Drug-induced liver injury is an uncommon but life-threatening entity. Sunitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used for advanced and imatinib-refractory gastrointestinal stromal tumors. It causes transient elevation in liver enzymes. The incidence of fatal acute liver failure is rare. Five cases of sunitinib-induced acute liver injury have been reported in the literature thus far. We present a case of fatal acute liver failure and cardiomyopathy within 2 weeks of sunitinib therapy initiation for advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma. We believe our case is unique due to the rarity of its presentation. It highlights hepatotoxicity as a potentially fatal side effect of sunitinib therapy.

Background: Esophageal food impaction (EFI) is the third most common non-biliary emergency in gastroenterology, with an annual incidence rate of 13 episodes per 100,000 person-years and 1,500 deaths per year. Patients presenting with food impaction often have underlying esophageal pathology. We evaluated the possible risk factors for EFI in our study. Methods:We performed a retrospective chart review of 455 patients at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) that presented with symptoms of food impaction from 1999 to 2017. We analyzed relevant clinical data such as age, risk factors, type of food bolus, location, administration of glucagon, endoscopic technique and complications.Results: Overall, 174 patients had endoscopically confirmed EFI. The majority were males 102/174 (58.6%). Esophageal pathological findings included esophagitis in 58/174 (33.3%), strictures in 43/174 (24.7%), hiatal hernias in 29/174 (16.6%) and Schatzki's rings in 15/174 (8.6%). Thirty-two out of 174 (18.3%) had normal endoscopic findings. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was reported in 20/174 (11.4%) patients. The type of food impacted was mostly meat in 73/174 (41.9%) cases. The location of EFI was mainly in the lower one-third of the esophagus in 94/174 (54%). The endoscopic push technique was used in 95/174 (54.5%) patients and the pull technique in 83/174 (47.7%) cases. The endoscopic therapeutic intervention was successful as a first attempt in 165/175 (94.8%) patients. Complications were reported in only 5/174 (2.8%), and these mostly comprised of perforations and tears. Glucagon was given to 74/174 (42.5%) patients. The median door-to-scope time (time of presentation at the emergency department to endoscopic intervention) was 7 h (range 1.5 -24 h) in patients who had received glucagon as opposed to 7 h (range 1 -24 h) in patients who did not receive it. Conclusion:EFI is more common in males. Esophageal strictures and hiatal hernias were the most common pathologies found in endoscopy. Esophagitis was evident in 33.3% of patients, but if it was the cause or consequence of EFI is not clearly understood. DM was associated with food impaction in only 11.4% of patients, but more studies are needed to determine if DM has a stronger association with EFI. The door-to-scope time was shorter in patients who had received glucagon. Endoscopy is a safe and effective therapeutic intervention for EFI, and complications reported were minimal.

Gallbladder hydrops (HGB) is often under-diagnosed due to the various diagnostic criteria used throughout the globe. It can be described as a progressive increase in the volume of the gallbladder in the absence of inflammation, or bacterial infection. The underlying mechanism involves biliary ductal obstruction due to gallstones. We describe a unique case of a diabetic patient who presented with symptoms of viral gastroenteritis and was incidentally found to have a non-traumatic spontaneous rupture of a hydropic gallbladder which resulted in septic shock and eventual death of the patient. We present this case together with a comprehensive literature review on why diabetic patients are at high risk of HGB and subsequent spontaneous perforation compared to the general population.