Using saline bags instead of commercial retrieval bags to reduce the cost of splenic retrieval after laparoscopic splenectomy.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) is considered the gold standard treatment in adults with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) refractory to medical therapy. However, the retrieval of the spleen in LS is still a technical challenge, despite the use of various commercial retrieval bags. This study reports the feasibility and reliability of using a saline bag for spleen retrieval in a reduced port splenectomy. METHODS: Between 2007 and 2020, 55 consecutive patients underwent LS for ITP. Data were collected retrospectively. To retrieve the spleen, a 1 liter sterile saline bag was used. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients underwent LS. There was only one complication related to the saline bag: an iatrogenic ileal injury during the morselization process. CONCLUSION: One-liter saline bag is feasible, and widely available. No additional instruments or cost is required and there is no need to extend the wound for spleen retrieval during LS. KEY WORDS: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Laparoscopic surgery, Splenectomy, Techniques.

Effectiveness of pre-operative routine blood tests in predicting complicated acute appendicitis.

BACKGROUND: Early prediction and diagnosis of perforation in acute appendicitis allow surgeons to choose the most appropriate treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether pre-operative routine laboratory examinations have a role in predicting complicated acute appendicitis. METHODS: In the study, 783 patients operated with the diagnosis of acute appendicitis between the years 2014 and 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Among the patients with non-perforated and perforated acute appendicitis, pre-operative laboratory tests include leukocyte (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), C-reactive protein (CRP), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte rate (NLR) parameters were compared. RESULTS: Appendicitis was not detected histopathologically in 81 cases. In the study, 89.9% (n=631) of the 702 patients were non-perforated and 10.1% (n=71) were perforated acute appendicitis cases. Perforation rate was higher in elderly patients (p<0.01). It was seen that lymphocyte count was significantly lower in the perforated group, and CRP and NLR were significantly higher (p=0.048, p=0.001, p=0.028, respectively). In the diagnosis of perforated acute appendicitis, cutoff values were 44.0 mg/dL for CRP, 7.65 for NLR and 1.7/mm3 for lymphocytes. There was no statistical difference between the groups in terms of WBC, neutrophil, PLT, MPV, and PDW values. CONCLUSION: Low lymphocyte count, high CRP, and high NLR were found to be reliable and strong predictive parameters in the diagnosis of complicated acute appendicitis.

Investigating the correlation between severe acute pancreatitis and pancreatic necrosis with some serum parameters.

BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a disease related to significant morbidity and even mortality. Various factors are involved in the etiology, especially gallstones and excessive alcohol consumption. Although, the course of the disease in most of the cases is generally mild, in some cases, the disease can be severe and lead to pancreatic or peripancreatic necrosis. Radiologically, 'Balthazar computed tomography severity index' (CTSI) is used to assess the severity and presence of necrosis in pancreatitis. In this study, we classified the severity of AP in patients with Balthazar CTSI and investigated whether there is a correlation between some serum parameters and AP severity and which serum parameters can be used as a safe marker to predict the AP severity and the development of pancreatic necrosis (PN). METHODS: A total of 341 patients diagnosed with AP and hospitalized in our general surgery clinic between the years 2012 and 2018 were included in this study. Hematological and biochemical parameters of the patients were recorded. Abdominal CT's of the patients were evaluated according to the Balthazar CTSI. The correlation between these parameters and AP severity evaluated by Balthazar CTSI was investigated. RESULTS: PN was detected in 19.4% of 341 patients who participated in the study. Patients whose PN detected in their abdominal CT's by Balthazar CTSI; neutrophil counts, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), thrombocyte/lymphocyte ratio, plateletlymphocyte ratio, and neutrophil/monocyte ratio (NMR) were significantly higher and the serum albumin was significantly lower than patients with PN. CONCLUSION: Neutrophil count, serum albumin levels, NLR, LR, and NMR can be used as predictive markers to determine AP severity.

An investigation into the predictive role of serum inflammatory parameters in the diagnosis of complicated acute cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND: Gallbladder gangrene and perforation are an important complication of acute calculous cholecystitis and are dif-ficult to detect preoperatively. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate whether serum inflammatory parameters are predictive factors for complicated cholecystitis (CC). METHODS: In the present study, histopathological findings of 250 patients who were operated on with the diagnosis of acute chole-cystitis (AC) in the emergency department between 2014 and 2019 were evaluated and the cases were divided into two groups as AC and CC. Parameters, including age, gender, body mass index, white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-to-lym-phocyte ratio (NLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and platelet distribution width (PDW), were examined for their ability to predict CC. RESULTS: The findings obtained in this study showed that WBC, CRP, and NLR were significantly higher in the CC group (p<0.05). WBC >9.000 cells/ml, CRP >29.0, and NLR >4.3 were the factors that could predict CC. There was no significant difference between the two groups concerning MPV and PDW (p>0.05). CC was observed more frequently in patients over 65 years of age, but there was not a statistically significant difference (p=0468). CONCLUSION: WBC, CRP, and NLR are valuable biochemical markers in predicting complicated AC. Advanced age may be a help-ful predictive factor for CC. These factors may be helpful in making an early cholecystectomy decision.

