The collar button ulcer. A radiologic-pathologic correlation

Crohn's disease successfully treated with infliximab in a patient receiving hemodialysis: case report and review of the literature

There is limited information in the use of antitumor necrosis factor α, infliximab, in patients on hemodialysis. In Crohn's disease (CD), only 3 cases are reported.A 76-year-old man on hemodialysis for renal failure caused by immunoglobulin A nephropathy developed diarrhea and abdominal pains. A marked edema was observed in the pretibia and ankle. An increase of C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hypoalbuminemia, hypocholesterolemia, and moderate anemia was found. Ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) found wall thickness in the left colon. Sigmoidoscopy revealed multiple ulcers in the sigmoid colon and noncaseating epithelioid granuloma was found in the biopsy specimen. Barium enema study exhibited collar button signs and longitudinal ulcers in the left colon.A severe form of CD was diagnosed. Metronidazole seemed to decrease CRP but was ineffective in ameliorating diarrhea. Infliximab rather than steroid hormone was chosen for the treatment. Standard induction therapy with infliximab was initiated. Symptoms rapidly improved then disappeared. CD activity index decreased from 747 to a remission level of 134 after 2 infusions of infliximab. Scheduled maintenance infliximab therapy was administered after the induction therapy. Ultrasonography and CT showed a disappearance of the wall thickness of the colon. Adverse reactions were not observed.Infliximab was effective and safe in a patient with CD on hemodialysis. Our case has added additional literature in accordance with previous reports supporting infliximab as effective and safe in patients on hemodialysis.

Pseudoazygos lobe caused by lymph node pneumatocele

In patients with AIDS, the relatively high incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis places them at risk for more severe esophageal tuberculosis (including fistula formation), and tuberculous esophagitis in the setting of AIDS may be more common than had been thought. Tuberculous esophageal fistulae have long been described and are well known. Air tracking from the esophagus into a mediastinal lymph node is very rare and reported previously to collect in small pockets in either of two patterns: irregular (or "amorphous") or peripheral and curvilinear. Complete filling of a large lymph node by air has not previously been reported. Reported here is a case of tuberculous mediastinal lymphadenopathy in an AIDS patient in whom CT scans demonstrated fistula development between a large lymph node and adjacent esophagus; this was accompanied by total replacement of the apparently necrotic content of the node with air, surrounded by the relatively thin, smooth, residual wall of the node. A lymph nodal pneumatocele was thereby created, which has not been previously described, and is the first feature of this case. On frontal chest radiography, the lateral wall of the lymph nodal pneumatocele produced an appearance falsely akin to an azygos fissure, creating the second feature: a previously unreported cause of false appearance of an azygos lobe. It is important to consider tuberculosis when a fistula to the esophagus is demonstrated in an AIDS patient, to be aware that even a large lymph node may "shell out" entirely in that setting, and not to confuse the final resulting appearance with the normal variant it may resemble.

Imaging modalities in inflammatory bowel disease

This article provides an in-depth review of the radiologic and endoscopic imaging techniques used in the evaluation and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The use of imaging studies to diagnose IBD and to differentiate ulcerative colitis from Crohn's disease is discussed. The evaluation of suspected complications associated with IBD, including strictures and fistulous disease, as well as surveillance for colorectal cancer are also addressed.