Eosinophilic Liver Abscess in Patients with Gastric Carcinoma

Hong, Soon Won; Kim, Ho Guen; Park, Chan Il; Lee, Sang In

Abstract

Sixteen cases of heavy eosinophil infiltration or eosinophilic abscess of the liver in patients with gastric carcinoma were analyzed to draw attention to this interesting combination and to persue the pathogenetic mechanism. Peripheral blood eosinophilia and hepatic granuloma were found in only 5 and 4 cases, respectively. Neither the patients' stool nor the hepatic tissues disclosed any parasitic worms or eggs, although the skin tests for Clonorchis sinensis and Paragonimus westermani were positive in 2 cases. Among stomach carcinomas, early gastric cancer tended to have more eosinophils than advanced carcinoma, but was less frequently associated with the infiltration of mast cells. In the regional lymph nodes, there was no infiltration of eosinophils even in the presence of tumor metastasis. In the liver, none of the 16 cases had metastatic gastric carcinoma and mast cells were found in only 2 cases. The results suggest that heavy hepatic infiltration of eosinophils in gastric carcinoma patients is not of the parasitic or allergic cause, but of certain eosinophil chemotactic factor which may gain access to accumulate in the liver following released from the gastric carcinoma and transfered through the portal vein.