Angiography is a useful diagnostic tool in cases with massive gastrointestinal bleeding such as angiodysplasia and varicosis when endoscopy is not available. Angiodysplasia and varicosis have distinguishable characteristic features on angiography, such as the presence of a nidus, visible late-draining veins, and the typical vascular tuft. We recently treated a rare case of congenital angiodysplasia without the characteristic angiodysplasia features on angiography. Instead, the patient presented with a very rare case of idiopathic jejunal varicosis. A 42-year-old woman visited the emergency room with the chief complaint of melena for three days and a hemoglobin level of 5.9 g/dL. An abdominal CT angiogram showed varicosis at the jejunal mesentery. Angiography of the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries showed tortuous and dilated jejunal and ileal branches during the venous phase, suggesting a vascular malformation such as varicosis of the jejunum. Surgical exploration with intraoperative endoscopy revealed diffuse engorged veins and a 1.0-cm-diameter superficial ulcer covered with a blood clot that was 70 cm from the ligament of Treitz. A 100-cm segment of jejunum was resected. Histological examination revealed that the lesion was angiodysplasia, not varicosis. The final diagnosis was congenital angiodysplasia.
Although rare, it is possible for acute pancreatitis to develop after blunt or penetrating abdominal trauma. We report here a very rare case of acute pancreatitis induced by traditional acupuncture therapy. A 42-year-old woman with a low body mass index had suffered from functional dyspepsia for one year. She visited an acupuncture clinic and underwent long needle (13 cm) and gold thread needle (3 mm) acupuncture therapy. Five hours later, she presented at our emergency room complaining of severe periumbilical pain. Levels of serum amylase (1162 U/l, normal <220 U/l), and lipase (5195 IU/l, normal <60 IU/l) were high, and an abdominal computed tomography scan showed a diffusely swollen pancreas and ill-defined infiltration of the peripancreatic fat, indications of possible acute pancreatitis. Multiple small acupunctured gold thread needles were also found on the anterior abdominal wall and back muscles. After excluding other possible causes of pancreatitis, traumatic pancreatitis was diagnosed as an adverse effect of the long acupuncture needle therapy.
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