From damage control surgery to complex abdominal wall reconstruction It is possible even in the elderly in a Spoke Center?

AIM: To describe our Spoke Center experience in Damage Control Surgery (DCS) in a non traumatic patient and the possibility of delayed abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR). Material of Study The case of a 73 years old Caucasian male treated with DCS for a septic shock due to a duodenal perforation and his clinical course till the abdominal wall reconstruction. RESULTS: We made DCS with abbreviated laparotomy, suture of the ulcer and duodenostomy with a foley placed in right hypochondrium. Patiens was discharged with a low-flow fistula and with TPN. After 18 months we made an open cholecystectomy and a complete abdominal wall reconstruction with Fasciotens Hernia System® adding a biological mesh. DISCUSSION AND COMMENTS: Periodic training in emergency settings and in complex abdominal wall procedures is the right way to manage critic clinical case. Like Niebuhr's abbreviated laparotomy experience also in our case this procedure allows primary closure of complex hernias and is potentially less prone to complications than component separation methods. Unlike Fung's experience we didn' t use negative pressure wound therapy system (NPWT) equally achieving good results. CONCLUSIONS: Elective repair of abdominal wall disaster is possible even in elderly patients who have been treated by abbreviated laparotomy and DCS surgery. In order to obtain good results is fundamental to have a trained staff. KEY WORDS: Damage Control Surgery (DCS), Giant incisional Hernia, Abdominal Wall Repair.

Emergency Surgery in a "No-Covid-19 Spoke Center" during the pandemic. One year of experience and a new organizational model.

AIM: We analysed our one-year surgical activity in a spoke 'COVID-19 free' centre during the pandemic in South Italy. MATERIAL OF STUDY: From Feb 2020 to Feb 2021 we performed 800 operations (40% in emergency and 60% of major surgery). We applied restrictive measures for the access of patients in our department from 15/2/2020 after several cases of unclear fever. Visitors were not allowed to stay in the ward. RESULTS: In the first period of lockdown, from March to June 2020, in our Region, biomolecular test was indicated only for symptomatic people. We organized the hospitalization with a sealed compartment system (that we defined "boing system") in which the patient stationed in an 'isolation room' for at least 48 hours upon the entry. From July 2020 molecular test were made to all patients before hospitalization. The boing system remains for emergency recovery. DISCUSSION: In the first phase of pandemia we chose to subject patients to serological examination based on the IgM assay to consider them negative. We organized the hospitalization with a sealed compartment system (that we defined "boing system") CONCLUSION: In the first phase of the pandemic the serological examination has shown high specificity in identifying positive patients for COVID 19. In that period we supposed that patients with negative serology could be considered non-contagious Neither patients or staff has been resulted positive to SarS CoV2 test. KEY WORDS: Covid 19, Emercency Surgery, Spoke Center, Pandemia, Serological Tests.

Botox for chronic anal fissure: is it useful? A clinical experience with mid-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Sphincterotomy has been the most commonly used treatment for chronic anal fissures. Although effective it is associated with incontinence (0-20%). Intrasphincteric Botulinum Toxin A injection seems to be a reliable option. The aim of this clinical report is to verify the effectiveness of this treatment in relieving symptoms and healing fissures without relapse. METHODS: The study design was an open label non-comparative prospective trial to evaluate the efficacy ofbotulinum toxin injection in anal sphincters. In the period 2003-2005 sixty patients were enrolled in our Unit of Coloproctology. After inoculation hygiene measures (sitz baths, Vaseline oil and water intake) were recommended. After the first 4 weeks without improvement we administered a second injection (30 U.I). After failure of the second administration the patient was addressed to surgery. Mean follow-up was 24 months; patients were re-evaluated at the 6th, 12th and 24th month. RESULTS: In 29 pts the fissure was healed (48.33%) after the first injection; 31 patients (51.6%) were re-treated; 20 pts presented a complete healing of the fissure in a period ranging between 4-5 weeks from the second injection and 11 patients were introduced to surgery. In 3 cases we observed haemorrhoidal thrombosis. Gas incontinence was reported in two patients and solved spontaneously. CONCLUSIONS: Our clinical experience suggests that botulinum toxin therapy can be considered effective and safe. It can be proposed to the patient as first line therapy before surgery.

