Rare causes of acute appendicitis.

INTRODUCTION: A clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis does not necessarily imply only inflammatory changes found upon histopathological examination. Even though appendiceal tumors are very rare, accounting for less than 4% of all gastrointestinal tumors‚ they need to be taken into account and require the right choices regarding subsequent onco-surgical management. METHODS: 1036 appendectomies were performed and 38 (3.7%) rare appendiceal tumor cases were identified at the department of Surgery in Pilsen from 1 January 2008 to 1 October 2018. The following text presents the difficult nature of the initial diagnosis, current therapy and principles of follow-up care in this relatively rare group of patients. CONCLUSION: Appendiceal tumors are very rare. Depending on the histopathological type of tumor, it is necessary to choose adequate therapy and also provide proper follow up care.

[Use of viscoelastic methods in surgery]. / Vyuzití viskoelastických metod v chirurgii.

INTRODUCTION: Major liver resections are associated with high morbidity and mortality. The main causes of this fact include a significant blood loss which may be associated with this surgical procedure. Hemocoagulation disorder, diagnosed by standard laboratory tests, is very frequent in the postoperative period and often requires the administration of blood derivatives. Several recent studies, however, have questioned the presence of such coagulopathy when viscoelastic methods are used to assess the coagulation process. The studies have concluded that that the coagulation disorder only exists at a laboratory level, the coagulation process itself being unaffected, and no therapeutic intervention is therefore needed. The use of viscoelastic methods may play a crucial role in deciding whether or not to correct the assumed coagulation disorder. METHOD: Our study was designed as a prospective observational study. Data were collected in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit during one year (1 January - 31 December 2016). The study included 18 patients who underwent major liver resection. When coagulation disorder was diagnosed using standard coagulation tests in the postoperative period, we performed a ROTEM examination. The results of the standard and ROTEM examination were then compared. RESULTS: Out of the total of 18 patients enrolled in the study, a coagulopathy was diagnosed in 15 cases (83%) using standard coagulation tests. In these patients, we performed rotational tromboelastometry (ROTEM) which did not show any coagulation disorder. CONCLUSION: Our study has demonstrated that when viscoelastic methods are used to evaluate the function of blood clotting in patients after major hepatic surgery, no coagulopathy has been found as opposed to the evaluation with standard blood clotting tests. Unnecessary transfusions of blood derivatives can be avoided as well as all risks linked to their administration. Viscoelastic methods of coagulation assessment (ROTEM, TEG) help provide a detailed insight into the coagulation process and our observations have shown that they should play a significant role in the postoperative assessment of patients following major hepatic resections.Key words: ROTEM - viscoelastic methods - coagulopathy.

Splenectomy in patients older than 65 years - a single-center experience.

INTRODUCTION: Despite current efforts at the most conservative approach possible to splenic injury, splenectomy remains a relatively common surgical procedure. Indications for splenectomy, however, are not limited to spleen injury. In senior patients in particular, non-traumatic reasons for splenectomy becomemore frequent. In addition, previous studies have indicated a relatively wide range of complications and lethality in splenectomized patients without taking into account the age aspect. Within the scope of geriatric surgery, this study deals with splenectomy in elderly patients and is based on retrospectively evaluated experience of our clinic. METHOD: We studied a group of patients older than 65 years having undergone splenectomy at our institutionover the past 11 years. For each patient, the demographics, the reason for splenectomy, the mechanism of injury (if any), the degree of spleen damage, co-morbidities, the length of hospital stay, complications and lethality were evaluated. A group of patients operated on due tospleen trauma and the other group operated on for other reasons were analysed separately. Attention was paid to the reasons leading to splenectomy in the non-traumatic patients. Complications and lethality rate were evaluated in relation to the individual patient groups. RESULTS: 269 splenectomies were performed in our clinic between 2006 and 2016. Of these, only 57 (21.2%) were carried out in patients older than 65 years (32 men and 25 women aged 6590, mean age 73.6). Splenectomy was even rarer in association with splenic trauma:it was performed in only 13 senior patients. Other causes leading to splenectomy in elderly patients were: perioperative spleen injury (17 patients), gangrene, septic activation or spontaneous rupture of the spleen (10 patients), splenectomy during an operation on another organ (8 patients), splenomegaly (5 patients) and splenic artery aneurysm (4 patients). Lethality in the entire group was 29.8%, the percentage of complications was 57.9%; however, circumstances leading to splenectomy and also potential co-morbidities played a significant role. The average length of hospitalization in the entire group was 20.3 days. CONCLUSIONS: Splenectomy in patients over 65 years of age is associated with a high risk of complications and very high lethality. However, senior patients after splenectomy for monotrauma and those after elective splenectomy have a very good prognosis. Key words: geriatric surgery splenic rupture - splenectomy.

