General Surgery Operating Room Practice in Patients with COVID-19.

The virus COVID-19, which emerged in China in December 2019, was announced by the World Health Organization as a pandemic in January 2020. It is known that infection is not severe and may even progress without symptoms in patients who have come into contact with COVID-19. Although various organizations have been informed about how to take measures to protect the patient and the surgeon in case of diseases requiring urgent or elective surgery in people infected with COVID-19 or in cases with high suspicion, there is still no definite judgment between patients, physicians and health authorities. In this study, which was prepared with the initiative of the Turkish Surgical Association, we tried to shed light on what should be done and how surgeons should act in patients whose operation is mandatory in light of the available data.

Comparison of inguinal hernia repairs performed with lichtenstein, rutkow-robbins, and gilbert double layer graft methods.

Tension-free repairs are performed commonly in inguinal hernia operations. The objective of the present study is to compare the outcomes of three different tension-free repair methods known as Lichtenstein, Rutkow-Robbins, and Gilbert double layer. One-hundred and fifty patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia were randomly split into three groups. The comparisons across groups were carried out in terms of operation length, postoperative pain, femoral vein flow velocity, early and late complications, recurrence rates, length of hospital stay, time required to return to work, and cost analysis. No difference was found between the groups regarding age, gender, type and classification of hernia, postoperative pain, and late complications (p > 0.05). Operation length was 53.70 ± 12.32 min in the Lichtenstein group, 44.29 ± 12.37 min in the Rutkow-Robbins group, and 45.21 ± 14.36 min in the Gilbert group (p < 0.05). Mean preoperative and postoperative femoral vein flow velocity values were 13.88 ± 2.237 and 13.42 ± 2.239 cm/s for Lichtenstein group, 12.64 ± 2.98 and 12.16 ± 2.736 cm/s for Rutkow-Robbins group, and 16.02 ± 3.19 and 15.52 ± 3.358 cm/s for the Gilbert group, respectively. Statistical difference was found between all the groups (p < 0.001). However, no difference was determined between the groups regarding the decrease rates (p = 0.977). Among early complications, hematoma was observed in one (2 %) patient of Lichtenstein group, five (10 %) patients of Rutkow-Robbins group, and three (6 %) patients of Gilbert group (p = 0.033). Cost analysis produced the following results for Lichtenstein, Rutkow-Robbins, and Gilbert groups: US $157.94 ± 50.05, $481.57 ± 11.32, and $501.51 ± 73.59, respectively (p < 0.001). Lichtenstein operation was found to be more advantageous compared with the other techniques in terms of cost analysis as well as having unaffected femoral blood flow. Therefore, we believe that Lichtenstein repair is still the most appropriate surgical option in patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia.

Intravenous Versus Oral Antibiotic Prophylaxis Efficacy for Elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomies: a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

The aim of the present prospective randomized controlled trial is to compare the effectiveness of intravenous and oral antibiotic prophylaxis for cost and surgical site infection in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Three hundred twenty patients were split into two groups as to include 160 patients in each, and they were evaluated in a prospective and randomized fashion. While one group was subjected to 1 g cefazolin via intravenous route during anesthesia induction, other group received 1 g cephalexin monohydrate via oral route 1 h prior to the operation. Demographic findings and operation results of the patients were compared by analyses. Our 320 patients (278 females and 42 males) received elective cholecystectomy and were followed up for a period of 6-26 months. Each group had 160 patients. Both groups were similar with regard to demographic characteristics and inclusion criteria. Among all, only five (1.5 %) cases demonstrated postoperative surgical site infection. Surgical site infection at postoperative period was determined in three (1.8 %) cases of intravenous prophylaxis group and two (1.2 %) cases of oral prophylaxis group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of surgical site infection. Oral antibiotic prophylaxis can be used in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy prophylaxis due to its cost-effective, reliable nature, and low surgical site infection rate.

A therapeutic and diagnostic dilemma: granular cell tumor of the breast.

Six to eight percent of granular cell tumors are seen in the breast. Although mostly benign, they rarely have malignant features clinically and radiologically reminding of breast cancer. This may lead to a potential misdiagnosis of breast carcinoma and overtreatment of patients. The final diagnosis is made by immunohistochemical examination. We performed excisional biopsy on a patient who was diagnosed to have a breast mass. The histopathological examination of the mass revealed granular cell tumor.