Systemic Inflammatory Biomarkers as Surrogate Markers for Stage in Colon Cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate whether the systemic inflammatory parameters currently in use in staging the disease can be used as biomarker tests operated colon cancer patients. Neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, platelet, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil/monocyte ratio (NMR), CRP, albumin, lymphocyte/CRP ratio, CRP/albumin ratio, and neutrophil/albumin ratio as systemic inflammatory biomarkers and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) were evaluated. METHODS: This retrospective study included 592 patients. Patients with colon cancer in the cohort were divided into 2 subgroups: Tumor, nodes, metastases (TNM) stage 0, TNM stage 1, and TNM stage 2; early stage (n: 332) and TNM stage 3 and TNM stage 4; late stage (n: 260) colon cancer patients. RESULTS: LDH (P < .001), NLR (P < .001), PLR (P < .05), CRP/albumin (P < .01), and neutrophil/albumin (P < .01) were significantly higher, while monocyte count (P < .05) and PNI (P < .01) were found to be significantly lower in late stage colon cancer patients than in early stage colon cancer patients. Moderate negative correlation was found between the PNI and the neutrophil/albumin ratio in late stage colon cancer patients (r: -.568, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that high serum LDH, NLR, PLR, CRP/albumin, and neutrophil/albumin may be useful predictive markers for advanced stage in colon cancer. According to the receiver operating characteristic analysis results, CRP/albumin ratio can be used to discriminate early from late stage. Preoperative low monocyte count and PNI are associated with postoperative staging patients with colon cancer.

Leiomyomatosis-like lymphangioleiomyomatosis: A case report of the colonic manifestation of tuberous sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION: Tuberous sclerosis complex is an inherited multisystemic disorder with manifestations in various organ systems as a result of a mutation of 1 of 2 tumor suppressor genes, tuberous sclerosis complex-1 or tuberous sclerosis complex-2. Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors have been shown to be associated with these gene mutations and include a variety of tumors such as angiomyolipomas and lymphangioleiomyomatosis. PATIENT CONCERNS: In this report, we present a case of a 28-year-old woman presenting with symptoms of severe abdominal pain and nausea with a medical history of cardiac rhabdomyoma, adenoma sebaceum, Ash leaf spots, bilateral renal angiomyolipomas, and retinal hamartoma, which are manifestations of tuberous sclerosis complex. The patient was operated twice for colonic perforations in the rectosigmoid and ileocecal regions where the pathologic examination revealed multiple tumoral lesions in both specimens. DIAGNOSIS: The tumor consisted of a myomatous component where the nodules were composed of spindle cells with fascicular array, and a lymphangiomatous component where epithelioid cells could be observed. Immunohistochemically, smooth muscle markers (desmin and SMA) were positive and the epithelioid component showed HMB-45 positivity. A diagnosis of leiomyomatosis-like lymphangioleiomyomatosis was established due to its morphological and immunohistochemical features, the presence of the tumor in multiple foci, and widespread lymphovascular invasion. INTERVENTIONS: The patient had a perforation in her bowel twice during the hospital stay and underwent Hartmann operation and ileocecal resection in 2 different surgical operations. OUTCOMES: After the second operation the patient developed fever and was diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. No other complication was observed during her stay and the patient's follow-up was unremarkable. CONCLUSION: Perivascular epithelioid cell tumors are associated with tuberous sclerosis and can rarely appear in the colon. Therefore, lymphangioleiomyomatosis should be in the differential diagnosis in a tuberous sclerosis patient presenting with a colonic tumor.

Enterobius vermicularis Infestation Mimicking Rectal Malignancy

Enterobius vermicularis is a common intestinal nematode of humans that can be considered relatively harmless. A polypoid lesion mimicking malignancy was detected in the rectum of a 66-year-old female patient who had been operated for sigmoid colon adenocarcinoma in the past. Histopathological examination of the lesion revealed no malignancy but there was adult E. vermicularis nematodes and eggs. In this case report, we aimed to present an enterobiasis infestation that produces non-necrotizing granuloma tissue in the rectum.

The impacts of super obesity versus morbid obesity on respiratory mechanics and simple hemodynamic parameters during bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to determine the impact of the degree of obesity on respiratory mechanics and simple hemodynamic parameters at laparoscopic bariatric surgery. METHODS: The patients were divided into two groups, each of which included 24 patients (a morbidly obese group and a super obese group) undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery. Dynamic respiratory compliance, respiratory resistance, and peak inspiratory pressures were measured at four time points: 10 min after anesthesia induction (T1: induction), 10 min after pneumoperitoneum (T2: pneumoperitoneum), 10 min after terminating pneumoperitoneum (T3: end-pneumoperitoneum), and before extubation (T4: extubation). The systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures and the heart rate values were measured noninvasively in T0 (10 min before operation). RESULTS: Obesity was found to cause a statistically significant increase in respiratory resistance and a peak inspiratory pressure and a decrease in dynamic respiratory compliance. In the morbidly obese group, the lowest dynamic respiratory compliance was 37 ± 12 mL/cm H(2)O, but it was 33 ± 13 mL/cm H(2)O in the super obese group. The systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, and mean arterial pressure were found to decrease significantly in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Morbid obesity and super obesity have negative effects on hemodynamics and respiratory mechanics.