Clinicopathological study of gall bladder carcinoma with special reference to gallstones: our 8-year experience from eastern India.

Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is the commonest cancer of the biliary tree and the most frequent cause of death from biliary malignancies. The incidence of GBC shows prominent geographic, age, race, and gender-related differences and is 4-7 times higher in patients with gallstones. This prompted us to study the clinicopathological aspects of the disease and the incidence of gallstones in gallbladder carcinoma patients, in this part of India. In this, combined retrospective (Jan 2004-March 2010) and prospective study (April 2010-Dec 2011) of eight years, 198 patients of gallbladder carcinoma (50 males and 148 females), (range 28-82 years; mean 55 years) were studied. Most of the patients were poor and presented with abdominal pain and mass, with abnormal lab parameters. Gallstones were present in 86% of patients. Surgical exploration was performed in 130, with gallbladder resection in 60 (including 7 incidental GBC). Adenocarcinoma (87.7%) was the commonest histological type. The study indicates that GBC is common in our scenario. It is a disease of elderly females, has a strong association with gallstones and every cholecystectomy specimen should be examined histopathologically.

Diagnosis and management of atypical mycobacterial infection after laparoscopic surgery.

Atypical mycobacterial infections at the laparoscopic port site are a frequent problem encountered in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. In this study we concentrate on the clinical diagnosis, management and prevention of this problem. In this series we assess 19 patients presenting with port hole infections after laparoscopic surgery and were treated with a combination of oral clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin. Seven patients who had persistent nodules were given injections of amikacin directly into the infection foci along with standard oral therapy. Most of the patients treated with standard oral therapy for 28 days showed recovery. The patients with persistent nodules 4 weeks after completion of therapy were treated with injections of amikacin directly into the nodule which lead to resolution of symptoms. For prevention of infection, proper sterilization and storage of instruments is recommended. Laparoscopic port hole infections is a preventable problem and can also be treated by nonsurgical method.

Intra-abdominal actinomycosis presenting as complex abdominopelvic mass.

A rare case of intra-abdominal actinomycosis in a 70-year-old lady presenting as abdominopelvic mass mimicking malignancy is presented. Intra-abdominal actinomycosis may present a serious diagnostic problem both pre- and peroperatively and can lead to extensive surgical intervention due to the anticipation of malignancy. The diagnosis is difficult specially in the absence of characteristic discharging sinus. The diagnosis of this disease, potentially curable by antibiotic is more often made postoperatively by histopathology and microbiological methods.