How to determine an impaired health status in COPD: Results from a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with a significantly impaired health status and lost work productivity across all degrees of airflow limitation. The current study investigated whether an impaired health status is better represented by the recommended COPD Assessment Test (CAT) cut-point of 10 points, or the 95th percentile of the CAT score in a non-COPD population. Additionally, the impact of COPD on health status in a Dutch population, after stratification for work status, was measured. METHODS: Demographics, clinical characteristics, post-bronchodilator spirometry, and CAT were assessed in subjects from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), a large Dutch population-based study. Normative values for the CAT score were described by percentiles using the mean, standard deviation, median and range. RESULTS: In total, 810 COPD and non-COPD subjects (50.4% male, mean age 60.5 ±; 2.9 years) were analysed. Significant differences were observed in CAT scores between non-COPD and COPD subjects (6.7 ±; 5.2 vs. 9.5 ±; 5.9, p < 0.001 respectively). The proportion of COPD subjects with an impaired health status differed between applying the CAT ≥ 10 cut-point (50.0%) and applying the 95th percentile of CAT in non-COPD subjects (> 18 cut-point; 7.6%). Higher CAT scores were seen in working COPD patients compared with working non-COPD subjects (9.3 ±; 5.2 vs. 6.0 ±; 4.6, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We suggest a CAT cut-point of > 18 points to indicate an impaired health status in COPD. This would imply an adaptation of the current GOLD classification of the disease.

[Rare malignant tumors of the appendix: surgical treatment of liver metastases case reports]. / Vzácné maligní nádory apendixu: lécba metastáz do jater kazuistiky.

INTRODUCTION: Tumors of appendix vermiformis are quite rare; they represent only about 0.4% of gastrointestinal tract tumors. They can be both benign and malignant (primary or secondary). Carcinoid is the most common tumor of the appendix. The symptoms can include nothing but non-specific abdominal pain, or on the contrary they can imitate inflammatory acute abdomen. Liver metastases are associated with an advanced stage of malignancy; their surgical treatment is presented rarely in the literature. The aim of this publication is to present two cases with different results of surgical treatment of liver metastases with the primary tumor located in the appendix. CASES: The first patient is a 50 years old female who underwent right hepatectomy for liver metastases of Goblet-cell carcinoid of the appendix in 2013 and died six months later due to tumor progression. The second patient is a 58 years old male, still alive, undergoing repeated liver and lung resections and RFA from 2009 due to metastases from appendix carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Examples of dissemination of malignant appendix tumors to the liver need to be evaluated individually. In indicated cases, surgical treatment of liver metastases is justifiable.Key words: tumors of appendix liver metastases surgical treatment.

