Role of laparoscopy in hepatobiliary malignancies.

The many benefits of laparoscopy, including smaller incision, reduced length of hospital stay and more rapid return to normal function, have seen its popularity grow in recent years. With concurrent improvements in non-surgical cancer management the importance of accurate staging is becoming increasingly important. There are two main applications of laparoscopic surgery in managing hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB) malignancy: accurate staging of disease and resection. We aim to summarize the use of laparoscopy in these contexts. The role of staging laparoscopy has become routine in certain cancers, in particular T[2] staged, locally advanced gastric cancer, hilar cholangiocarcinoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. For other cancers, in particular colorectal, laparoscopy has now become the gold standard management for resection such that there is no role for stand-alone staging laparoscopy. In HPB cancers, although staging laparoscopy may play a role, with ever improving radiology, its role remains controversial.

Differentiating Ductal Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas from Benign Conditions Using Routine Health Records: A Prospective Case-Control Study.

The study aimed to develop a prediction model for differentiating suspected PDAC from benign conditions. We used a prospective cohort of patients with pancreatic disease (n = 762) enrolled at the Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank (2008-2021) and performed a case-control study examining the association of PDAC (n = 340) with predictor variables including demographics, comorbidities, lifestyle factors, presenting symptoms and commonly performed blood tests. Age (over 55), weight loss in hypertensive patients, recent symptoms of jaundice, high serum bilirubin, low serum creatinine, high serum alkaline phosphatase, low red blood cell count and low serum sodium were identified as the most important features. These predictors were then used for training several machine-learning-based risk-prediction models on 75% of the cohort. Models were assessed on the remaining 25%. A logistic regression-based model had the best overall performance in the validation cohort (area-under-the-curve = 0.90; Spiegelhalter's z = -1·82, p = 0.07). Setting a probability threshold of 0.15 guided by the maximum F2-score of 0.855, 96.8% sensitivity was reached in the full cohort, which could lead to earlier detection of 84.7% of the PDAC patients. The prediction model has the potential to be applied in primary, secondary and emergency care settings for the early distinction of suspected PDAC patients and expedited referral to specialist hepato-pancreatico-biliary services.

Intussuscepting Ampullary Adenoma: An Unusual Cause of Gastric Outlet Obstruction Leading to Cavitating Lung Lesions.

Ampullary adenomas are a rare clinical entity, occurring at a rate of 0.04-0.12% in the general population. They are premalignant lesions which have the capability to progress to malignancy, and they should be excised if they are causing immediate symptoms and/or are likely to degenerate to carcinoma. Intestinal intussusception in adults is rare and, unlike in children, is often due to a structural pathology. Intussuscepting duodenal/ampullary adenomas have been reported in the literature on 13 previous occasions, however never before with this presentation. We report the case of a woman who presented with a 1-year history of recurrent chest infections. She was treated with numerous antibiotics, whilst intermittent symptoms of recurrent vomiting and weight loss were initially attributed to her lung infections. A chest CT demonstrated multiple cavitating lung lesions, whilst an obstructing polypoid mass was noted at D2 on dedicated abdominal imaging. Due to ongoing nutritional problems, she had a semi-urgent pancreaticoduodenectomy. Intraoperative findings demonstrated a large mass at D2 with a duodeno-duodenal intussusception. Histological analysis reported a duodenal, ampullary, low-grade tubular adenoma, 75 × 28 × 30 mm in size, with intussusception and complete resection margins. The patient recovered well and was discharged on postoperative day 10, with no complications to date. Ampullary adenomas may present with obstruction of the main gastrointestinal tract and/or biliary/pancreatic ducts. Common presentations include gastric outlet obstruction, gastrointestinal bleeding or acute pancreatitis. This unique presentation should remind clinicians of the need to investigate recurrent chest infections for a possible gastrointestinal cause.

Recurrent intestinal volvulus in midgut malrotation causing acute bowel obstruction: A case report.

Intestinal malrotation occurs when there is a disruption in the normal embryological development of the bowel. The majority of patients present with clinical features in childhood, though rarely a first presentation can take place in adulthood. Recurrent bowel obstruction in patients with previous abdominal operation for midgut malrotation is mostly due to adhesions but very few reported cases have been due to recurrent volvulus. We present the case of a 22-year-old gentleman who had laparotomy in childhood for small bowel volvulus and then presented with acute bowel obstruction. Preoperative computerised tomography scan showed small bowel obstruction and features in keeping with midgut malrotation. Emergency laparotomy findings confirmed midgut malrotation with absent appendix, abnormal location of caecum, ascending colon and small bowel. In addition, there were small bowel volvulus and a segment of terminal ileal stricture. Limited right hemicolectomy was performed with excellent postoperative recovery. This case is presented to illustrate a rare occurrence and raise an awareness of the possibility of dreadful recurrent volvulus even several years following an initial Ladd's procedure for midgut malrotation. Therefore, one will need to exercise a high index of suspicion and this becomes very crucial in order to ensure prompt surgical intervention and thereby preventing an attendant bowel ischaemia with its associated high fatality.