Intestinal obstruction due to mesenteric panniculitis

This report describes a case of mesenteric panniculitis in a 40-year-old male who presented with features of intestinal obstruction. Computed tomography scan showed a mass in the mesentery of small bowel. Resection of mass with associated small bowel and anastomosis resulted in complete recovery of the patient

Accuracy of fine needle aspiration and frozen section in the management of thyroid nodules

Aim: To determine the accuracy of fine needle aspiration [FNA] and frozen section [F.S.] in the management of thyroid nodules. The medical records of 85 patients who underwent thyroidectomy were retrospective l y analyzed. FNA and F.S. were performed on all patients and their results were compared with definitive histological assessment. Setting: Study was undertaken at the King Khalid University Hospital during the period from January 1996 to 1999. Among the 85 patients who were submitted for FNA cytology, 53 patients were diagnosed as benign, 13 patients as malignant and 19 were indeterminate. The incidence of malignancy in the indeterminate group was 19%. The diagnosis from the frozen sections was benign in 59 cases [68.8%], malignant in 13 cases and deferred in 13 cases. Diagnostic accuracy up to 98% was achieved when FNA cytology and frozen section diagnoses agreed. No false positives were observed when FNA cytology and F.S. were positive for malignancy. When FNA cytology and F.S. diagnoses were discordant, F.S. showed a higher accuracy [100%] than FNA cytology. In the face of an indeterminate cytological diagnosis, the diagnostic accuracy of F.S. reached 100% with exclusion of the deferred group. Conclusions: FNA is an accurate preoperative tool for the initial evaluation of thyroid nodules. F.S. is a valuable test for confirming the FNA results and is more accurate than FNA in cases of discordant diagnosis

Abdominal wound closure: a comparison of monofilament [nylon] and polyglactin [vicryle] suture

The incidence of wound dehiscence, infection and incisional hernia was tested in a prospective clinical trial comparing nylon sutures with vicryle. Two hundred twenty six patients were studied, 108 in the nylon group and 118 in the nylon group. The two groups were matched for all risk factors known. There was no significant difference in the rate of wound dehiscence, infection or incisonal hernia between the two groups

Perforated ileal diverticulum at the mesenteric border

A 14-year-old bov preserted with a 4-day history of acute abdominal pain, diagnosed clinically as acute appendicitis. At laparotomy a perforated true ileal diverticulum at the mesenteric border was found. To our knowledge this is a unique case of ileal diverticulum situated at the mesenteric border