Hepatic penetration by stomal ulcer: rare complication of a peptic ulcer

Gastric Ulcer Perforation to the Liver Diagnosed by Endoscopic Biopsy

Peptic ulcer disease is common and can be diagnosed easily if the patient has an ulcer history or characteristic abdominal symptoms. On the other hand, it may take a long time for the patient to visit the hospital due to severe complications if the patient is old or insensitive to symptoms caused by peptic ulcers. In the present case, a 72-year-old female visited the hospital due to general weakness and inadequate oral intake, which started two weeks ago. Endoscopy and abdominal CT revealed huge gastric ulcer findings. Through a tissue examination by endoscopy, hepatic cells were identified, and the patient was diagnosed with peptic ulcer perforation to the liver and later received surgical treatment.

Liver Involvement by Perforated Peptic Ulcer: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Liver penetration by a confined perforation of peptic ulcer is a rare but severe event. Its clinical and pathological features are unclear.

METHODS

In total, 41 qualified English publications were identified using the PubMed database and one in-house case.

RESULTS

Among the 42 patients, 20 patients had liver involvement by a perforated duodenal ulcer and 22 by a gastric ulcer. Among the 23 cases of known ulcer histology, 2 ulcers were malignant and were adenocarcinomas in the gastric remnant and the remaining 21 ulcers were confirmed as histologically benign (for frequency of malignancy in duodenal versus gastric ulcers, p = 0.48). The presence of hepatocytes was the clue of diagnosis for 19 cases. The median ages of the patients were 64.5 years (95% Confidence Intervals [CI] 53.40-71.90) for duodenal ulcer and 65.5 years (95% CI: 59.23-70.95) for gastric ulcer, respectively. The male to female ratio was 1.5:1 for duodenal ulcers and 2:1 for gastric ulcers. Patients with liver involvement of a perforated gastric ulcer were more likely to have a larger ulcer (median largest dimension, 4.75 cm versus 2.5 cm, p = 0.014). Female patients with liver involvement of a gastric ulcer were older than male patients (median age 72 versus 60 years, p = 0.045). There were no differences in gender, region (Asia, Europe, America versus others), use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (n = 15), H. Pylori positivity (n = 10), possible history of peptic ulcer disease (n = 19) or mortality (n = 32) between duodenal and gastric ulcers.

CONCLUSIONS

Careful histologic examination, clinicopathological correlation, and immunohistochemistry are critical to establish the diagnosis and avoid misdiagnosing liver involvement as malignancy.