Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Weekly clinicopathological exercises. Case 7-1999. A 50-year-old woman with severe diarrhea during radiation treatment for resected metastatic melanoma

Intestinal lymphangiectasia - a report of two cases

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a rare benign disease characterised by focal or diffuse dilation of the mucosal, submucosal and subserosal lymphatics. Clinically, the patients may present with protein losing enteropathy (PLE), hypoproteinemic oedema, chylous ascites, pleural effusion, acute appendicitis and intestinal obstruction.

The utility of Tc-99m dextran in the diagnosis and identification of melanoma metastases responsible for protein-losing enteropathy

Protein-losing enteropathy is an uncommon syndrome of excessive loss of protein via the gastrointestinal mucosa. Tc-99m dextran is a tracer ideally suited for diagnosis and localization. The authors report a case of melanoma mestastases to the small bowel that were causing protein-losing enteropathy. These were diagnosed and localized using Tc-99m dextran, leading to a curative resection.