Pierre Hautefeuille

Colonoscopy of acute colitis. A safe and reliable tool for assessment of severity.

Complications that might lead to surgery in severe attacks of ulcerative colitis have been found to be correlated with the depth of colonic ulcerations as measured by pathological examination of colectomy specimens. In order to evaluate the value of colonoscopy for the assessment of colonic ulcerations, we have reviewed the clinical, biological, colonoscopic, and anatomical findings in 85 consecutive patients with attacks of ulcerative colitis involving at least the rectosigmoid and part of the descending colon, seen in our center between 1981 and 1989. All had colonoscopy performed by a senior endoscopist at entry. Extensive deep colonic ulcerations were diagnosed in 46 of them, and moderate endoscopic colitis in 39. No complication related to colonoscopy occurred except for one colonic dilatation. Forty-three of the 46 patients with severe endoscopic colitis were operated upon: 38 of them failed to improve with high-dose corticosteroids and five had a toxic megacolon. Extensive ulcerations reaching at least the circular muscle layer were found at pathological examination of colectomy specimen in 42 of the 43 patients. Conversely, 30 of 39 patients with moderate endoscopic colitis went into clinical remission with medical treatment, and only nine patients needed further surgery because of medical treatment failure. Six of these nine patients underwent another colonoscopy prior to colectomy, and all six showed features of severe endoscopic colitis. Deep ulcerations reaching the circular muscle layer were found at pathological examination in five of these six patients and in one additional patient whose colonoscopy had been performed 21 days before colectomy. We conclude that, in expert hands, colonoscopy is safe and accurately selects patients with high risk of surgical complications who need early surgery in case of failure of medical treatment.

Segmental Reversal of the Small Bowel as an Alternative to Intestinal Transplantation in Patients With-short Bowel Syndrome

OBJECTIVE This article reports the results of segmental reversal of the small bowel on parenteral nutrition dependency in patients with very short bowel syndrome. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Segmental reversal of the small bowel could be seen as an acceptable alternative to intestinal transplantation in patients with very short bowel syndrome deemed to be dependent on home parenteral nutrition. METHODS Eight patients with short bowel syndrome underwent, at the time of intestinal continuity restoration, a segmental reversal of the distal (n = 7) or proximal (n = 1) small bowel. The median length of the remnant small bowel was 40 cm (range, 25 to 70 cm), including a median length of reversed segment of 12 cm (range, 8 to 15 cm). Five patients presented with jejunotransverse anastomosis, and one each with jejunorectal, jejuno left colonic, or jejunocaecal anastomosis with left colostomy. RESULTS There were no postoperative deaths. Three patients were reoperated early for wound dehiscence, acute cholecystitis, and sepsis of unknown origin. Three patients experienced transient intestinal obstruction, which was treated conservatively. Median follow-up was 35 months (range, 2 to 108 months). One patient died of pulmonary embolism 7 months postoperatively. By the end of follow-up, three patients were on 100% oral nutrition, one had fluid and electrolyte infusions only, and, in the four other patients, parenteral nutrition regimen was reduced to four (range of 3 to 5) cyclic nocturnal infusions per week. Parenteral nutrition cessation was obtained in 3 of 5 patients at 1 years and in 3 of 3 patients at 4 years. CONCLUSION Segmental reversal of the small bowel could be proposed as an alternative to intestinal transplantation in patients with short bowel syndrome before the possible occurrence of parenteral nutrition-related complications, because weaning for parenteral nutrition (four patients) or reduction of the frequency of infusions (four patients) was observed in the current study.

Functional and oncologic results after coloanal anastomosis for low rectal carcinoma.

Thirty-five patients who had adenocarcinoma of the middle third of the rectum were treated by resection and coloanal anastomosis. The aim of this study was to assess functional and oncologic results of an original technique of coloanal anastomosis. There was no operative mortality, and operative morbidity consisted of seven anastomotic leaks with two failures. Among 31 patients assessed for functional results only one had unsatisfactory results. Good continence was obtained within a few weeks for the 30 patients who had satisfactory results. No patients were lost to follow-up, which was over 5 years in 24 patients (68%). The 5-year survival rate was 64%, identical to that for other series.

Relationship of apical lymph node involvement to survival in resected colon carcinoma.

In a prospective study of 197 patients with resected colon carcinoma treated between 1974 and 1985, we explored the relationships between pathologic parameters, and the effect of the latter on survival, to identify the parameter whose systematic measurement would improve the predictive capacity of pathologic staging. Prognostic characteristics were studied by univariate analysis. The results showed significant relationships between the location and number of lymph nodes involved, blood vessel invasion, depth of tumor penetration, and metastases. The five-year survival rates were 45 percent and 17 percent (P <0.001) for patients without and with apical lymph node involvement, respectively, and 44 percent and 6 percent (P <0.05) for those with four or less nodes involved and more than four involved, respectively. Among the patients treated by incomplete resection, the respective survival rates of those resected for metastases and of those resected for apical lymph node involvement did not differ significantly. We conclude that the involvement of apical lymph nodes has a significant effect on prognosis and suggest systematic pathologic examination of these nodes to allow simpler and more reproducible selection of patients for treatment by incomplete resection who are at high risk of disease-related death.

Presence of PAF-acether in stool of patients with pouch ileoanal anastomosis and pouchitis.