[The Influence of Palliative Chemotherapy on the Quality of Life of Patients with Gastric Cancer]. / Vliv paliativní chemoterapie na kvalitu zivota nemocných s karcinomem zaludku.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is a malignant disease with a poor prognosis. The incidence of gastric cancer in the Czech Republic in 2013 was 14.34 cases per 100,000 citizens. Unfortunately, most patients are dia-gnosed with advanced stage disease and therefore undergo palliative treatment. Some patients undergo surgery and a very small percentage undergo palliative chemotherapy. The five year survival rate for those with advanced gastric cancer ranges from 5-15%. METHODS: This is a prospective study of patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer. The aim was to assess the quality of life of those undergoing chemotherapy. RESULTS: The results showed that chemotherapy reduced the quality of life for these patients. DISCUSSION: Although palliative chemotherapy prolonged time to progression, it had little impact on overall survival. Conversely, chemotherapy reduced quality of life. Thus, clinicians and patients must decide whether to begin palliative chemotherapy. The final decision should be made by the patient after discussion with the treating clinician. CONCLUSION: Treatment of patients with gastric cancer must be undertaken on an individual basis. Those undergoing palliative treatment must play an active role in the decision process regarding chemotherapy and assess the potential benefits and drawbacks. Because chemotherapy treatment has a detrimental effect on quality of life, the decision should be based on factors that predict the likely therapeutic effect of chemotherapy. A definitive decision can then be made as to whether chemotherapy is indicated. KEY WORDS: gastric cancer - palliative chemotherapy - chemotherapy - quality of life - WHOQOL-BREFThis study was supported by grant of Internal Grant Agency of the Czech Ministry of Health No. NS14227-3.The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study.The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE recommendation for biomedical papers.Submitted: 10. 1. 2016Accepted: 8. 6. 2016.

Relationship between pulmonary rehabilitation and care dependency in COPD.

The aims of this study were to explore care dependency before and after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in patients with COPD (n=331) and to compare the response to PR between care dependent and independent patients. At baseline, 85 (25.7%) patients had a Care Dependency Scale (CDS) score ≤68 points and were considered as care dependent. CDS scores of these patients improved after PR (p<0.001). After PR, CDS score of 38 (44.7%) patients with a baseline CDS score ≤68 points increased to >68 points. Patients with a baseline CDS score ≤68 points or >68 points showed after PR a comparable improvement in COPD Assessment Test, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and 6-min walk distance (all p<0.05). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NTR3416 (The Netherlands).

[Predictive and prognostic factors of gastric cancer]. / Prediktivní a prognostické faktory karcinomu zaludku.

INTRODUCTION: Gastric cancer is a frequent malignant disease with poor prognosis. Most patients undergo only palliative treatment. Chemotherapy is another alternative but its effect differs in individual patients. METHOD: This is retrospective study. We enrolled 54 patients (N=54) according to the inclusion criteria. We performed quantification of gene expression of selected genes and some microRNA from tumour tissue, which was used for the diagnosis. Statistical analysis of the data was performed. RESULTS: We demonstrated a predictive value of gene expression of thynidylate synthase in tumour tissue for a therapeutic effect of chemotherapy based on 5-Fluorouracil or Capecitabine. At the same time, we demonstrated a predictive value of miR181, miR150, mir192 and miR342 microRNA levels from the tumour tissue. In addition, we succeeded to demonstrate a predictive value of miR221, miR224, miR520 and miR375 microRNA levels for a therapeutic effect of chemotherapy based on platinum derivates. CONCLUSION: Thanks to the use of efficient therapy predictors, we can distinguish those patients who will profit from chemotherapy from patients where an effect cannot be expected. Thanks to personified oncology therapy the quality of life of some patients can be improved while reducing the costs of the therapy by avoiding inefficient chemotherapy. Only an early diagnosis of gastric cancer can reverse the adverse prognosis of patients with this disease. KEY WORDS: gastric cancer - microRNA - prognostic markers - predictive markers.

Surgical treatment of gastric cancer.

UNLABELLED: Gastric cancer is a malignant disease which has generally a very bad prognosis. The frequency of occurence of this disease in the population is dependent on the age and localisation. Most frequently, this disease has occured in Japan, China, countries of South Africa and Eastern Europe for a long time but men are more likely to suffer from this disease than women witha ratio of 2 : 1. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the group of patients who had been treated in our complex oncology center in the course of five years RESULTS: We treated 572 patients with gastric cancer in five years period. 218 patients of the total number were admitted, 185 patients of all hospitalized patients were operated (85 %). 53 patients of our group of hospitalized patients underwent adjuvant oncology therapy (24 %). Overall, five-year survival was 18.4 % in our group, the median survival time was 12.9 months. CONCLUSION: Radical surgery is considered to be the only treatment modality which can lead to patient´s cure under optimal conditions. Complex care for patients with gastric carcinoma should be centralized in big centers. Personalized oncological treatment should be a way how to get better results (Tab. 2, Fig. 5, Ref. 14).

