Laparoscopic Gastrectomy and Transvaginal Specimen Extraction in a Morbidly Obese Patient with Gastric Cancer

Laparoscopic gastrectomy for cancer has some significant postoperative benefits over open surgery with similar oncologic outcomes. This procedure is more popular in the Far East countries where obesity is not a serious public health problem. In the Western countries, laparoscopic gastrectomy for cancer is not a common procedure, yet obesity is more common. Herein, we aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of laparoscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer in a morbidly obese patient. Additionally, we used natural orifice specimen extraction as an option to decrease wound-related complications, which are more prevalent in morbidly obese patients. In this case, we performed a fully laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy with lymph node dissection and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy with the specimen extracted through the vagina. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first report of a natural orifice surgery in a morbidly obese patient with gastric cancer.

Increased Bladder Wall Thickness in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Women With Overactive Bladder / 대한배뇨장애요실금학회지

PURPOSE: Bladder wall thickness has been reported to be associated with overactive bladder (OAB) in women. Diabetic women have an increased risk for OAB syndrome and may have an increased risk for bladder wall thickness. METHODS: A total of 235 female patients aged 40 to 75 years were categorized into four groups. The first group consisted of women free of urgency or urge urinary incontinence. The second group included nondiabetic women with idiopathic OAB. The third group consisted of women with diabetes and clinical OAB, and women with diabetes but without OAB constituted the fourth group. Bladder wall thickness at the anterior wall was measured by ultrasound by the suprapubic approach with bladder filling over 250 mL. RESULTS: The diabetic (third group) and nondiabetic (second group) women with OAB had significantly greater bladder wall thickness at the anterior bladder wall than did the controls. However, the difference was not significant between the diabetic (third group) and the nondiabetic (second group) women with OAB. Women with diabetes but without OAB (fourth group) had greater bladder wall thickness than did the controls but this difference was not significant. Additionally, the difference in bladder wall thickness between diabetic women with (third group) and without (fourth group) OAB was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show that bladder wall thickness is increased in diabetic women with and without OAB. Additionally, nondiabetic women with OAB had increased bladder wall thickness. Further studies may provide additional information for diabetic and nondiabetic women with OAB, in whom the etiopathogenesis of the disease may be similar.