Management and outcome of recurrent gallstone ileus: A systematic review.

AIM: To help the surgeon in decision making when treating a patient with recurrent gallstone ileus (RGSI). METHODS: A systematic review related to RGSI was performed using the databases CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE via PubMed from May 1912 to April 2015. All languages were included and the grey literature was also searched. The abstracts were explored for relevance to the topic and full texts obtained as appropriate. A manual search was carried out by scrutinising the reference lists of all the full text articles and further articles were identified and obtained. Total of 903 articles were identified, 656 were excluded after abstract review, 247 full text articles were reviewed and 91 articles selected for final analysis. There were 113 cases of RGSI. RESULTS: There were 113 cases of RGSI reported in 91 articles. The majority of the recurrences, 62.6%, occurred within 6 wk of the index event. The male to female ratio was 1:7. The mean age was 69.6 years (SD 11.2) with a range of 38-95 years. The small bowel was the commonest site of impaction (92.2%). Treatment data was available for 104 patients. The two main operations performed were: (1) Enterolithotomy without repair of biliary fistula in 70.1% of all patients with a procedural mortality rate of 16.4% (12/73) and (2) a single stage surgery approach involving enterolithotomy with cholecystectomy and repair of the biliary enteric fistula in 16.3% with a procedural mortality of 11.7% (2/17). A subset analysis over last 25 years showed mortality from eneterolithotomy was 4.8% while single stage mortality was 22.2%. Enterolithotomy alone was the commonest operation performed for RGSI with four patients (5.4%) having a further recurrence of gallstone ileus. CONCLUSION: Enterolithotomy alone or followed by a delayed two-stage treatment approach is the preferred choice offering low mortality and reduced risk of recurrence.

Developing a weekly patient safety and quality meeting in a medium-sized GI surgical unit in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) meetings are advocated as part of good surgical practice, but have been criticised as a method of improving patient outcomes. Several groups have re-designed the format of M&M meetings to improve reporting of complications, near misses and maximise learning points. As a medium sized department of 8 GI surgeons in the UK, we wished to explore and discuss the complications encountered in our clinical practice in more detail than currently available in our monthly M&M/audit meeting, in order to try and improve the quality of care we deliver to our patients. This article describes the practicalities of introducing a weekly meeting and reports on the initial data generated from the patients discussed. METHODS: Four groups of general surgical patients (both elective and acute) are discussed in depth at the weekly meeting- a) patients whose length of in-patient stay is greater than 7 days (as a surrogate marker of a complicated surgical episode), b) unplanned patient readmissions to our hospital (under any specialty) within 30 days of a previous discharge from the GI surgical service, c) all GI surgical inpatient deaths and d) returns to theatre within the same admission (either planned or unplanned). RESULTS: The initial data generated from the meeting first six months of the meeting are presented e.g.- 302 length of stay greater than 7 days patient episodes (attributable to complications in 26%, normal variant of disease in 59% and social reasons delaying discharge in 15%). CONCLUSIONS: We feel that these weekly meetings can be helpful in addressing both patient safety and quality issues in more depth than the traditional M&M format, as well as being a valuable training resource for both surgical trainees and consultants alike.

Munchausen's syndrome presenting as rectal foreign body insertion: a case report.

BACKGROUND: This case report shows that Munchausen's syndrome can present as rectal foreign body insertion. Although the presentation of rectal foreign bodies has frequently been described in the medical literature, the insertion of foreign bodies into the rectum for reasons other than sexual gratification has rarely been considered. CASE PRESENTATION: A 30 year old, unmarried Caucasian male presented with a history of having been sexually assaulted five days earlier in a nearby city by a group of unknown males. He reported that during the assault a glass bottle was forcibly inserted into his rectum and the bottle neck broke. On examination, there was no evidence of external injury to the patient. Further assessment lead to a diagnosis of Munchausen's syndrome. The rationale for this is explained. A description and summary of current knowledge about the condition is also provided, including appropriate treatment approaches. CONCLUSION: This case report is important because assumptions regarding the motivation for insertion of foreign bodies into the rectum may lead to the diagnosis of Munchausen's syndrome being missed. This would result in the appropriate course of action, with regard to treatment, not being followed. It is suggested that clinicians consider the specific motivation for the behaviour in all cases of rectal foreign body insertion, including the possibility of factitious disorder such as Munchausen's syndrome, and avoid any assumption that it has been carried out for the purpose of sexual gratification. Early involvement of psychiatrists is recommended. Cases of Munchausen's syndrome presenting as rectal foreign body insertion may be identified and addressed more effectively using the approach described.