Although infliximab has been shown to improve the clinical course of Crohn's disease, its effect on intestinal strictures is controversial. We describe the case of a woman with steroid-resistant colonic Crohn's disease presenting with intermittent obstruction because of a tight stricture in the splenic flexure. Compared with uninvolved areas, biopsies showed intense edema and inflammatory cell infiltration and immunohistochemistry revealed an excess of TNF-alpha. Her symptoms responded promptly (CDAI went from 444 to 168) to an infliximab infusion (10 mg kg(-1) BW), which also had a dramatic effect on the stricture, now presenting radiologically as a moderate residual, apparently fibrotic, narrowing of the lumen. Endoscopy and histology confirmed the resolution of inflammation and TNF-alpha virtually disappeared. The patient refused additional infusions and after a few months the disease recurred with features identical to the pre-treatment phase. She then opted for surgery. Histology of the resected strictured colon revealed edema, inflammation, and fibrosis, with TNF-alpha back to pre-treatment levels. This case indicates that, in the colon, infliximab specifically relieves the TNF-alpha-mediated inflammatory component of the stricture while having no effect on fibrosis and suggests that the response to infliximab treatment may depend on the nature of the, stricture itself.

Purpose Although only limited scientific evidence exists promoting the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in non cardiac surgery, several recent studies have documented its usefulness during liver surgery. Methods and resultsIn the present case study, through the use of color Doppler TEE, compression of the inferior vena cava and the right hepatic vein was clearly evident, as was their restoration after surgery. Conclusion TEE should be encouraged in patients undergoing liver resection, not only for hemodynamic monitoring, but also for its ability to provide information about the anatomy of the liver, its vessels, and inferior vena cava patency.Keywords Transesophageal echocardiography Á Liver surgery Á Hepatic angioma Á Hemodynamic monitoring Riassunto Il fegato può essere coinvolto da una varietà di patologie, che vanno dalle lesioni benigne come l'angioma epatico, che possono necessitare di essere resecate, all'insufficienza epatica per la quale l'unica terapia possible è il trapianto di fegato. Benchè ci siano solo limitate evidenze scientifiche che supportino l'utilizzo dell'ecografia transesofagea (TEE) nella chirurgia non cardiaca, alcuni studi hanno documentato la sua utilità durante la chirurgia epatica. Nel caso in studio, attraverso l'uso del color Doppler TEE la compressione della vena cava inferiore a della vena epatica destra erano visualizzate così come le loro dimensioni dopo l'intervento chirurgico. Per tale motivo l'utilizzo del TEE dovrebbe essere incoraggiato nei pazienti che vanno incontro a resezione epatica non solo come strumento di valuatzione emodinamica ma anche per la sua abilità di dare informazioni utili sull'anatomia del fegato dei suoi vasi e sulla pervietà della vena cava.

The antitumor necrosis factor, infliximab, has been recently shown to be effective in refractory sarcoidosis including the intestinal form of this disease. We have tried this therapy in a 55-year-old woman under immunosuppressive therapy for longstanding sarcoidosis presenting with abdominal pain apparently caused by a colonic localization of the disease. The latter diagnosis was based, as recommended, on the presence of nonnecrotizing granulomas in mucosal biopsies, the presence of systemic disease, and the careful exclusion of other granulomatous diseases, including tuberculosis. After the first IV infusion (10 mg/kg BW), she quickly improved, but the wellbeing lasted approximately 4 weeks. She then received another dose of infliximab, but she soon developed low-grade fever and weakness and shortly succumbed of miliary tuberculosis. Likely, infliximab precipitated a pre-existing mycobacterial infection of the intestine. Given the likelihood of underdiagnosing intestinal tuberculosis--and the risks associated with infliximab treatment--this case suggests that this drug should be used with extreme caution, if at all, when a diagnosis of colonic sarcoidosis is suspected.