Variations in clinical course and surgical outcomes of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 Pandemic: a multicenter cohort study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in the presentation and treatment of surgical pathologies. Therefore, we aim to describe the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical presentation and management of acute appendicitis (AAp) and its surgical outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: A multicenter cohort study with prospectively collected databases. Three high-volume centers were included and all patients over 18 years of age who underwent appendectomy for AAp were included. Multiple logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were performed, and odds ratio, relative risk, and B-coefficient were reported when appropriate, statistical significance was reached with p-values < 0.05. RESULTS: 1.468 patients were included (709 in the pre-pandemic group and 759 in the COVID-19 group). Female patients constituted 51.84%. Mean age was 38.13 ± 16.96 years. Mean Alvarado's score was 7.01 ± 1.59 points. Open surgical approach was preferred in 90.12%. Conversion rate of 1.29%. Mortality rate was 0.75%. There was an increase of perforated and localized peritonitis (p 0.01) in the COVID-19 group. Presence of any postoperative complication (p 0.00), requirement of right colectomy and ileostomy (p 0.00), and mortality (p 0.04) were higher in the COVID-19 group. Patients in the pre-pandemic group have a lesser risk of mortality (OR 0.14, p 0.02, 95% CI 0.02-0.81) and a lesser relative risk of having complicated appendicitis (RR 0.68, p 0.00, 95% CI 0.54-0.86). CONCLUSION: Complicated appendicitis was an unexpected consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to surgical consultation delay, increased rates of morbidity, associated procedures, and mortality, influencing the clinical course and surgical outcomes of patients with AAp.

Cholecystogastric fistula in Bouveret syndrome: Case report and literature review.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Cholelithiasis is the benign bile pathology with major prevalence. A rare condition has been described, when a stone migrates through the duodenum causing small bowel obstruction (SBO), it's known as Bouveret syndrome, and it's attributed to almost 5% of SBO. Just 2% of the cases present with the migration of the stone through a fistula between gastric chamber and gallbladder, with limited reports in the literature. CLINICAL FINDINGS: We present a case of an 87-year-old male with Bouveret syndrome and a cholecystogastric fistula with a stone in the gastric chamber who underwent laparoscopic gastrotomy to resolve the clinical case. CONCLUSION: Bouveret syndrome remains to be a rare condition in benign bile pathology. Individualized treatment should be performed and multidisciplinary approach leads to improved outcomes for the patient.