Endoscopic resection of benign very low-risk gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Is it enough?

Great ongoing debate still exists over the definition, diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumour especially for small gastric submucosal tumours. Simple endoscopic biopsy is not sufficient to determine their biological behaviour and their complete excision is necessary. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman, who was kept under observation after previously operated breast cancer, with a casual computed tomography-diagnosed submucosal gastric lesion. Endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound confirmed a submucosal mass of 2-3 cm in diameter. An endoscopic resection was performed and the mass was integral at pathologic examination. It confirmed the stromal origin with a mitotic index of 1 (5/50 high power field). No more treatment was carried out because it was classified as a very low risk gastrointestinal stromal tumour according to Fletcher's classification. After 34 months follow-up, the patient is disease free and we believe that endoscopic treatment is sufficient and recommended for mainly intragastric growing gastrointestinal stromal tumour with a diameter of less than 3 cm.

Diagnosing and treating bleeding portal hypertensive duodenopathy.

Portal hypertensive duodenopathy is a rare condition related to liver cirrhosis; there is little in the literature about its clinical significance and management. It seems to be endoscopically and histologically similar to portal hypertensive gastropathy, which is well defined. We report the case of a patient, initially treated for acute bleeding resulting from the rupture of esophageal varices, who developed an atypical endoscopic picture of portal hypertensive duodenopathy over a 6-month period. After microscopic definition of the disease we found chronic bleeding which required blood transfusions. Medical treatment did not solve the problem. We describe an approach using the argon plasma coagulator.

Venting direct percutaneous jejunostomy (DPEJ) for drainage of malignant bowel obstruction in patients operated on for gastric cancer.

Malignant chronic bowel obstruction (MCBO) is a syndrome caused by abdomen-pelvic diffusion of neoplastic diseases of any origin. It generally occurs in an advanced disease, affecting 3-15% of patients recently operated, untreated, or submitted to radiotherapy. Patients complain of chronic pain and vomitus. The approach to this problem is multidisciplinary, involving the surgeon, the endoscopist, the oncologist, and the pain-therapy expert. Direct percutaneous jejunostomy (DPEJ) using a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube is a jejunal percutaneous access procedure indicated for nutrition in those patients whose stomach cannot be used, as in cases of partially or totally gastrectomized ones. A venting PEG or percutaneous endoscopic jejunostomy (PEJ) is a solution to drain the gastrointestinal tract for MCBO even in difficult cases represented by patients with previous abdominal surgery, those with partial or total gastrectomies, ascites, or peritoneal carcinosis. We report our five-case experience of draining an MCBO in patients previously operated on for gastric cancer, using a DPEJ technique that we believe is the best technique for this purpose.

Definitive palliation for neoplastic colonic obstruction using enteral stents: personal case-series with literature review.

Acute colonic obstruction due to malignancies is an emergency that requires surgical treatment. Elderly patients or inoperable tumors require intestinal decompression that is a simple colostomy in almost all cases. This "manoeuvre" leads the patient to a percentage of mortality/morbidity and to a bad quality of life due to acceptance of stoma. The introduction of enteral metal stent inserted endoscopically has, in our opinion, provided a new way to obtaining the definitive palliation of inoperable colo-rectal cancer with a simple method. We reported our case-series and we analyzed the current literature and costs of treatments.

Postsplenectomy immunodepression and its implications: an underestimated problem.

The most important sequelae of splenectomy is immunity depression. This study, conducted in three phases, was aimed at confirming this clinical condition. Data from our phase 1 study clearly show that patients undergoing splenectomy for trauma are in a critical condition because of a latent immunodeficiency shown by skin tests (ST) and in vitro evaluation of the aspecific immune activity. Because the in vitro study of the unspecific immunity that we used seems to be more expensive and complicated than ST, the aim of the phase 2 study was to compare the efficacy and the limits of the two assays (ST versus in vitro study) in detecting the immunodeficiency status of the splenectomized patient. The aim of the phase 3 study was to ascertain whether postsplenectomy immunodeficiency could be a consequence of an altered equilibrium between the lymphocyte subpopulations T helper (Th)1/Th2, evaluated by serum dosage of interferon-gamma and interleukin-4.