Platelet-activating factor is an endogenous phospholipid produced by a wide variety of inflammatory cells. Platelet-activating factor induces severe pathological changes in various organs and, among numerous potent effects, causes bowel necrosis. Pouchitis is a poorly understood complication of ileoanal pouch anastomosis which occurs in patients who undergo surgery for ulcerative colitis. The aim of this study was to measure ileal or fecal platelet-activating factor and lyso platelet-activating factor contents in normal volunteers (n = 12), in patients with terminal ileostomy (n = 7), and in patients with ileoanal anastomosis (n = 15) (8 patients have pouchitis defined by the presence of ulcerations on the reservoir). Fecal samples were processed and assessed for platelet-activating factor by platelet aggregation assay. The aggregating material was further characterized as platelet-activating factor by the following: inhibition of the platelet aggregation it induced by specific platelet-activating factor receptor antagonist (BN 52021; IHB, Le Plessis Robinson, France); abolition of platelet aggregation after incubation with phospholipase A2 but not with lipase A1; and retention time on high-performance liquid chromatography. Stool platelet-activating factor content (in nanograms per gram of stool, mean +/- 1SD) was significantly increased in patients with pouchitis (22.2 +/- 16 ng/g) compared with patients with normal reservoir (1.59 +/- 0.63 ng/g, P less than 0.01), terminal ileostomy (0.59 +/- 0.43 ng/g, P less than 0.01), and healthy controls (0 +/- 0 ng/g of stool, P less than 0.001). Lyso platelet-activating factor (nanograms per gram of stool) was increased in patients with pouchitis (10,704 +/- 5499 ng/g) compared with patients with normal reservoir (4721 +/- 4549 ng/g of stool, P less than 0.05), terminal ileostomy (3042 +/- 4019 ng/g, P less than 0.02), and healthy volunteers (128 +/- 107 ng/g, P less than 0.001). In patients with ileoanal anastomosis and pouchitis, increased platelet-activating factor production could be implicated in the inflammation and ulcerations observed in the reservoir.

New treatment for ileal pouch-anal or coloanal anastomotic stenosis

Persistent anastomotic stricture following ileal pouch-anal or coloanal anastomoses can be treated by transanal resection using a stapler or a more complex procedure, such as transanal pouch advancement with neoanastomosis. We propose an easier and faster technique, which does not require any particular device. Its long-term functional results are satisfactory in most patients.

Treatment of Crohn's disease recurrence after ileoanal anastomosis by azathioprine

SummaryIleoanal anastomosis is a surgical procedure performed in patients with ulcerative colitis. In a small number of patients operated on for ulcerative colitis, Crohns disease occurs in the reservoir, mimicking pouchitis, and may lead to pouch excision and to a permanent terminal ileostomy. Two patients with recurrent Crohns disease in the reservoir after ileoanal anastomosis were treated with azathioprine for 18 and 24 months, respectively. Azathioprine induced a complete clinical and endoscopic remission. These two observations suggested that immunosuppressive drugs were a good option for permanent ileostomy in cases of recurrence of Crohns disease in the reservoir after ileoanal anastomosis.

Immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cells in colorectal carcinomas and adenomas with the monoclonal antibody Ki-67. Preliminary data

Twenty one cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma and six of adenoma have been studied using the monoclonal antibody Ki-67 which recognizes a nuclear antigen expressed by proliferating cells (PC). The quantitative evaluation of the stained nuclei showed that PC were more numerous in carcinomas than in adenomas although the difference did not reach a significant level. In each tumour, heterogeneity was noted. Furthermore, the superficial areas of both carcinomas and adenomas contained a greater number of PC than the deep. No difference was noticed in the various types and grades of differentiation for carcinomas. This preliminary report, compared with the only previous study of Shepherd et al. (1988) outlines the interest of the monoclonal antibody Ki-67 in the evaluation of growth fractions in colorectal tumours.

Primary stomal lymphoma. An unusual complication of ileostomy in a patient with transfusion-related acquired immune deficiency syndrome

A 73‐year‐old heterosexual man developed a high‐grade non‐Hodgkins lymphoma at the site of an ileostomy only 2 years after proctectomy for undetermined colitis not cured by previous colectomy. In fact, the early occurrence of this usually very late and rare complication of ileostomy was probably favored by the simultaneous presence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to repeated blood transfusions for refractory anemia with excess blasts. The intestinal location of the tumor, its high‐grade malignancy and B‐cell origin are all features of AIDS‐related non‐Hodgkins lymphoma. This case report seems to be one of the rarely identified examples of the cooperation between general predisposing factors and local irritating agents at the origin of a malignant tumor.

Idiopathic chronic watery diarrhea from excluded rectosigmoid with goblet cell hyperplasia cured by restoration of large bowel continuity.

SummaryA 73-year-old woman developed abnormal electrolyte and water loss from an excluded rectosigmoid segment after surgical treatment of a volvulus of the sigmoid colon. Rectal discharges lasted almost for a year, until it spontaneously resolved after restoration of large bowel continuity. Despite extensive investigation, including endoscopic, radiologic, microscopic, bacteriologic and parasitic examinations, no satisfactory explanation of the diarrhea could be found. The histologic pattern of the excluded segment showed a striking increase in mucosal thickness and in number and height of goblet cells. These abnormalities disappeared after closure of the colostomy. Electrolyte composition of the rectal fluid, which contained 134 mmol potassium and 22 mmol sodium per liter was remarkable and similar to that of normal stool water and anal discharges of patients with ulcerative proctitis.