinelli S.; Tiribelli C.; Bellentani S.; Bernardi M.; Biselli M.; Caraceni P.; Domenicali M.; Garuti F.; Gramenzi A.; Lenzi B.; Magalotti D.; Cescon M.; Ravaioli M.; Del Poggio P.; Olmi S.; Rapaccini G.L.; Balsamo C.; Di Nolfo M.A.; Vavassori E.; Alberti A.; Benvegnau L.; Gatta A.; Giacomin A.; Vanin V.; Pozzan C.; Maddalo G.; Giampalma E.; Cappelli A.; Golfieri R.; Mosconi C.; Renzulli M.; Roselli P.; Dell'isola S.; Ialungo A.M.; Risso D.; Marenco S.; Sammito G.; Bruzzone L.; Bosco G.; Grieco A.; Pompili M.; Rinninella E.; Siciliano M.; Chiaramonte M.; Guarino M.; Camma C.; Maida M.; Costantino A.; Barcellona M.R.; Schiada L.; Gemini S.; Lanzi A.; Stefanini G.F.; Dall'aglio A.C.; Cappa F.M.; Suzzi A.; Mussetto A.; Treossi O.; Missale G.; Porro E.; Mismas V.; Vivaldi C.; Bolondi L.; Zoli M.; Granito A.; Malagotti D.; Tovoli F.; Trevisani F.; Venerandi L.; Brandi G.; Cucchetti A.; Bugianesi E.; Vanni E.; Mezzabotta L.; Cabibbo G.; Petta S.; Fracanzani A.; Fargion S.; Marra F.; Fani B.; Biasini E.; Sacco R.; Morisco F.; Caporaso N.; Colombo M.; D'ambrosio R.; Croce L.S.; Patti R.; Giannini E.G.; Loria P.; Lonardo A.; Baldelli E.; Miele L.; Farinati F.; Borzio M.; Dionigi E.; Soardo G.; Caturelli E.; Ciccarese F.; Virdone R.; Affronti A.; Foschi F.G.; Borzio F.Piscaglia, F.; Svegliati-Baroni, G.; Barchetti, A.; Pecorelli, A.; Marinelli, S.; Tiribelli, C.; Bellentani, S.; Bernardi, M.; Biselli, M.; Caraceni, P.; Domenicali, M.; Garuti, F.; Gramenzi, A.; Lenzi, B.; Magalotti, D.; Cescon, M.; Ravaioli, M.; Del Poggio, P.; Olmi, S.; Rapaccini, G. L.; Balsamo, C.; Di Nolfo, M. A.; Vavassori, E.; Alberti, A.; Benvegnau, L.; Gatta, A.; Giacomin, A.; Vanin, V.; Pozzan, C.; Maddalo, G.; Giampalma, E.; Cappelli, A.; Golfieri, R.; Mosconi, C.; Renzulli, M.; Roselli, P.; Dell'Isola, S.; Ialungo, A. M.; Risso, D.; Marenco, S.; Sammito, G.; Bruzzone, L.; Bosco, G.; Grieco, A.; Pompili, M.; Rinninella, E.; Siciliano, M.; Chiaramonte, M.; Guarino, M.; Camma, C.; Maida, M.; Costantino, A.; Barcellona, M. R.; Schiada, L.; Gemini, S.; Lanzi, A.; Stefanini, G. F.; Dall'Aglio, A. C.; Cappa, F. M.; Suzzi, A.; Mussetto, A.; Treossi, O.; Missale, G.; Porro, E.; Mismas, V.; Vivaldi, C.; Bolondi, L.; Zoli, M.; Granito, A.; Malagotti, D.; Tovoli, F.; Trevisani, F.; Venerandi, L.; Brandi, G.; Cucchetti, A.; Bugianesi, E.; Vanni, E.; Mezzabotta, L.; Cabibbo, G.; Petta, S.; Fracanzani, A.; Fargion, S.; Marra, F.; Fani, B.; Biasini, E.; Sacco, R.; Morisco, F.; Caporaso, N.; Colombo, M.; D'Ambrosio, R.; Croce, L. S.; Patti, R.; Giannini, E. G.; Loria, P.; Lonardo, A.; Baldelli, E.; Miele, L.; Farinati, F.; Borzio, M.; Dionigi, E.; Soardo, G.; Caturelli, E.; Ciccarese, F.; Virdone, R.; Affronti, A.; Foschi, F. G.; Borzio, F

Management of Radiation-Induced Rectal Bleeding.

Pelvic radiation disease is one of the major complication after radiotherapy for pelvic cancers. The most commonly reported symptom is rectal bleeding which affects patients' quality of life. Therapeutic strategies for rectal bleeding are generally ignored and include medical, endoscopic, and hyperbaric oxygen treatments. Most cases of radiation-induced bleeding are mild and self-limiting, and treatment is normally not indicated. In cases of clinically significant bleeding (i.e. anaemia), medical therapies, including stool softeners, sucralfate enemas, and metronidazole, should be considered as first-line treatment options. In cases of failure, endoscopic therapy, mainly represented by argon plasma coagulation and hyperbaric oxygen treatments, are valid and complementary second-line treatment strategies. Although current treatment options are not always supported by high-quality studies, patients should be reassured that treatment options exist and success is achieved in most cases if the patient is referred to a dedicated centre

Diagnosis and management of gastric antral vascular ectasia.

Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is an uncommon but often severe cause of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, responsible of about 4% of non-variceal upper GI haemorrhage. The diagnosis is mainly based on endoscopic pattern and, for uncertain cases, on histology. GAVE is characterized by a pathognomonic endoscopic pattern, mainly represented by red spots either organized in stripes radially departing from pylorus, defined as watermelon stomach, or arranged in a diffused-way, the so called honeycomb stomach. The histological pattern, although not pathognomonic, is characterized by four alterations: vascular ectasia of mucosal capillaries, focal thrombosis, spindle cell proliferation and fibrohyalinosis, which consist of homogeneous substance around the ectatic capillaries of the lamina propria. The main differential diagnosis is with Portal Hypertensive Gastropathy, that can frequently co-exists, since about 30% of patients with GAVE co-present a liver cirrhosis. Autoimmune disorders, mainly represented by Reynaud's phenomenon and sclerodactyly, are co-present in about 60% of patients with GAVE; other autoimmune and connective tissue disorders are occasionally reported such as Sjogren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, primary biliary cirrhosis and systemic sclerosis. In the remaining cases, GAVE syndrome has been described in patients with chronic renal failure, bone marrow transplantation and cardiac diseases. The pathogenesis of GAVE is still obscure and many hypotheses have been proposed such as mechanical stress, humoural and autoimmune factors and hemodynamic alterations. In the last two decades, many therapeutic options have been proposed including surgical, endoscopic and medical choices. Medical therapy has not clearly shown satisfactory results and surgery should only be considered for refractory severe cases, since this approach has significant mortality and morbidity risks, especially in the setting of portal hypertension and liver cirrhosis. Endoscopic therapy, particularly treatment with Argon Plasma Coagulation, has shown to be as effective and also safer than surgery, and should be considered the first-line treatment for patients with GAVE-related bleeding

S-100 Immunohistochemical Positivity in Rhabdomyoma: An Underestimated Potential Diagnostic Pitfall in Routine Practice

A 66-year-old man presented with a 2.8 cm lesion of the left vocal cord. On contrast-enhanced computed tomography scans, the tumor extended to the supraglottis, subglottis, paraglottic space and anterior commissure, causing partial obstruction of the laryngeal lumen. At another hospital, a fragmented incisional biopsy was diagnosed as a granular cell tumor, as to the S-100 immunohistochemical positivity. After excision, the tumor revealed to be an adult-type laryngeal rhabdomyoma. The typical cytoplasmic rod-like inclusions and cross striations were more evident in the second specimen. We confirmed the unusual S-100 immunohistochemical positivity (variable intensity, >90% of tumor cells). Muscle markers were not performed on the previous biopsy, resulting positive in our specimen (Desmin: strong, diffuse expression; Smooth Muscle Actin: strong staining in 10% of tumor cells). Melan-A, CD68, GFAP, pan-cytokeratins, CEA, calretinin and neurofilaments resulted negative. To our brief, systematic literature review, S-100 positivity (usually variable, often weak or patchy/focal) was globally found in 19/34 (56%) adult-type rhabdomyomas of the head and neck region. Especially on fragmented biopsy material, the differential diagnoses of laryngeal rhabdomyomas may include granular cell tumors, oncocytic tumors of the salivary glands or of different origin, and paragangliomas

MiroCam capsule for obscure gastrointestinal bleeding: a prospective, single centre experience.

BACKGROUND: Capsule endoscopy is an established tool for the evaluation of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding but published literature is mostly limited to PillCam SB (Given Imaging, Israel). AIMS: The aims of this study were to determine the findings, the diagnostic yield and the rebleeding rate in a series of patients with overt or occult obscure gastrointestinal bleeding studied with MiroCam(Intromedic, Seoul, Korea) capsule endoscopy. METHODS: Data of 118 patients who underwent capsule endoscopy for overt or occult obscure gastrointestinal bleeding were prospectively collected between March 2009 and March 2011. RESULTS: Evaluation of the entire small bowel (completion rate) was achieved in 96% of cases. Relevant lesions occurred in 58% of patients. Angiodysplasias was the most common finding. Six patients (9% of the positive findings) had a non-small-bowel lesion detected by capsule. The yield of capsule endoscopy in the overt group was greater than in the occult group but without achieving a significant difference (61% vs. 54%, p>0.05). Rebleeding rate was lower in patients with a negative examination (6%) than in patients with a positive one (17%) (p=0.03). Capsule retention was registered in 3 of 118 patients (2.5%). CONCLUSIONS: MiroCam capsule endoscopy is a safe and effective tool for exploring small bowel with a high completion rate