Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) of the gastrointestinal tract is not an uncommon disease among individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The majority is asymptomatic, and for this reason, gastrointestinal KS (GI-KS) remains undiagnosed. With continued tumor growth, considerable variation in clinical presentation occurs including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, iron deficiency anemia (either chronic or frank gastrointestinal bleeding), and rarely mechanical obstruction alone or combined with bowel perforation. Endoscopy with biopsy allows for histological and immunohistochemical testing to confirm the diagnosis of GI-KS among those with clinical symptoms. In previous studies, dual treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy and systemic chemotherapy have been associated with improved morbidity and mortality in individuals with visceral KS. Therefore, investigators have suggested performing screening endoscopies in select patients for early detection and treatment to improve outcome. In this review, we describe a 44 years old man with AIDS and cutaneous KS who presented for evaluation of postprandial abdominal pain, vomiting, and weight loss. On upper endoscopy, an extensive, infiltrative, circumferential, reddish mass involving the entire body and antrum of the stomach was seen. Histologic examination later revealed spindle cell proliferation, and confirmatory immunohistochemical testing revealed human herpes virus 8 latent nuclear antigen expression consistent with a diagnosis of gastric KS. Following this, we present a comprehensive review of literature on KS with emphasis on gastrointestinal tract involvement and management.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) previously called carcinoid tumors are neoplasms of enterochromaffin/neuroendocrine cell origin which display neurosecretory capacity that may result in the carcinoid syndrome. The annual incidence of patients with NET is 8.4 per 100000; yet many NET remain asymptomatic and clinically undetected. A majority of NET follows a benign course; however, some will display malignant characteristics. NET most commonly occur in the gastrointestinal tract (67%) and bronchopulmonary system (25%). Gastrointestinal NET occur within the stomach, small intestine, liver, and rectum. We report a retrospective study of 11 subjects: Eight with benign carcinoid tumors: duodenal bulb (n = 2), terminal ileum (n = 1), sigmoid colon (n = 2), and rectum (n = 3); three with malignant carcinoid: liver (n = 1) and intra-abdominal site (n = 2). The diagnosis, endoscopic images, outcome, treatment and review of the literature are presented.

Reddy S, et al. J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2010 Oct;16(4):414-417. http://dx.doi.org/10.5056/jnm.2010.16.4.414

INTRODUCTION: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) can lead to structural pancreatic changes potentially predisposing to acute pancreatitis (AP), increasing morbidity and mortality. Scarce data exist on the outcomes of AP in patients with T2DM who are taking glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs). The study aim was to evaluate AP outcome and all-cause mortality in patients with T2DM using GLP-1 RAs. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed using population-based data from the TriNetX platform. Patients with T2DM receiving GLP-1 RAs drugs (semaglutide, liraglutide, dulaglutide, and tirzepatide) between January 1, 2015, and October 31, 2023, were included. This patient cohort was matched with patients with T2DM who did not receive GLP-1 RAs according to age, demographics, comorbidities, and medication by using 1:1 propensity matching. To avoid confounding, etiologies of AP including alcohol-induced, trauma, biliary, class Ia drug-induced, hypertriglyceridemia, and postendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography were excluded from both cohorts. Primary outcomes were risk of developing AP, need for parenteral nutrition, systemic complications (sepsis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, shock, mechanical ventilation, acute kidney injury), and local pancreatic complications. The secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs). RESULTS: A total of 740,370 patients with T2DM were identified with 29,423 on GLP-1 RAs; 20,459 of those 29,423 (mean [SD] age, 58.1 [11.9] years; 10,190 [49.85%] female) were matched with 20,459 individuals (mean [SD] age, 57.5 [13.9] years; 10,301 [50.35%] female) who did not take GLP-1 RAs. The GLP-1 RAs group had lower risk of complicated pancreatitis (HR 0.32; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14–0.74), parenteral nutrition needs (HR 0.28; 95% CI 0.09–0.83), sepsis (HR 0.71; 95% CI 0.59–0.84), acute kidney injury (HR 0.54; 95% CI 0.49–0.60), shock (HR 0.52; 95% CI 0.36–0.75), and mechanical ventilation support during admission (HR 0.23; 95% CI 0.16–0.33) compared with the non-GLP-1 RAs group. In addition, all-cause mortality was decreased in the GLP-1 agonist group compared with the non-GLP-1 agonist group (HR 0.45; 95% CI 0.41–0.49). Important to note that the GLP-1 RAs group had a tendency of lower risk of uncomplicated pancreatitis (HR 0.71; 95% CI 0.49–1.01) but without statistically significant result. No difference was found between the groups in risk of developing systemic inflammatory response syndrome if it occurs. DISCUSSION: GLP-1 RAs use does not increase AP risk is associated with lower complications in those who developed AP and linked with lower all-cause mortality in patients with T2DM. Prospective studies are needed to determine the mechanisms behind these findings.