Analysis of malpractice claims: The Franco-Belgian "Cœlio Club" experience.

Malpractice claims are a regularly increasing concern in gastrointestinal surgery. The goal of this study was to compare the current status of claims in two different French-speaking communities by a retrospective descriptive study of surgeons' experiences, from the beginning of their practice up until December 31 2014. Data included the number, the reasons, and the results of medicolegal claims and their jurisdictions. Forty-three surgeons participated in this study. Two hundred medicolegal claims were analyzed. The mean number was 5.8 per surgeon. Bariatric surgery, colorectal surgery and parietal surgery were the most exposed. Forty-six (23%) faults were noted, while no fault was pronounced in 139 (69.5%) cases. The main reasons for lodging complaints were nosocomial infections, anastomotic leaks, poor postoperative care, hollow organ perforation, peripheral neurologic complication, and insufficient preoperative information. Forty-four percent of the complaints were analyzed by the conciliation and compensation commissions and 43.5% by the High Court. In the French-speaking group, there were 13 complaints, two of which gave rise to compensation. French surgeons are highly exposed to complaints: in French law, clumsiness or technical maladdress is considered as a fault. The patient should be informed preoperatively of all possible severe risks of a medical procedure. In Belgium, complications are exceptional and are considered random therapeutic events. Adhering to the recommendations emanating from the French High Authority of Health and Learned Societies as well as accreditation issued by the same High Authority should allow to decrease the number of undesirable events related to care and malpractice.

Risk factors of perioperative morbimortality after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: a club coelio multicenter study.

OBJECTIVES: Postoperative complications after Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) can dramatically compromise patient's outcome. The aim of this study is to analyze the per- and postoperative short-term outcomes after LSG and to assess predictive risk factors of complications. METHODS: The study group consisted of 790 patients (610 women and 180 men) who underwent LSG In 2014. All interventions were performed by 18 experienced surgeons members of the Club Coelio. Data about preoperative work-up, surgical techniques, 30-days postoperative morbidity and mortality were collected. Endpoints were perioperative morbidity and mortality and assessment of potential risk factors for complications. RESULTS: Mean age and body mass index were respectively 39 years and 41.5kg/m2. Ninety-one patients (11.5%) had previous bariatric surgery. Morbidity rate was 4.7% (37/790) including 16 leaks (2.0%) and 9 bleedings (1.1%) and no deaths. Risk factors for leak were: previous adjustable banding (p = .0051), with no difference between removal of the banding and LSG in 1 or 2 steps, and type of endostapler (p = .0129). CONCLUSIONS: Leakage after Sleeve was rare but still observed even in experienced hands. The leak rate is particularly high when LSG is performed after adjustable gastric banding removal.

Previous bariatric surgery increases postoperative morbidity after sleeve gastrectomy for morbid obesity.

OBJECTIVES: Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) has been used as the first step of a staged malabsorptive procedure for high-risk patients. More recently SG was proposed as an stand alone procedure in the treatment of morbidly obese patients. The aim of this study is to analyze perioperative outcome of morbid obese patients after SG. METHODS: 301 patients, 201 women and 100 men, undergoing SG were retrospectively analyzed. SG was performed by 17 surgeons all member of the Club Coelio. The mean BMI was 44.7kg/m2 (27.4-70.3 kg/m2). 34 patients (11.3%) of our series had SG as revisional surgery. These revisional procedures consisted of 32 conversions from gastric banding, 1 conversion from vertical gastroplasty (VBG) and 1 from transoral endoscopic gastroplasty. Among the 32 patients that had revisional SG after a gastric banding, 13 bands were removed at least 3 months before the revisional SG and 19 bands were removed during the SG procedure. Endpoints were perioperative morbidity and mortality and potential risk factors for complications, mainly per or postoperative bleeding or leakage. RESULTS: Overall mortality was 0% and morbidity was 10.3%. Perioperative bleeding occurred in 10 patients (3.3%), leakage in 12 patients (4%) patients and stenosis in 3 patients (1%). The risk of leakage was significantly higher after revisional bariatric surgery and in case of gastric perforation during surgery (p = 0.0001). Previous gastric banding is also associated with a higher risk of postoperative bleeding (p = 0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: SG can be safely performed but patients and surgeons must be aware of a higher risk of postoperative complications when SG is proposed as a revisional surgery.

Adenocarcinoma of the duodenum arising in a tubulo-villous adenoma.

Villous adenoma of the duodenum is rare and has a high prevalence of cancer. We report here an unusual case of a 73-year-old man who presented with a tumour on the second part of the duodenum with moderate dysplasia of a tubulo-villous adenoma at the biopsies. A segmental duodeno-jejunal resection was performed and the resection margins were negative. The final histological analysis was a moderately differentiated invasive duodenal adenocarcinoma (pT3Nx). Management of these tumours is discussed here.

Open mesh plug hernioplasty in ambulatory surgery: a study of feasibility based on our experience in 413 procedures.

This study assessed the feasibility, safety, and reliability of open mesh plug hernioplasty under local anesthesia on an ambulatory basis. We retrospectively evaluated results using the open mesh plug technique in a series of 398 patients with 413 inguinal hernias (378 primary, 35 recurrent). Local anesthesia with sedation was used in 91% of procedures, locoregional anesthesia in 8%, and general anesthesia in 1%. Median operative time was 45 min. Only 1% of patients operated on in ambulatory surgery required hospitalization. There were only mild complications, all of which were managed on an outpatient basis. Median time of return to work was 8 days. Recurrence rate was 0.83% at a minimal follow-up of 12 months. Open mesh plug hernioplasty is a reliable technique feasible in an outpatient basis.

