Treatment of choledochal cyst in a pediatric population. A single institution experience of 15-years. Case series.

BACKGROUND: Choledochal cyst (CC) is a rare congenital anomaly of the bile duct that approximately 75% of the patients are diagnosed in childhood. Without a standardized surgical procedure for the biliary reconstruction, we present our experience over the last 15 years and show the differences between the biliary reconstructions techniques in our population. METHODS: We did a retrospective hospital archive search for patients admitted to the pediatric surgery department with the diagnosis of a choledochal cyst from January 2000 to June 2015. RESULTS: We found 15 patients, of which, 1 was excluded because of missing data from the hospital record. Of the remaining 14, eight had hepaticojejunal (HY) anastomosis in Roux-en-Y, with a 25% rate of complications; six had hepatoduodenal (HD) anastomosis with a rate of complications of 16.6%. The average hospital length of stay in the group of HD vs. HY was 14 ± 1.6-days vs. 19 ± 8.2-days respectively. DISCUSSION: There are no standardized surgical reconstruction techniques of the biliary tract after the CC excision, there is literature that supports the biliary reconstruction with an HY and an HD without a distinct advantage over one or the other. CONCLUSION: In our series HD anastomosis represents a safe procedure with fewer complications than HY.

Karewsky syndrome: A case report and review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: Gallstone ileus can be a lethal disease, rarely suspected in the clinical scenario. It represents about 25% of all bowel obstruction cases in patients older than 65. There is a classification of gallstone ileus based on the onset time: acute, subacute and chronic (Karewsky syndrome). We describe the first reported case of chronic gallstone ileus. CASE PRESENTATION: A 78-year-old female was admitted to the ER with a 15-day case of consistent bowel obstruction. The subject reported a five-year history of recurrent hospital admissions that resolved spontaneously after non-surgical management. Karewsky syndrome was diagnosed and managed with enterolithotomy. After five days of postoperative evolution the patient was discharged, and at six months follow up, no other hospital admission or relapse has been registered. DISCUSSION: The gallstone ileus diagnosis demands a higher clinical suspicion, there is no biochemical marker, and an abdominal CT is ideal for imaging-based diagnosis. There is no consensus on the optimal surgical approach. CONCLUSION: We describe the first case of Karewsky syndrome and a gastro-jejune and gastric-choledochus double fistula. We emphasize the importance of higher clinical suspicion for patients with bowel obstruction older than 65 years old and make evident that although there are not evidence-based guidelines for this treatment, enterolithotomy is a recommended approach.