Association between perineural infiltrations and delayed gastric emptying after Whipple procedure for periampullary tumours, and the relationship with other clinicopathological factors and overall survival.

Introduction: Pancreaticoduodenectomy is a major procedure. Delayed gastric emptying (DGE) is a frequent postoperative complication that is attributed to several factors. Aim: To investigate the probable association between perineural infiltrations and DGE, and the effects on overall survival. Material and methods: A total of 123 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were enrolled in the study. Factors like the presence of perineural infiltrations and post-operative DGE along with age, gender, presence of postoperative fistula, and grade of fistula and postoperative haemorrhage were analysed, and survival analyses were conducted. Results: The presence of perineural infiltrations is statistically associated with DGE occurrence (p = 0.01). Moreover, the occurrence of DGE is statistically associated with male gender (p = 0.001), worse grade of postoperative fistula (p < 0.01), and the presence of postoperative haemorrhage (p = 0.03). There was no statistical association between the presence of perineural infiltrations and the other factors. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses showed that increased overall survival is associated with low age (p = 0.018 and p = 0.028, respectively), absence of perineural infiltrations (p = 0.005 and p = 0.003, respectively), better grade of postoperative fistula (p < 0.001), and absence of postoperative haemorrhage (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that independent prognostic factors for survival prognosis are perineural infiltrations, age, the presence of postoperative pancreatic fistula, and the presence of postoperative haemorrhage. Conclusions: This is the first study that proves a statistically significant association between the presence of perineural infiltrations and the occurrence of DGE. Moreover, perineural infiltrations are an important independent prognostic factor for overall survival, along with other clinical factors.

Embedment of the gastroduodenal artery stump into the jejunal serosa: A new technique aiming to prevent post-pancreatectomy hemorrhage.

Post-pancreaticoduodenectomy hemorrhage has an estimated incidence of 5% and a mortality rate of 11-38%. Vascular erosion resulting from pancreatic leak and skeletonization of the arterial wall during pancreatic mobilization may be the two possible mechanisms responsible for this complication, which most commonly affects the gastroduodenal artery stump. A novel technique of wrapping up the gastroduodenal artery stump into the jejunal serosa to decrease postoperative hemorrhage is presented.

A Rare Case of Iatrogenic Diaphragm Defect following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Presented as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered as the gold standard in the treatment of gallbladder disease. Laparoscopy presents significant advantages including decreased hospital stay, better aesthetic results, faster rehabilitation, less pain, reduced cost, and increased patient satisfaction. The complications' prevalence is low; however, the overall serious complication rate seems to be higher compared to open cholecystectomy, despite the increasing experience. Diaphragmatic injury following laparoscopic cholecystectomy is an extremely rare complication, and a high index of clinical suspicion is necessary to diagnose this situation that has a variety of clinical presentations and might be life-threatening. We present a unique case of postlaparoscopic cholecystectomy diaphragm defect with late onset. The clinical findings included those of respiratory distress syndrome along with small bowel incarceration and peritonitis.

Unusual case of massive hemorrhage of a gastric duplication cyst in a very advanced age.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to report an unusual case of gastric duplication in an 82-year-old female patient. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patient was treated immediately by Billroth I partial gastrectomy due to massive hematemesis. The surgical specimen was histopathologically examined. RESULTS: The histopathologic report confirmed the operative diagnosis of a gastric duplication cyst. Gastric duplication cysts are rare congenital abnormalities occurring mainly in the pediatric population and rarely in adults. They account for 2% to 7% of all gastrointestinal duplications, having a male to female ratio of 2:1 (Agha et al., AJR Am J Roentgenol 137:406-407, 1981; Macpherson, Radiographics 13:1063-1080, 1993). CONCLUSIONS: Gastric duplication cysts present with a variety of symptoms and complications including hematemesis. The massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in our octogenarian patient indicates that there is no age limit in clinical manifestations of this rather common in the pediatric population, congenital malformation of the stomach.