Utility of immunohistochemical investigation of SDHB and molecular genetic analysis of SDH genes in the differential diagnosis of mesenchymal tumors of GIT.

Loss of expression of beta subunit of succinate dehydrogenase (SDHB) was proved to be present in a subgroup of KIT/PDGFRA wt gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). To evaluate possible diagnostic utility of SDHB immunohistochemistry in the differential diagnostics of mesenchymal tumors of gastrointestinal tract (GIT), 11 cases of KIT/PDGFRA wt GISTs, 12 gastric schwannomas (GSs), 20 solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs), 4 leiomyomas (LMs), 16 leiomyosarcomas (LMSs), 5 synovial sarcomas (SSs), 3 endometrioid stromal sarcomas (ESSs), and 1 ileal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) were investigated for SDHB immunoexpression together with molecular genetic analysis of genes encoding succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). Three recent cases of KIT/PDGFRA mutant GISTs were used as controls. Among the 11 KIT/PDGFRA wt GISTs, 6 expressed SDHB, 1 of them harboring a sequence change of SDHD. All SDHB-negative cases were SDHB-D wt. In 1 of the control GIST cases molecular genetic analysis revealed an SDHD sequence change in addition to a mutation in KIT exon 11. No SFT was truly SDHB-negative, but in 2 of them the staining was impossible to analyze. Furthermore, 1 SFT carried an SDHB and another 1 SDHD sequence change. All GSs, LMs, LMSs, SSs, ESSs, and IMT were SDHB-positive or non-analyzable, and SDHB-D wt. Additional factors may play a role in regulating expression of SDHB. Furthermore, SDHB immunohistochemistry alone may be misleading in excluding tumors other than GIST (especially SFT) in the differential diagnosis of KIT/PDGFRA wt mesenchymal tumors of GIT.

[Cerebral salt wasting syndrome (CSWS) - rare case from a surgical department]. / Cerebral salt wasting syndrom (CSWS) - nezvyklá kazuistika z chirurgického pracoviste

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral salt wasting syndrome (CSWS) is one of several possible causes of the development of hyponatraemia in patients with severe cranial trauma associated with intracranial bleeding and brain oedema. Other possible causes of post-traumatic hyponatraemia include the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). CASE HISTORY: The authors present the case of a twenty-five-year-old polytraumatized female patient who was treated in our department and who was diagnosed with cerebral salt wasting syndrome. CONCLUSION: In patients with severe cranial trauma and subsequent hyponatraemia, CSWS should be considered. It is crucial to distinguish between CSWS and SIADH as wrongly selected treatment can have serious or even fatal impacts for a gravely injured patient.

Natural oriffice transluminal endoscoping surgery - transgastric approach.

OBJECTIVE: The definition of volvulus is an axial twist of a portion of the gastrointestinal tract along its mesentery. The involved bowel is obstructed partially or completely with a variable degree of arterial and venous occlusion. The colon is the most common site for volvulus. The splenic flexure is the least common site of colonic volvulus. Splenic flexure volvulus (SFV) is a very rare cause of colonic obstruction, constituting 1-2 % of colonic volvulus. Mortality rate of the SFV cases is low. CASE REPORT: We experienced a SFV case who was a 20-year-old male soldier. The case had come to the state hospital with complaints of severe left abdominal and lumbar pain and a medical history of relapsing urinary infection and nephrolithiasis. The doctor had hospitalized him with the diagnosis of paralytic ileus caused by nephrolithiasis. He had died after 14 hours and 35 minutes from hospitalization. Autopsy findings showed out that the death cause was generalized peritonitis due to gangrenous SFV. CONCLUSION: In this paper, we presented this case and discussed its properties in the light of the literature data (Fig. 2, Ref. 7).

[Pure transgastric NOTES laparoscopy compared to classic laparoscopy]. / Laparoskopie cistým transgastrickým NOTES prístupem v porovnání s klasickou laparoskopií.

