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A rare parasitic infection: visceral leishmaniasis case after gastric cancer treatment

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Summary

We present a case of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in a patient with gastric cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy. A 69-year-old man with gastric carcinoma had been treated with total gastrectomy, lymphadenectomy and postoperative radiotherapy with chemotherapy. Then 3 years after treatment, due to pancytopenia with progressive trombocytopenia and splenomegaly, bone marrow examination was performed and Leishmania spp. amastigotes were diagnosed. When antibiotherapy was completed, splenomegaly was eliminated and the laboratory results became normal. VL should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of patients, even adults, with splenomegaly, trombocytopenia and a history of contact with dogs in endemic countries such as Turkey.

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Fig. 1a,b

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the patient for consenting to publication of his clinical data. We thank staff members at the hospital. And we thank to Dr. Semin Ayhan and Dr. Simal Coban from the Department of Pathology, for their contributions in reviewing the tissue blocks.

Funding

No external funding was used in preparing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey

    Alkim Yolcu

  2. Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey

    Ahmet Dirican &  Gamze Göksel Ozturk

  3. Department of Infection Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey

    Cigdem Banu Cetin

  4. Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey

    Ismet Aydogdu

Authors
  1. Alkim Yolcu
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  2. Ahmet Dirican
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  3. Gamze Göksel Ozturk
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  4. Cigdem Banu Cetin
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  5. Ismet Aydogdu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alkim Yolcu.

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Conflict of interest

A. Yolcu, A. Dirican, G.G. Ozturk, C.B. Cetin, and I. Aydogdu declare that they have no competing interests.

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Yolcu, A., Dirican, A., Ozturk, G.G. et al. A rare parasitic infection: visceral leishmaniasis case after gastric cancer treatment. memo 11, 345–347 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12254-018-0437-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12254-018-0437-6

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