Becoming a Palliative Care Physician During Surgical Residency.

This Viewpoint describes the option of integrating hospice and palliative medicine training into surgical training.

Sevelamer crystals-an unusual cause of large bowel obstruction.

Sevelamer is a common phosphate binder used to manage hyperphosphatemia in end-stage renal disease. The medication has a well-documented gastrointestinal side-effect profile including nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. There are few case reports of Sevelamer crystal deposition causing gastrointestinal mucosal injury, pseudotumor or obstruction. Here, we discuss a patient on Sevelamer who required operative management of a sigmoid obstruction. Surgical pathology showed pericolonic abscess with Sevelamer crystals.