INTRODUCTION: NOTES--Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery--represents a new surgical approach. The operation is performed via natural openings of the body without causing any damage to the skin and the abdominal wall. At the Department of Surgery of the University Hospital in Pilsen, we have been performing NOTES since 2008. The first animal experiment was performed in that year by a hybrid NOTES technique. METHODS: A prospective study was carried out at the animal experimental room of Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, on domestic pigs under general anaesthesia. 15 pigs were operated on by the transgastric pure NOTES method using double-channel endoscope. Gastrotomy was performed using a needle knife and the stomach was closed by OTSC clips. The control group consisting of 15 pigs was operated on by classic laparoscopy through a 14-mm port with the use of double-channel endoscope. During the following two weeks the animals underwent clinical monitoring and sonographic examinations, and samples for biochemical and microbiological analysis were collected. Post-mortem examination focusing on infectious complications was performed after 14 days. RESULTS: In comparison with the conventional laparoscopic technique, the transgastric pure NOTES approach has shown similar results. Inflammation in the skin suture appeared in 6 pigs operated on by classic laparascopy. During the clinical and sonography followup as well as in the autopsy of both groups, no signs of focal infection in the abdominal cavity were shown. CONCLUSION: The pure NOTES approach is very difficult, though not unfeasible to put into practice due to our present technical equipment. The development and implementation of the NOTES access into clinical practice would demand better technical equipment.

[Pilonidal sinus--surgical management at our surgical clinic]. / Pilonidální sinus--chirurgická lécba na nasem pracovisti.

INTRODUCTION: pilonidal sinus disease is a benign disease with incidence 26 cases per 100 thousands inhabitants each year. The origin of this disease is in sacrococcygeal region with maximum between 15th and 25th year of life. Males suffer from pilonidal sinus disease most often. The synonym of this disease is Jeep's disease and originate in Second World War. We distinguish acute and chronic phase of this disease. The acute phase is characterized by presence of abscess whereas the chronic phase is featured by intermittently secreting fistula. Malignant reversion is described at chronic phase in 0.1%. METHODS: We performed retrospective study of our cohort of 53 patients that undewent radical surgical treatment at our department between September 1st 2006 and December 31st 2009. RESULTS: We evaluated 39 patients that were controlled repetitively after operation. Males were in majority. The median of age was 24 years. 38 patients underwent the incision for abscess in preoperative period. The intermittently secreting fistula was diagnosed at 46 patients at the time of operation. 41% patients suffered from wound infections and 56% from dehiscence of wound (7 patients with partial dehiscence) after radical excision. We used 5 modifications of wound closure after radical excision. DISCUSSION: The choice of adequate method of wound closure after excision of pilonidal sinus was, is and will be discussed among experts. We could find many types of methods of wound closure including plastic with flaps in the scientific literature. In our country there is preferred more primary wound closure than plastic with flap. Our results are comparable with the previously published results. CONCLUSION: The treatment of pilonidal sinus has to be radical. We can conclude that usage of our technique of underlaid sutures decreases the prevalence of postoperative infection and risk of wound dehiscence. The proper types of technique of wound closure could not be evaluated with statistical signifikance because of small number of patients in our cohort.

[Liver metastases of other than colorectal origin]. / Jaterní metastázy jiného nez kolorektálního puvodu.

