Successful endoscopic stent placement as a bridge to surgery for colonic obstruction induced by bevacizumab-based chemotherapy

Placement of a self-expandable metallic stent as a bridge to surgery for large bowel obstruction induced by effective neoadjuvant therapy: report of three cases

BACKGROUND

Self-expandable metallic stent placement is a widely performed palliative procedure or bridge to surgery for obstructive colorectal cancer. However, the feasibility of this procedure for large bowel obstruction induced by effective neoadjuvant therapy is unclear.

CASE PRESENTATION

We herein report three such cases involving a 61-year-old man who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for lower rectal cancer, a 56-year-old woman who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy for lower rectal cancer, and a 63-year-old woman who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy for lower rectal cancer. All were emergently hospitalized with large bowel obstruction that developed while undergoing neoadjuvant therapy. Colonoscopy revealed smooth strictures caused by effective neoadjuvant therapy. Self-expandable metallic stents were placed across the obstruction as a bridge to surgery, and laparoscopic low anterior resection was uneventfully performed in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS

We successfully treated three patients with large bowel obstruction induced by a good response to neoadjuvant therapy using self-expandable metallic stents as a bridge to surgery. Further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to assess the feasibility of this strategy.

Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Management of Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major source of morbidity and mortality for the U.S. health care system and frequently complicates the course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Patients with IBD are more likely to be colonized with C. difficile and develop active infection than the general population. They are also more likely to have severe CDI and develop subsequent complications such as IBD flare, colectomy, or death. Even after successful initial treatment and recovery, recurrent CDI is common. Management of CDI in IBD is fraught with diagnostic and therapeutic challenges because the clinical presentations of CDI and IBD flare have considerable overlap. Fecal microbiota transplantation can be successful in curing recurrent CDI when other treatments have failed, but may also trigger IBD flare and this warrants caution. New experimental treatments including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and nontoxigenic strains of C. difficile offer promise but are not yet available for clinicians. A better understanding of the complex relationship between the gut microbiota, CDI, and IBD is needed.