Laparoscopic repair of perforated duodenal ulcer. A prospective multicenter clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: A series of 100 consecutive patients with perforated peptic ulcer were prospectively evaluated in a multicenter study. The feasibility of the laparoscopic repair was evaluated. METHODS: All patients had peritonitis, 20% were in septic shock, and 57% had delayed perforation. Conversion to laparotomy was necessary in eight patients. The morbidity rate was 9% and mortality rate 5%. RESULTS: The mean delay of postoperative gastric aspiration (mean 3.4 days) and resumed food intake (mean 4.4 days) as well as the mean postoperative hospital stay (mean 9.3 days) were comparable to conventional surgery, but postoperative comfort was subjectively increased by laparoscopy and noticed by all laparoscopic surgeons participating in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic repair of perforated peptic ulcer proves to be technically feasable and carries an acceptable morbidity and mortality rate, compared with conventional surgery.

Is laparoscopic splenectomy a justified approach in hematologic disorders? Preliminary results of a prospective multicenter study. Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery.

The feasibility and safety of laparoscopic splenectomy were evaluated in a prospective multicenter study of 50 patients operated on for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) (n = 31), hereditary spherocytosis (n = 6), hemolytic anemia (n = 4), Hodgkin's disease or lymphoma staging (n = 5), benign splenic tumors (n = 3), and wandering spleen (n = 1). Conversion to laparotomy was required in 10%. An accessory spleen was routinely searched for, although the lesser sac was opened during surgery in only 10%; the overall incidence was 14%. Hospital mortality was 2% and postoperative morbidity 22%. Postoperative hospital stay and home rehabilitation were improved when exclusively laparoscopic splenectomy was performed. In ITP patients, at a mean follow-up of 8.2 months, 8 patients (27%) had recurrence of thrombocytopenia, which was transient in 7% and permanent in 20%. Laparoscopic splenectomy is feasible and safe when performed in selected patients by expert laparoscopic surgeons. Adequate selection of patients and routine, careful search for accessory spleen are critical. The recurrence rate (20%) for ITP was high at 8.2 months, and this factor is the major limitation of laparoscopic splenectomy at present.

Retroperitoneal laparostomy: a surgical treatment of pancreatic abscesses after an acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

BACKGROUND: From 1982 to 1988, 20 patients with pancreatic abscesses after an acute necrotizing pancreatitis underwent a retroperitoneal laparostomy (RPL). METHODS: The severity of the disease was assessed by Ranson's bioclinical and Hill's computed tomographic scoring systems. The RPL, guided by the results of repeated computed tomographic scans (high frequency of peripancreatic necrotic extension through the anterior pararenal space) consists of a left or right lateral incision under the twelfth rib, allowing direct access to the pancreas and peripancreatic spaces. RESULTS: Four patients (20%) had local complications: colonic fistula (one patient), gastric and colonic fistula (one patient), jejunal fistula (one patient), and local hemorrhage (one patient). Only one complication was lethal (gastric and colonic fistula). Four patients died (mortality rate 20%). In two of the cases death was related directly to a persistent sepsis after the RPL, whereas the two other patients died despite a complete surgical drainage. CONCLUSIONS: RPL (left or right, sometimes bilateral) allows a total exploration of the pancreas and peripancreatic spaces in most cases, as well as a complete manual removal of the necrotic infected masses. Furthermore, several second-look removals of newly formed necrotic masses can be performed without the risk of peritoneal contamination and with a low rate of digestive fistula.

[Trans-laparoscopy surgery, a passing fashion or progress?]. / La chirurgie per-laparoscopique: mode passagère ou progrès?

Since the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed in 1987 by Philippe Mouret in Lyon (France), there has been a real revolution in the field of visceral surgery: more and more operations are performed by this mini-invasive surgical method: lithiasis of the common bile duct, Nissen and Heller procedure, truncal vagotomies, abdominal and thoracic, supra-selective vagotomies, hernia, appendectomy, band sections during intestinal occlusion, resection of the colon and rectum, oesophagectomies ... In Belgium, more than 3,000 cholecystectomies have been listed in a national registry in which the modalities and complications of this laparoscopic approach have been scrutinized. During the years to come, there will be an important technological development which will make this procedure easier, safer and quicker. Consequences of this new approach cannot completely be foreseen but there are some drawbacks: possible simplification of well established surgical techniques in order to facilitate the laparoscopic approach, causing a deterioration of the long term results, teaching and training difficulties for young and older surgeons, very costly equipment.

[Stomach cancer: surgical experience in the clinics of the Louvain University (UCL) 1969-1986]. / Cancer de l'estomac: expérience chirurgicale aux cliniques de l'Université de Louvain (UCL) de 1969 à 1986.

Gastric carcinoma: surgical experience at the University of Louvain Clinics from 1969 to 1986. From january 1969 to june 1986, 201 gastrectomies were performed for gastric adenocarcinoma (curative resection in 81%, palliative resection in 19% of the patients). Hospital postoperative mortality was 6.9%. Five and ten year actuarial survival rates were, +/- 4% and 34 +/- 7%, respectively. In this series, there was a rather high percentage of early gastric carcinoma (23% of the patients), with, as expected, a high actuarial 5 year survival rate: 90 +/- 6%.