AIM: Colorectal carcinoma is the commonest malignancy with liver metastases. Approximately 25-30% of these metastases are resectable with good long-term outcomes. Liver metastases of so called non-colorectal carcinomas are significantly less common, and considering different biological character of these metastases, compared to colorectal ones, surgical management of some of these types is debatable, however, in some cases remains highly successful. The aim of this study was to assess the authors' outcomes of surgical and termoablation therapy of non-colorectal liver metastases. METHODS: The authors present their experience with surgical treatment in 68 patients - mean age of 58.2 y.o.a (33.1-77.5) with liver metastases of non-colorectal carcinomas- NKJM (the commonest types: breast carcinoma--32.4%, carcinoid--20.6%, renal carcinoma--13.3%, gynecological tumors--13.3%, gastrointestinal stromal tumor--4.4%, gastric carcinoma--4.4% ) during 2001-2008. The mean time after primary surgery for carcinoma was 3.9 years (0-8.5 let). The surgical procedures included the following: radiofrequency ablation (RFA)--50 patients (73.5%), resections in 26.5%. Preoperative chemotherapeutical "downstaging" or portal vein embolization on the tumor side, in order to improve the NKJM resecability, was performed in 10 subjects (14.7%). Resecable or RFA--manageable extrahepatic metastases were removed using one- or more- step procedures in 25 subjects (36.7%). The total number of liver metastases within the whole study group ranged from 1 (28x) to 8 (1x) metastases. Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, combined with biological treatment in some patients, was administered to a total of 33 patients (48.5%). RESULTS: One year after the procedure and RFA, a total of 88.6% of patients were surviving, at 3 years 72.5 % and at 5 years 36.9% of the subjects. Considering four commonest tumors (breast carcinoma, carcinoid, gynecological carcinomas and renal carcinoma), the best 5-year survival rates were recorded in patients with carcinoid metastases (100%), 33.8% of patients with breast metastases were surviving at 5 years, 44.4% of patients with renal carcinoma metastases were surviving at 3 years and 72.9% of patients with gynecological tumors were surviving at 2 years. There were no statistically significant differences in long-term survival rates between RFA and resections. Patients with extrahepatic metastases had worse prognosis (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Liver resection and RFA have their definite place in multimodal treatment strategy in the management of non- colorectal carcinoma liver metastases (NKJM). Indication for surgery must be made on strictly individual basis, in particular in patients with NKJM, in order to achieve quality long-term survival in these patients.

[Contribution of abdominal sonography in acute appendicitis diagnostics--our experience]. / Prínos ultrasonografie bricha v diagnostice akutní apendicitidy--nase zkusenosti.

Acute apendicitis is the most frequent case of acute abdomen. During a two year period (2006-2007) it was performed in Department of Surgery of Faculty Hospital in Pilsen 678 appendectomies, 30 days post-operative mortality rate was 0%. Abdomen ultrasonography like helping method to clinic examination was performed in 313 patients, suspect of acute appendicitis was in 191 patients (61%), in remaining patients was normal ultrasound picture.

Diagnosis and treatment of liver injury--the experience of the University Trauma Center.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of liver injury is increasing steadily because of serious injuries resulting mainly from traffic accidents. The aim of the study was to evaluate the results of the University Trauma Center, with consideration of the present diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities for liver injuries. METHODS: Between January 1st 2000 and April 1st 2006 a total of 132 patients with various degrees of liver injury were admitted to the Trauma Center, University Hospital in Pilsen. 76 injured patients (57.6%) were treated conservatively, and only 56 (42.4%) received surgical treatment, with a total of 87 operations performed. RESULTS: 10 patients with polytrauma (7.6%) died of hemorrhagic shock (group Moore IV-VI). Six injured patients (4.5%) had a complicated course during their hospitalization. The average period of hospitalization was 17 days (1-69 days). CONCLUSION: The mortality and morbidity of patients with liver injury are comparable in the group presented here with the results of other large trauma centers. If compared with previous years, there has been a considerable decrease in mortality from this serious injury. At present the basic diagnostic means in liver injury are as follows: "bed-side" ultrasonography, spiral computed tomography, and in more complicated injuries magnetic resonance, angiography, or endoscopic retrograde cholangiography. In terms of therapeutic tactics conservative methods prevail in haemodynamically stable patients, irrespective of the degree of liver injury. The surgical policy applies "damage control surgery", where during the initial surgery life-saving and non-time-demanding procedures are the target (e.g. liver tamponade), correcting hypothermia, haemocoagulation and metabolic acidosis. Only after stabilization of the injured patient other definitive procedures are possible (Tab. 2, Ref. 16). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.

Management of the prosthetic vascular graft infections--the influence of predictive factors on treatment results.

