Clinical relevance and effect of surgical wound classification in appendicitis: Retrospective evaluation of wound classification discrepancies between surgeons, Swissnoso-trained infection control nurse, and histology as well as surgical site infection rates by wound class.

BACKGROUND: Surgical wound classification (SWC) is used for risk stratification of surgical site infection (SSI) and serves as the basis for measuring quality of care. The objective was to examine the accuracy and reliability of SWC. This study was purposed to evaluate the discrepancies in SWC as assessed by three groups: surgeons, an infection control nurse, and histopathologic evaluation. The secondary aim was to compare the risk-stratified SSI rates using the different SWC methods for 30 d postoperatively. METHODS: An analysis was performed of the appendectomies from January 2013 to June 2014 in the Cantonal Hospital of Schaffhausen. SWC was assigned by the operating surgeon at the end of the procedure and retrospectively reviewed by a Swissnoso-trained infection control nurse after reading the operative and pathology report. The level of agreement among the three different SWC assessment groups was determined using kappa statistic. SSI rates were analyzed using a chi-square test. RESULTS: In 246 evaluated cases, the kappa scores for interrater reliability among the SWC assessments across the three groups ranged from 0.05 to 0.2 signifying slight agreement between the groups. SSIs were more frequently associated with trained infection control nurse-assigned SWC than with surgeons based SWC. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated a considerable discordance in the SWC assessments performed by the three groups. Unfortunately, the currently practiced SWC system suffers from ambiguity in definition and/or implementation of these definitions is not clearly stated. This lack of reliability is problematic and may lead to inappropriate comparisons within and between hospitals and surgeons.

Acute Abdomen: A Rare Case of Ruptured Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Spontaneous ruptures of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are rare. Nevertheless they may lead to difficult decisions in the emergency situation. The acute therapies include conservative treatment, transarterial embolization and surgery. Curative treatment of HCC can be achieved by liver resection solely. The decision-making depends on prognostic patient's factors, such as hepatic viral infection status, Child-Pugh grade, liver cirrhosis and number of tumors. In this case transarterial embolization was preferable as a bridging therapy prior to further diagnostics and therapy, to lower the perioperative morbidity and mortality. The therapy of these cases needs an interdisciplinary approach to choose the best possible procedure in each case.

Acute Cytomegalovirus Hepatitis in an Immunocompetent Host as a Reason for Upper Right Abdominal Pain.

Cytomegalovirus infections are widely distributed with a seroprevalence of up to 100%. The majority of the cases take a silent course or deal with unspecific clinical symptoms. Complications in immunocompetent patients are rare but may affect the liver and lead up to an acute organ failure. In this case report, we describe a 35-year-old immunocompetent female with an acute cytomegalovirus infection presenting as acute hepatitis with ongoing upper right abdominal pain after cholecystectomy. Upper right abdominal pain is a common symptom with a wide range of differential diagnoses. If common reasons can be excluded, we want to sensitize for cytomegalovirus infection as a minor differential diagnosis even in immunocompetent patients.

The diagnostic challenges of autoimmune pancreatitis.

Autoimmune pancreatitis is a rare but important differential diagnosis from pancreatic cancer. This autoimmune disease can mimic pancreatic cancer by its clinical symptoms, including weight loss and jaundice. Furthermore imaging findings may include a mass of the pancreas. Here we present the case of a 67-year-old male patient diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis but showing the well-known symptoms of pancreatic cancer. This emphasizes the difficulties of histological findings and the importance of the correct diagnostic process.

Safety and morbidity after ultra-low coloanal anastomoses: J-pouch vs end-to-end reconstruction.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Anastomotic failure after ultra-low anterior rectum resection is the most important complication, and it is influenced by the type of reconstruction. The aim of this study was to compare retrospectively the straight coloanal anastomosis with the J-pouch reconstruction concerning the development of anastomotic leakage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-six of 381 consecutive patients underwent low anterior rectum resection with total mesorectal excision and ultra-low coloanal anastomosis at 3-4 cm from the anocutan line. A 5-cm J-pouch (side-to-end) was performed in 25, a straight coloanal anastomosis in 25, and a coloplasty in 6 patients, respectively. RESULTS/FINDINGS: No influence by age, body mass index, and operating time on anastomotic leakage rate was found. Leakage was found in eight patients with straight coloanal anastomosis, resulting in a leakage rate of 32% compared to one patient in the J-pouch group (P = 0.023). INTERPRETATION/CONCLUSION: Patient's safety is higher after J-pouch reconstruction because of the lower anastomotic failure rate, and functional results had been reported as similar after J-pouch reconstruction and straight coloanal anastomosis. Therefore, we clearly argue for a J-pouch reconstruction as the standard method after ultra-low coloanal anastomosis.

Retroperitoneal perforation of the colon caused by colonic tuberculosis: report of a case.

We present a 25-year-old, HIV-negative patient from Kosovo, with no significant past medical history, who was admitted to a local hospital for nonspecific upper abdominal discomfort. He was transferred to us after a retroperitoneal mass with contact to the right colonic flexure had been found during workup. Colonoscopy demonstrated an edemateous area with a central fistula in the right flexure, and histology showed caseous necrosis. Although neither bacteriology nor histology could detect any germs, gastrointestinal tuberculosis seemed to be very probable. Laparotomy with a segmental resection of the colon was performed to remove the fistula-bearing segment, and histologic examination of the resected specimen confirmed the intraoperative suspect of a retroperitoneal colonic perforation. Again, all cultures from the specimen were negative for tuberculosis, but polymerase chain reaction of a regional lymph node revealed acid-fast bacilli of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis/bovis species. Although the patient had no other sites of tuberculosis infection like pulmonary or urinary, he received adjuvant standard tuberculosis treatment for six months. At control examination one year after the operation, the patient was free of recurrence and in very good general condition. We report this extremely rare presentation of gastrointestinal tuberculosis to sensitize physicians to tuberculosis again, because incidence rates are increasing and this disease will certainly play a more important role in the future.