Late-onset primary intestinal lymphangiectasia successfully managed with octreotide: a case report

First case report of intestinal lymphangiectasia with refractory bleeding from the duodenum, successfully treated by intra-abdominal lymphaticovenous anastomosis with venous ligation

Intestinal lymphangiectasia (IL) is a protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) that occasionally leads to gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). We encountered a 41-year-old female with a 9-year history of duodenal IL with PLE and GIB that progressively worsened. Despite a diet, supplemented with medium-chain triglycerides, antiplasmin therapy, oral corticosteroids, octreotides, sirolimus, and repeated endoscopic hemostasis, her symptoms remained uncontrolled, leading to blood transfusion dependence. Lymphangiography revealed significant leakage from abnormal abdominal lymph vessels into the duodenal lumen. The patient subsequently underwent an abdominal-level lymphaticovenous anastomosis combined with local venous ligation. This approach resulted in a dramatic improvement and sustained resolution of both the PLE and GIB. More than 6 months after surgery, the patient remained free of symptoms and blood transfusion dependence.

Hypocalcaemic tetany linked to vitamin D deficiency and hypomagnesemia in primary intestinal lymphangiectasia: a literature review

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL) is a rare disorder in children causing protein-losing enteropathy. Vitamin D deficiency and hypomagnesemia contributed to the tetany. The literature review reflects the importance of screening for these deficiencies and regular serum magnesium monitoring in PIL cases with neuromuscular or ionic abnormalities.

Experience of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia in adults: Twelve case series from a tertiary referral hospital

BACKGROUND

While primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL) is considered a rare condition, there have been several reported cases in adults. Nevertheless, the absence of clear guidance from diagnosis to treatment and prognosis poses challenges for both physicians and patients.

AIM

To enhance understanding by investigating clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, complications, and prognoses in adult PIL cases.

METHODS

We enrolled adult patients diagnosed with PIL between March 2016 and September 2021. The primary outcome involved examining the diagnosis and treatment process of these patients. The secondary outcomes included identifying complications (infections, thromboembolism) and assessing prognoses (frequency of hospitalization and mortality) during the follow-up period.

RESULTS

Among the 12 included patients, peripheral edema (100%) and diarrhea (75%) were the main presenting complaints. Laboratory tests showed that all the patients exhibited symptoms of hypoalbuminemia and hypogammaglobulinemia. Radiologically, the predominant findings were edema of the small intestine (67%) and ascites (58%). The typical endoscopic finding with a snowflake appearance was observed in 75% of patients. Among the 12 patients, two responded positively to octreotide and sirolimus, and eight who could undergo maintenance therapy discontinued subsequently. Complications due to PIL led to infection in half of the patients, thromboembolism in three patients, and one death.

CONCLUSION

PIL can be diagnosed in adults across various age groups, with different severity and treatment responses among patients, leading to diverse complications and prognoses. Consequently, tailored treatments will be necessary. We anticipate that our findings will contribute to the management of PIL, an etiology of protein-losing enteropathy.

Use of octreotide for the treatment of protein-losing enteropathy in dogs: Retrospective study of 18 cases

BACKGROUND

More than 50% of dogs with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) fail to respond to standard therapies. Octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, is used in cases of intestinal lymphangiectasia (IL) in humans with some success.

OBJECTIVES

Describe the use of octreotide in dogs with PLE including reason for and details of prescription, adverse effects, and apparent response.

ANIMALS

Eighteen dogs with PLE, 13 with histopathology available. Ninety-two percent (12/13) had IL diagnosed on biopsy. All 13 dogs had intestinal inflammatory infiltrates noted.

METHODS

Multicenter, retrospective, descriptive study. Cases were volunteered for inclusion by individual attending veterinarians who reported the use of octreotide in cases of PLE.

RESULTS

In 16/18 (89%) cases octreotide was prescribed to PLE dogs with a clinical suspicion or confirmed diagnosis of IL that were refractory to standard therapies. Median serum albumin at the time of octreotide prescription was 1.7 g/dL (range, 1.0-3.1 g/dL). The median dose of octreotide prescribed was 20 μg/kg, SQ, daily with a range of 4-39 μg/kg, SQ, daily. Adverse effects were noted in 3/18 (17%, 95% CI [4%, 41%]) of dogs; discontinuation of the drug was necessary in 1 dog. Improvement in clinical signs was noted in 6/12 (50%, 95% CI [21%, 79%]).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE

Octreotide was most commonly prescribed to dogs with PLE and suspected or confirmed IL that had failed to respond to standard therapies. Though a benefit to PLE dogs cannot be confirmed, octreotide was well tolerated by the majority of dogs at the doses prescribed in this study.

Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management of Canine Intestinal Lymphangiectasia: A Comparative Review

Intestinal lymphangiectasia was first described in the dog over 50 years ago. Despite this, canine IL remains poorly understood and challenging to manage. Intestinal lymphangiectasia is characterized by variable intestinal lymphatic dilation, lymphatic obstruction, and/or lymphangitis, and is a common cause of protein-losing enteropathy in the dog. Breed predispositions are suggestive of a genetic cause, but IL can also occur as a secondary process. Similarly, both primary and secondary IL have been described in humans. Intestinal lymphangiectasia is definitively diagnosed via intestinal histopathology, but other diagnostic results can be suggestive of IL. Advanced imaging techniques are frequently utilized to aid in the diagnosis of IL in humans but have not been thoroughly investigated in the dog. Management strategies differ between humans and dogs. Dietary modification is the mainstay of therapy in humans with additional pharmacological therapies occasionally employed, and immunosuppressives are rarely used due to the lack of a recognized immune pathogenesis. In contrast, corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapies are more commonly utilized in canine IL. This review aims toward a better understanding of canine IL with an emphasis on recent discoveries, comparative aspects, and necessary future investigations.

The Update of Treatment for Primary Intestinal Lymphangiectasia

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a rare disease which is causing protein-losing enteropathy. Treatment of intestinal lymphangiectasia can be a challenge for clinicians because of the lack of specific guidelines regarding pharmacological indications. We sought to introduce a diagnostic approach and suggest guidelines for treatment. After exclusion of secondary intestinal lymphangiectasia, magnetic resonance lymphangiography is a promising tool for the assessment of abnormal lymphatic lesions in primary intestinal lymphangiectasia. Determining the extent of the lesion provides direction for treatment options. Focal short-segment intestinal lymphangiectasia can be treated via intestinal resection or radiologic embolization after dietary therapy failure. Diffuse intestinal lymphangiectasia and extensive lymphangiectasia should be treated with several drugs with a full understanding of their mechanisms.

Individual approach for treatment of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia in children: single-center experience and review of the literature

Background

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a rare disease. Thus, prospective studies are impossible, and therapy is still controversial. Several medicines are suggested for treatment but there are no existing indications for drug choice and treatment guidelines. We aimed to introduce the action mechanism of each drug and treatment overview in a single-center experience and a review of the literature on second-line therapy for primary intestinal lymphangiectasia.

Method

Children under 18 years old diagnosed with intestinal lymphangiectasia from June 2000 to June 2020 were included and retrospectively reviewed in the study. Capsule endoscopy, MR lymphangiography, or whole-body MRI for investigating the extent of abnormal lymphatic vessels in addition to endoscopy and biopsy were conducted. The individual treatment approaches depended upon the lymphangiectasis locations involved.

Results

Only one patient showed a response to dietary therapy. One patient was successfully cured after two therapeutic lymphatic embolization. Octreotide was tried for two patients who had extensive lymphangiectasis. Lymphangiectasis recurred when octreotide was used for 3 months in one patient, and there was no effect in the other patient. Sirolimus was tried for four patients. Two of them had abnormal lymphatic lesions only in the intestine, and the others had extensive lymphangiectasis. The former group showed clinical improvement after 3–4 months of sirolimus treatment, whereas the latter group showed clinical improvement only after 1 month of sirolimus treatment.

Conclusion

Surgery or embolization is a potential therapeutic option for patients with focal abnormal lymphatic lesions. Octreotide is not an optimal choice for patients with extensive lymphangiectasis. Sirolimus is an effective and safe drug and can be the first drug of choice for patients with extensive lymphangiectasis.

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia in an adult patient: A case report and review of literature

BACKGROUND

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL), first described in 1961, is a rare disorder of unknown etiology resulting in protein-losing enteropathy. The disease is characterized by dilatation and leakage of intestinal lymph vessels leading to hypoalbuminemia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and lymphopenia. Since the severity and location of lymph vessels being affected can vary considerably, the range of associated symptoms is wide from mild lower-limb edema to generalized edema, abdominal and/or pleural effusion, and recurrent diarrhea, among others. Although usually developing in early childhood, we present the case of a 34-year-old woman with PIL. Moreover, we performed a literature review systematically assessing clinical presentation, and provide a practical approach to facilitate diagnosis and therapy of PIL in adults.

CASE SUMMARY

Our patient presented with unspecific symptoms of abdominal discomfort, fatigue, nausea, and recurrent edema of the lower limbs. Interestingly, a striking collinearity of clinical symptoms with female hormone status was evident. Additionally, polyglobulia, hypoalbuminemia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and transient lymphocytopenia were evident. Due to suspicion of a bone marrow disease, an extensive diagnostic investigation was carried out excluding secondary causes of polyglobulinemia and hypoalbuminemia. The diagnosis of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia was established after 22 wk by histological analysis of biopsy samples obtained via enteroscopy. Consecutively, the patient was put on a high-protein and low-fat diet with medium-chain triglycerides supplementation leading to significant improvement of clinical symptoms until 2 years of follow-up.

CONCLUSION

PIL can be the reason for cryptogenic hypoalbuminemia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and lymphopenia in adulthood. Due to difficulty in correct diagnosis, treatment initiation is often delayed despite being effective and well-tolerated. This leads to a significant disease burden in affected patients. PIL is increasingly been recognized in adults since the majority of case reports were published within the last 10 years, pointing towards an underestimation of the true prevalence. The association with female hormone status warrants further investigation.

