Primary Hepatic Actinomycosis Mimicking Neuroendocrine Tumor

INTRODUCTION

The Actinomyces species is a fastidious, gram-positive, non-spore-forming bacteria that thrive in microareophilic and anaerobic conditions. Infection in the liver, an organ rarely affected by this pathogen, is presumed to be caused by hematogenous spread through the portal vein from a mucosal injury or other abdominal injury or a focus of infection.

CASE DESCRIPTION

 A 60-year-old male patient has a mass lesion of 15 × 10 cm in the left lobe on computed tomography. A tru-cut biopsy was performed with USG, and fragmented tissue pieces were obtained. In histopathological examination, these samples were reported as tumors with neuroendocrine differentiation. The biopsy sample contains a large amount of tumor neighborhood, and tumoral area is quite small. And, therefore, a clear diagnosis could not be found. A mass lesion with mildly increased Ga 68 DOTATATE uptake was observed in the left lobe of the liver (SUVmax value 3.8) and was interpreted in favor of the primary neuroendocrine tumor of the liver.

DISCUSSION

Actinomyces cases are very rare and their diagnosis is usually delayed due to its slow and insidious course, and lack of specific clinical and radiological findings. It is difficult to make a correct diagnosis even in microbiological examinations and biopsy materials obtained in the presence of imaging methods. It can mimic tumors of abdominopelvic structures.

CONCLUSION

Actinomyces should be kept in mind in cases with liver masses accompanied by previous abdominal surgery, abdominal trauma, high fever, and leukocytosis.

Optimal Endoscopic Management of Anastomotic Strictures After Double- Biliary Reconstruction in Right Lobe Living-Donor Liver Transplantation

Background

There is no consensus on the optimal drainage technique in the management of biliary anastomotic strictures occurring after right-lobe living-donor liver transplantation (RL LDLT).

Aims

To investigate whether there is a superiority between unilateral and bilateral drainage groups in terms of efficacy and safety of biliary drainage in RL LDLT patients undergoing double-biliary reconstruction.

Study Design

Retrospective Cohort

Methods

Between January 2009 and August 2019, 1693 patients underwent RL LDLT. Of these, 182 patients who developed biliary anastomotic strictures out of the 306 patients who had double-biliary reconstruction, were included in the study. One hundred fifty-five patients with technical success were divided into 2 groups as unilateral (n=116) and bilateral (n=39) drainage groups. The groups were compared in terms of variable parameters such as clinical success, additional procedure, post-ERCP complication, procedures after clinical failure, hospital stay, mortality, and survival.

Results

The clinical success was higher in the bilateral group (70% vs. 82%, P = .201). In the initial and the follow-up periods, a total of 44 (38%) patients in the unilateral group were switched to the bilateral drainage group due to the increased need for stenting. The placement of a stent successfully solved the problem only in 28% (32/117) of the patients in the unilateral group, while this rate was 44% (17/39) in the bilateral group. The median follow-up time of both groups was 42 months, and was equal. The number of stent-free follow-up patients in the unilateral drainage group was less than that in the bilateral drainage group (4 and 7, respectively).

Conclusion

An active attempt should be made for bilateral drainage in patients with biliary anastomotic stricture following RL LDLT. However, for patients in whom bilateral drainage is not possible, unilateral drainage may be recommended, with the placement of a maximum number of stents following primary biliary balloon dilatation, depending on the degree of stricture.

Differential diagnosis of the granulomatous appendicitis: Retrospective analysis of 16 cases

BACKGROUND

This study aims to present the usability of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) in the differential diagnosis of granulomatous appendicitis (GAp), especially in areas where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic.

METHODS

Sixteen patients underwent appendectomy with presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis were retrospectively analyzed for histopathological diagnosis of GAp. Real-time PCR method was used to show the whether presence of DNA of the tubercle bacilli in paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. IGRA test was used to investigate whether tubercle bacilli- specific interferon gamma was present in peripheral blood.

RESULTS

Sixteen patients (male: 10 female: 6) aged between 21 and 82 years were included in this study. All patients had acute appendicitis and three of them also had appendiceal perforation. Histopathologically, necrotizing granulomatous inflammation was detected in all appendectomy specimens. Acid-fast bacilli were not detected in any of the pathology slides stained with Ehrlich-Ziehl-Neelsen. Real-time PCR was studied in paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of all patients with GAp, but the TB bacilli DNA was amplified in only three patients. IGRA test was studied in peripheral blood samples of 12 patients with GAp and results were as follows: negative (n=9), positive (n=2) and indeterminate (n=1).

CONCLUSION

We believe that the use of anamnesis, histopathological findings, tissue PCR, blood IGRA and clinical findings together are important for differential diagnosis of GAp, especially where TB is endemic. We also suggest that all appendectomy specimens should be sent to the laboratory for histopathological evaluation even if specimens appear macroscopically normal.

Liver transplant versus non-liver transplant patients underwent appendectomy with presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis: Case-control study

BACKGROUND

This study aims to compare liver transplant and non-liver transplant patients who underwent appendectomy with a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

METHODS

Demographic and clinicopathological features of 13 liver transplant recipients (transplant group) who underwent posttransplant appendectomy with a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis were compared with the features of 52 non-liver transplant patients (non-transplant group). They underwent appendectomy with a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis during the same time period. The transplant group was matched at random in a 1: 4 ratio with the non- transplant group. While the continuous variables were compared using the Mann Whitney-U test, categorical variables were compared with Fisher's exact test. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

A total of 65 patients aged between one year and 84 years were included in this study. While the age of the 52 patients (32 male and 20 female) in the non- transplant group ranged from 17 years to 84 years, the age of the 13 patients (nine male and four female) in the transplant group ranged from one year to 64 years. Statistically significant differences were noted between both groups concerning WBC (p=0.002), neutrophil (p=0.002), lymphocyte (p=0.032), platelets (p=0.032), RDW (p=0.001), CRP (p=0.009), PNR (p=0.042), WNR (p=0.03), and appendiceal length (p<0.001). The negative appendectomy rate was relatively higher in transplant than the non-transplant group but this difference was not statistically significant (30.8% vs. 21.2%; p=0.477). Perforated acute appendicitis occurred more frequently in the transplant group; however, this difference was not statistically significant (30.8% vs. 9.6%; p=0.070).

CONCLUSION

WBC and neutrophil were lower in the LT group; however, the CRP and RDW were higher in the LT group. Further, perforation and negative appendectomy rates were higher in the LT group, although this difference was not statistically significant.