BACKGROUND: This prospective non-randomized single center study evaluated the predictive significance of various factors to the treatment outcomes of the prosthetic vascular graft infections. METHODS: 46 patients with the prosthetic vascular graft infection underwent the treatment. The prosthesis extirpation was performed in 37 cases. The extra-anatomical reconstruction was implanted in 18 and the in situ reconstruction in 12 patients. In 9 patients, only local treatment was applied. The influence of the preoperative factors (patient's age, type of primary procedure, type of infection, positive hemoculture, diabetes mellitus, comorbidity, C-reactive protein, leucocytosis, repeated interventions) on the result of the treatment was evaluated with the multivariate analysis. RESULTS: On the 30 day, the postoperative mortality was 23.9%. One and three years after the treatment, 72.1 and 57.8% of patients, respectively, survived. C-reactive protein above 90 mg/l (Wilcoxon test p<0.02, Log-rank test p<0.01), and leucocytosis >13 x 10(9)/l (Wilcoxon test p<0.0001, Log-rank test p<0.0004) were significant factors for patients morbidity and mortality. There were no preoperative factors with a statistically significant cut-off value which should be important for the long-term graft patency. CONCLUSION: C-reactive protein and leucocytosis are simple preoperative predictive markers of the treatment results of the prosthetic vascular graft infections. An early and aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic procedure is recommended in patients with the pre-operative levels of CRP higher than 90 mg/l and leucocytosis of 13 x 10(9)/l (Tab. 5, Fig. 3, Ref. 30). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.

[Pyogenic abscesses of the liver]. / Pyogenní abscesy jater.

Pyogenic abscesses of the liver represent a serious nosologic unit with high morbidity and mortality rates. Their diagnostics is based on ultrasonography, computer tomography or MRI, or positrone emission tomography. The principal treatment procedure includes percutaneous draining of the abscess cavity under the ultrasound or CT control. The authors present a group of 83 subjects hospitalized from 2000 to 2006 for pyogenic abscesses of the liver. Obstruction of the bile ducts, acute cholecystitis and resections of the liver or pancreas for malignancies were recorded as the commonest causes of the abscesses. Percutaneous drainage was the treatment method of choice in 67.5% of the subjects and it included management of the causative factors and administration of antibiotics. The hospitalization period was affected by the following factors: septic conditions (p < 0.04), ALT levels (p < 0.003) - cut off 3.0 mkat/l, the abscess diameter, which may have required reoperation, (p < 0,05), diabetes mellitus (p < 0.05) and septic conditions (p < 0.001). The need for re-hospitalization due to a relaps of the pyogenic abscess of the liver correlated significantly with the following: a number (> 2) of abscesses (p < 0.04), C-reactive protein levels (p < 0.005) - cut off> 100 mg/l and septic conditions (p < 0.007). Furthermore, significat correlation was detected between the mortality rates and sepsis (p < 0.05).

Diagnostic dilemmas in patients with cystic neoplasms of the pancreas.

Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas (CNP) are rare lesions that can be difficult to diagnose preoperatively. Twenty patients with cystic neoplasms of the pancreas including five microcystic adenomas, six benign mucinous cystic neoplasms, three malignant mucinous cystic neoplasms, two solid and papillary epithelial neoplasms, and four cystic neuroendocrine tumors were treated at a single institution between 1962 and 1987. The average duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis was 10 months. Five patients were asymptomatic. Forty percent of patients presented with an abdominal mass. Plain abdominal x-rays and UGI barium contrast studies were never diagnostic. Ultrasonography, computerized tomography (CT) and visceral angiography aided in the correct diagnosis in 28%, 36%, and 75% of patients studied, respectively. Overall a correct diagnosis was made preoperatively in only 35% of patients. Twelve of 13 patients were correctly diagnosed at laparotomy with intraoperative biopsy. Without biopsy the mass was misdiagnosed at laparotomy in five of six cases. CNP must be suspected in any patients who present with an upper abdominal mass with or without abdominal pain and no history of pancreatitis. CT may be diagnostic in up to one third of cases and should be obtained routinely to demonstrate the proximity of the lesion to other structures. Visceral angiography should also be obtained prior to operation. A generous incisional biopsy should be obtained of all pancreatic cysts that are not to be resected.