Pregnancy After a Laparoscopic Sacrohysteropexy: a Case Report.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) is a rare condition during pregnancy. If all conservative treatments fail, the surgical approach has proven to be in non-pregnant women a very good option due to high efficacy and a very low morbidity and mortality rate. We are reporting on the clinical results of a 33-year-old pregnant woman with a past history of laparoscopic sacrohysteropexy who delivered by caesarean section due to a foetal breech presentation. There are only a handful of cases reporting the outcome "pregnancy" after a laparoscopic sacrohysteropexy. Nevertheless, this appears to be a useful intervention for women with a POP unresponsive to conservative treatment and open family planning. Further studies with long-term follow-ups are required to confirm this.

Minilaparotomy a good option in specific cases: a case report of bilateral ovarian germ cell tumor.

Mature cystic teratomas (MCTs) of the ovary represent 44% of ovarian neoplasmas. The surgical approach is important in young women especially for the cosmetic results. Nowadays most of the ovarian surgeries can be performed laparoscopically. An alternative between laparoscopy and laparotomy is the minilaparotomy (ML) which can be an interesting option, thanks to the small incision. We report a 39-year-old woman who was referred to our hospital with acute abdominal pain. In her past history the patient had an uncomplicated delivery. During pregnancy a 6 cm bilateral MCT was diagnosed and expectant management was followed. A left-sided ovarial torsion was postulated, and laparoscopic detorsion was performed. To avoid a rupture of the left MCT, the operation was interrupted. To remove the cyst, a ML was done two weeks later. A left-sided salpingo-oophorectomy was performed due to a large cyst including the entire ovary. On the other side, the right dermoid cyst was entirely removed. The advantage of a ML is not only shorter operating time with less learning curve compared to laparoscopy but also the possibility to extract the adnexal mass from the abdominal cavity with lower risk of rupture and in addition the possibility to preserve more ovarian tissue.

Chylomicronemia Syndrome in Pregnancy: a Case Report of an Acute Necrotizing Pancreatitis.

Introduction: Chylomicronemia syndrome (CS) is a rare disorder characterized by a high level of triglycerides in plasma. We present a case of a pregnant woman with a severe acute pancreatitis (AP) affected by a CS. Case: A 38-year-old gravida 2, para 0 with an uneventful course of pregnancy was referred with an AP at 37 0/7 weeks of gestation. This diagnosis was made from a nearby hospital where the chemical analysis showed elevated pancreatic enzymes with significant hypertriglyceridemia. Because of a pathological fetal heart tracing a caesarean delivery was performed. The APGAR score of the female newborn was 5/8/8 at 1, 5 and 10 minutes, respectively. The pH from the umbilical cord were 7.26 (artery) and 7.59 (vein). Once transferred to our intensive care unit a computer tomography scan confirmed an onset of a necrotizing AP. A conservative treatment was tried without success. For this reason a surgical debridement of the infected and necrosic parts was performed. After a long hospitalisation the patient could be dismissed after 2.5 months in good general condition. Discussion: Lipid profile changes in normal pregnancy are characterized by an elevation of total plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. This is normally caused by an increased liver synthesis of triglycerides in response to elevated estrogen levels. When a CS is diagnosed the main goal is to maintain fasting triglyceride levels at less than 500 mg/dL to reduce the risk for AP. Conclusion: Practitioners have an important role in evaluating chylomicronemic patients and implementing therapeutic lifestyle and pharmaceutic interventions aimed to reduce the risk for AP.

Neutrophil antibodies (pANCA) in chronic liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease: do they react with different antigens?

OBJECTIVE: A high frequency of perinuclear neutrophil antibodies (pANCA) has been described in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We evaluated the presence of pANCA in chronic liver disease and compared the immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses of pANCA in inflammatory bowel disease with chronic liver disease. Since the antigen reacting with pANCA could not be determined, the antigenic role of various neutrophil antigens was evaluated. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Detection of pANCA and their IgG subclass was performed by immunofluorescence. One hundred and forty patients with chronic liver disease, 96 patients with inflammatory bowel disease and 40 healthy controls were tested for pANCA. pANCA positive and negative sera were evaluated for their reactivity with different neutrophil antigens in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. RESULTS: pANCA were found in 8 of 23 patients (35%) with autoimmune hepatitis, in 6 of 21 patients (28%) with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), in 18 of 25 patients (72%) with PSC, in 3 of 48 patients (6%) with viral hepatitis, in 30 of 48 patients (62%) with UC, and in 2 of 48 patients (4%) with Crohn's disease. All 20 patients with alcoholic liver disease and 40 healthy controls were negative for pANCA. In contrast to the patients with UC who had 83% IgG1 and only 13% IgG3 antibodies, patients with PSC and PBC had an overexpression of IgG3 antibodies (PSC: 50% IgG3; PBC: 67% IgG3). A proportion of pANCA positive sera recognized lactoferrin, myeloperoxidase, cathepsin G, laminarase and alpha 1-antitrypsin. CONCLUSION: pANCA is not present only in patients with UC but in autoimmune liver diseases such as PSC, autoimmune hepatitis and PBC. Considering the IgG subclass of pANCA, the antibody response of patients with UC is different from patients with liver disease. No unique pANCA specific antigen could be detected, so heterogeneity of pANCA has to be considered.

[How good is the esophageal voice?]. / Wie gut ist die Oesophagusstimme?

In view of the fact that objective methods as employed in the past have not been suitable in judging the clarity of speech of laryngectomised persons, a grading system has been developed based on analytical criteria of speech (sound, clarity of speech, fluency, articulation, modulation, number of syllables, secondary murmur). The degree of understanding is graded from one to five (very good to poor). Tests were performed with 69 oesophageal speakers. Young people seem to learn oesophageal speech better than elderly persons. Most authors agree that learning and quality of oesophageal speech depend on the age of the patient. For this reason, elderly laryngectomised patients should receive more intensive care, so that they may develop an oesophageal speech of superior intelligibility.