Postoperative complications associated with anterior cervical discectomy and three years follow-up.

INTRODUCTION: Anterior cervical discectomy (ACD) is used in the surgical treatment of cervical degenerative disc disease (DDD). Besides the low incidence of postoperative complications, they can affect the postoperative course for patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From January 2015 to December 2019, 789 cervical DDD patients with ACD were investigated. This study aims to identify the risk factors for postoperative complications and evaluate the quality of life for ACD patients using the Visual Analog Pain Scale (VAS) and Neck Disability Index (NDI). RESULTS: Among the 789 cervical patients, postoperative complications were identified in 88 patients. In analyzing independently risk factors for postoperative complications, we don't record the male gender, age, number of treated segments, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension with significant risk. A BMI higher than 23.5, a longer surgery of more than 82.5 min, and blood loss of more than 95 ml were found as independent risk factors for postoperative complications. The three-year follow-up quality of life was evaluated in 565 because of the loss of 224 patients. We found improved quality of life in the whole group of patients. Moreover, we have not confirmed significant differences in groups of patients, with and without postoperative complications. CONCLUSION: The result of our study documented a low incidence of postoperative complications after ACD. We identified high BMI level, increased blood loss, and prolonged operation time as independent risk factors for the increased incidence of postoperative complications. Moreover, we demonstrated that postoperative complications do not significantly influence the patient's quality of life (Tab. 5, Ref. 32).

Bouveret's Syndrome: A Rare Form of Gallstone Ileus Caused by Large Renal Cysts.

Bouveret's syndrome is a rare variant of gallstone ileus caused by gastric outlet obstruction that arises from gallstones impacted in the distal stomach or proximal duodenum after passing through a cholecystoduodenal or cholecystogastric fistula. Simple kidney cysts are one of the most common lesions found in the elderly. They are usually asymptomatic, but the cysts can put pressure on the surrounding organs if they grow to large dimensions.This case report highlights a rare case of Bouveret's syndrome due to the presence of a large gallstone in the pyloric region that was caused by the creation of a cholecystogastric fistula from pressure exerted by two giant cysts of the right kidney.

The Role of Surgery in Chronic Pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease characterized by the progressive replacement of the functional pancreatic parenchyma with fibrotic tissue. This leads to exocrine and endocrine insufficiency. A typical clinical feature is recurrent, severe upper abdominal pain, which negatively affects the patient's quality of life. Conservative treatment as the method of first choice does not prevent irreversible changes in the pancreatic tissue. While endoscopic drainage can have some benefits in the early stages of the disease, it is generally unsuccessful in the long term. Based on recent studies, surgical intervention appears to be the most suitable treatment option for improving the patient's quality of life. It currently includes a wide range of effective, proven drainage and resection procedures. Advances in surgical techniques and postsurgical intensive care have increased the frequency of pancreatic surgeries, while improvements in diagnostic methods have increased the number of patients who meet the indications for such surgery, including elderly and chronically ill patients. However, despite mortality rates decreasing, high morbidity rates remain a problem. Currently, in patients with an inflammatory mass in the head of the pancreas, pyloric and duodenal-preserving resection offers the best results. Different variants of these techniques appear to produce similar results. Various techniques have shown similar outcomes in terms of mortality, morbidity, pain relief, life expectancy and improved quality of life. The optimal timing of surgery has been addressed by several studies and most surgeons now favor early surgical intervention in order to prevent extensive destruction of pancreatic tissue.

Comparison in detection of prodromal Parkinson's disease patients using original and updated MDS research criteria in two independent cohorts.

INTRODUCTION: MDS research criteria for prodromal Parkinson's disease (pPD) were published in 2015 and updated in 2019. We aimed to determine the difference in pPD patient detection rates in two cohorts recruited via gastrointestinal symptoms (PARCAS study) and the presence of a probable REM sleep behaviour disorder (PDBIOM study) using the original and updated criteria. METHODS: We evaluated all risk and prodromal markers, except genetic testing, plasma urate and physical inactivity, in both cohorts and DaT scan, diabetes mellitus type II and cognitive deficit in the PARCAS cohort. Thresholds of 50% probability for possible pPD and 80% for probable pPD were used. RESULTS: PPD status as identified by the original/updated criteria showed differences for probable pPD (n = 8/9; original/updated criteria) and possible pPD (n = 9/13) in the PARCAS cohort (total n = 158), as well as for probable pPD (n = 19/21) and possible pPD (n = 6/3) in the PDBIOM cohort (total n = 48). A high concordance rate was found between the two criteria sets (p < 0.001 for all groups). CONCLUSION: All probable pPD cases remained in the same category after evaluation with both criteria; three possible pPD cases based on the original criteria exceeded the threshold for probable pPD based on the updated criteria, and five possible new pPD cases were detected, with only one shift in the opposite direction. The updated MDS pPD research criteria tend to identify more patients as positive, yet their accuracy needs to be determined in prospective studies.