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia in children: A review

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia is an uncommon condition that usually presents early in childhood. This incurable condition is consequent to underlying lymphatic abnormalities that lead to loss of lymphatic contents into the intestinal lumen. This article outlines an approach to the assessment of children presenting with characteristic features and consideration of other conditions that could lead to enteric protein loss. An overview of the management of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia is outlined.

Case report of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia diagnosed in an octogenarian by ileal intubation and by push enteroscopy after missed diagnosis by standard colonoscopy and EGD

RATIONALE

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL) is a rare, presumably congenital lesion that is usually diagnosed in patients < 3 years old, is rarely first diagnosed in adulthood, and when first diagnosed in adulthood typically presents with symptoms for many years. Although PIL is often identified by endoscopic abnormalities, it must be emphasized that the jejunoileum/distal duodenum must be intubated for diagnosis because the lesions are present in these regions. This work demonstrates that 1)-PIL can occur in an octogenarian; 2)-shows that the characteristic endoscopic findings are not found at colonoscopy without terminal ileal intubation; and 3)-may be missed at standard EGD without distal duodenal intubation.

DIAGNOSES

A patient initially presented at age 83 with symptoms of watery diarrhea, abdominal distention, 5-Kg-weight-gain, and weakness for one month, and had typical clinical findings of PIL including chylous ascites, pleural effusions, bilateral pitting leg edema, hypoalbuminemia, borderline lymphopenia, hypovitaminosis-D, and hypocalcemia. Protein-losing-enteropathy was demonstrated by positive stool tests for alpha-1-antitrypsin. Standard colonoscopy revealed no significant lesions, but terminal ileal intubation during colonoscopy demonstrated creamy-white, punctate, mucosal lesions in terminal ileum, characteristic of lymphangiectasia. EGD with intubation to mid-descending duodenum revealed no significant lesions, but subsequent enteroscopy demonstrated lesions in distal duodenum/proximal jejunum similar to those in terminal ileum characteristic of lymphangiectasia. Histopathologic analysis of lesions of terminal ileum/distal duodenum demonstrated dilated mucosal vessels, confirmed as lymphatic vessels by immunohistochemistry. PIL was diagnosed after excluding secondary causes of intestinal lymphangiectasia.

INTERVENTIONS/OUTCOMES

Patient placed on standard PIL diet: oral supplements of medium-chain triglycerides, a high protein diet, supplements of fat-soluble vitamins, and avoiding long-chain fatty acids, with marked clinical improvement.

LESSONS

This work shows that: 1)-standard EGD and colonoscopy may miss characteristic lesions of PIL, 2)-enteroscopy or terminal ileal intubation at colonoscopy may be required for the diagnosis because lesions are typically located in distal duodenum/jejunoileum; and 3)-PIL can first present in the very elderly even with symptoms of short duration.

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia in an elderly female patient: A case report on a rare cause of secondary immunodeficiency

Protein loss via the gut can be caused by a number of gastrointestinal disorders, among which intestinal lymphangiectasia has been described to not only lead to a loss of proteins but also to a loss of lymphocytes, resembling secondary immunodeficiency. We are reporting on a 75-year-old female patient who came to our hospital because of a minor stroke. She had no history of serious infections. During the diagnostic work-up, we detected an apparent immunodeficiency syndrome associated with primary intestinal lymphangiectasia. Trying to characterize the alterations of the immune system, we not only found hypogammaglobulinemia and lymphopenia primarily affecting CD4+, and also CD8+ T cells, but also marked hypocomplementemia affecting levels of complement C4, C2, and C3. The loss of components of the immune system most likely was due to a chronic loss of immune cells and proteins via the intestinal lymphangiectasia, with levels of complement components following the pattern of protein electrophoresis. Thus, intestinal lymphangiectasia should not only be considered as a potential cause of secondary immune defects in an elderly patient, but can also be associated with additional hypocomplementemia.

Intestinal Lymphangiectasia: Insights on Management and Literature Review

Patient: Male, 24

Final Diagnosis: Intestinal lymphangiectasia

Symptoms: Frequent episodes of diarrhea • recurrent infections • swelling in the lower limbs

Medication: Octreotide • MCT oils

Clinical Procedure: Endoscopic exam • Doppler ultrasound study • abdominal CT scan

Specialty: Gastroenterology and Hepatology

How to treat an extensive form of primary intestinal lymphangiectasia?

We report a case of a 42-year-old man with a rare disorder known as primary intestinal lymphangiectasia, which is characterized by dilated intestinal lymphatics that lead to the development of protein-losing enteropathy. The patient presented with a grand mal seizure caused by malabsorption-derived electrolytes and a protein disorder. Signs of the disease, including chronic diarrhea and peripheral edema, manifested 10 years ago, but a diagnosis was never made. The diagnosis was suspected because of the clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, imaging and endoscopic findings. Hyperemic and edematous mucosa of the small intestine corresponded to scattered white spots with dilated intestinal lymphatics and whitish villi in the histological specimen of the biopsied jejunal mucosa. Although numerous therapeutic strategies are available, only octreotide therapy proved to be an effective means of therapeutic resolution in this patient. Although the patient had a partial remission following the use of a slow release formula of octreotide, his prognosis, clinical course, and future treatment challenges are yet to be determined.