Meckel's diverticulum is a relatively common gastrointestinal entity which occasionally causes complications. Meckel's diverticulum is classically described to mimic acute appendicitis when inflamed as well as being a cause of unexplained luminal gastrointestinal bleeding. An unusual cause of spontaneous non traumatic haemoperitoneum found during surgery performed for a suspected acute appendicitis in a 22-year old female is described. The patient was found to have a significant haemoperitoneum due to a bleeding serosal vessel of a Meckel's diverticulum. The diverticulum was routinely excised. It was macroscopically and histologically devoid of inflammation. The bleeding vessel was not found to be abnormal or part of an arteriovenous malformation.
Castleman's disease is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder of unknown aetiology. The presentation is varied, diagnosis is difficult, and optimum management is still unknown. We report our experience with a case of Castleman's disease in a 34-year old woman who presented with pallor, hepatosplenomegaly, and a right iliac fossa mass that was 5 cm in diameter. this was initially diagnosed as a soft tissue sarcoma and preoperative tumour embolization was planned before excision. Mesenteric arteriogram revealed that the feeder arteries arose from the superior mesenteric artery and embolization was aborted for fear of causing bowel ischaemia. On laparotomy, lymphoid enlargement was found between the leaves of the jejunal mesentery. The tumour was relatively avascular and the overlying mesenteric vessels contributed to teh duplex ultrasound and computerized tomography appearance of hypervascularity. The tumour with the mesentery and the overlying segment of jejunum was excised completely. Histopathology confirmed Castleman's disease. The purpose of this report is to present this rare case that caused a diagnostic dilemma and to review the management of this disorder.
Massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding due to trichuriasis and/or typhoid fever is rarely reported. We reported a case of a 29-year-old male presented with per rectal bleeding, diarrhea, generalized abdominal pain and fever for two weeks. After diagnosis suspicion, emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed, where resection of the ulcerated part of the caecum and terminal ileum was performed. Microscopically analysis, diagnosed heavy infestation with Trichuris trichiura. It was complicated with Salmonella typhi infection confirmed later from the blood culture result.
Endoscopic thermal therapy and formalin are being increasingly recommended for the treatment of chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis. It may be too early, however, to discard pharmacologic agents from the management process, especially in medical institutions where specialized equipment is unavailable. We prospectively assessed the effectiveness of medical therapy in 14 consecutive patients with chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis from July 1999 to June 2001. All 14 subjects were women (mean age 56 years), 13 of whom had had radiotherapy for cancer of the cervix. The median time to onset of symptoms following irradiation was 16 months. Six patients had a hemoglobin level of < 8 g/dl, and blood transfusion was required in 11 patients. In five patients (36%) initially treated with hydrocortisone enemas prior to referral, this treatment continued; and the remaining nine patients were commenced on sucralfate enemas. Two patients given rectal hydrocortisone continued to bleed and were treated with sucralfate enemas and topical formalin, respectively. Rectal sucralfate suspension effectively procured symptomatic alleviation in all 11 patients. Rectal bleeding recurred in two patients who had been managed exclusively with hydrocortisone and sucralfate enemas, respectively, over a mean follow-up of 6 months. Both patients were managed with topical formalin, which controlled their symptoms. Even though the number of subjects in this study is small, sucralfate enema can be recommended as an effective first-line agent for managing patients with chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis. The use of more specialized therapy can therefore be reserved for cases where primary treatment failure occurs with sucralfate therapy.