Malignant gastroparesis and outlet obstruction in carcinoma gall bladder.

INTRODUCTION: Malignant gastroparesis and mechanical gastric outlet obstruction are two major accompaniments of advanced upper abdominal malignancies. The incidence of such problems has not been well documented in patients of carcinoma gall bladder. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of gastric outlet problems in patients of carcinoma gall bladder and correlate them with clinical presentation. The role of prophylactic gastrojejunostomy (GJ) and its postoperative outcome was also evaluated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty seven patients of carcinoma gall bladder were prospectively studied. Twenty five patients underwent radio labelled solid meal gastric emptying study and eleven of these underwent prophylactic GJ and followup gastric emptying study in early postoperative period. RESULTS: Mechanical gastric outlet obstruction was seen in 10 (27%) patients. Delayed gastric emptying on scintigraphic study was found in 10 (40%) of remaining patients (n = 25). Only 6 (60%) of these patients were actually symptomatic. All patients who had delayed gastric emptying also had an advanced disease. No correlation was found between delayed gastric emptying and presence of jaundice and/or serum levels of bilirubin. Prophylactic GJ had 18% postoperative morbidity as compared to 28.5% for therapeutic GJ done during the same period. Oral feed were started latest by 11th postoperative day. Prophylactic GJ did not affect gastric emptying patterns in early postoperative period. CONCLUSION: Mechanical gastric outlet obstruction was present in 27% patients. Delayed gastric emptying was seen in 40% of remaining patients with carcinoma gall bladder. Delayed gastric emptying correlated well with symptoms of gastric stasis and the stage of disease. Functioning of gastrojejunostomy was not fully dependent on presence or absence of malignant gastroparesis.

Technical complications of feeding jejunostomy: a critical analysis.

INTRODUCTION: A retrospective review of patients undergoing feeding jejunostomy (FJ) was undertaken in order to evaluate procedure related complications and their impact on final outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety six patients had FJ at the department of Surgical Gastroenterology, SGPGIMS from January 1989 to December 1995. RESULTS: FJ as an adjunct was performed in 89 patients with predominantly oesophageal (n = 62) and pancreatic surgery (n = 17). Seven patients had FJ as the only procedure. Fifteen patients (15.2%) had complications related to FJ. Minor complications (7.2%) included dislodgement (n = 3), blockage of the tube (n = 2) and pericatheter leak (n = 2). Major complications (8.3%) which needed surgical intervention were, detachment of the jejunostomy from the abdominal wall (n = 3), leak into the peritoneal cavity (n = 3), jejunal perforation by the tip of the catheter (n = 1) and peritonitis after removal of the tube (n = 1). Procedure related mortality was 3.2%. CONCLUSIONS: FJ should not be treated as a minor procedure and due attention to the technical details is required in its performance, otherwise it may well become the cause of a poor result following a very successful major operation.

Carcinoma gallbladder: atypical presentations and unusual associations.

Patients with carcinoma of the gall bladder (CaGB) may have atypical presentations and unusual associations. Out of 324 patients with CaGB seen at a tertiary referral center in northern India, 26 (8%) had atypical clinical presentations and 34 (10%) had unusual associations. The atypical presentations were empyema (5), acute cholecystitis (3), post-cholecystectomy benign biliary stricture (3), carcinoma of the head of pancreas (3), gastric outlet obstructions (2) and liver abscess (1). Unusual associations were common bile duct stones (18), left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis (11), Mirizzi's syndrome (3), inguinal lymph node metastasis (1) and umbilical metastasis (1). Majority of these patients had advanced disease and curative resection was not possible; a worthwhile palliation was however possible in the majority.

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis.

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XC) is a rare benign disease often confused with carcinoma gall bladder (CaGB). We retrospectively reviewed the clinical, radiological and operative features of 81 patients with XC alone (73) or XC with associated CaGB (8). Patients with XC alone had no gender preponderance, had a mean age 48 years and mean duration of symptoms of 34 months. Most XC patients (75%) had clinical features of chronic cholecystitis. On the other hand, patients with both XC and CaGB had a female preponderance, a mean age of 60 years and mean duration of symptoms of 6 months. In this group, the USG and operative findings often supported the clinical impression/findings. Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a benign condition which is often confused with CaGB. Associated CaGB is however present in a few patients; elderly women with relatively shorter duration of symptoms, have a greater chance of associated CaGB.

Choledochoduodenostomy: influence of risk factors in post-operative morbidity.

BACKGROUND: Choledochoduodenostomy is performed for a variety of lower common bile duct lesions. AIMS: To analyse the influence of risk factors on the post-operative morbidity following choledochoduodenostomy. METHODS: Relation of risk factors including age more than 60 years, medical Illness, hemoglobin less than 10 g/dL, albumin less than 3 g/dL, bilirubin more than 10m/dL, presence of cholangitis at admission (treated pre-operatively), use of pre-operative endoscopic sphincterotomy and common bile duct diameter at surgery were related to the occurrence of post-operative morbidity was studied using univariate analysis. RESULTS: Fifty patients underwent choledochoduodenostomy. One patient (2%) died; major post-operative morbidity occurred in 12 patients (24%). Presence of cholangitis at admission was the only factor related (p = 0.00012) to the occurrence of post-operative morbidity. No long-term complications were encountered in 35 patients (70%) mean with followup period of 28 (range 8-60) months. CONCLUSIONS: Choledochoduodenostomy is a safe permanent drainage procedure for benign lower biliary obstruction.

Cholecystectomy in high risk patients.

Two hundred and seventy two patients with one or more associated preoperative high risk factors underwent cholecystectomy in the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, SGPGIMS, Lucknow, between December 89 and November 95. The identified risk factors were advanced age (> 65 years), cardiac diseases, endocrine disorders, respiratory diseases and others. Fifty patients (18%) had two and 6 patients (2.2%) had three risk factors each. During the same period, 1006 patients with no risk factors had simple cholecystectomy done in the department. The morbidity and mortality of cholecystectomy in the high risk group was 27% and 0.4% respectively, and in the group with no risk factors 14% and 0.2% respectively. The morbidity and mortality in the high risk group was significantly greater than that in the no risk group. It is suggested that with good preoperative evaluation close intraoperative monitoring and intensive postoperative care, these figures could be reduced further.

Conversions in laparoscopic cholecystectomy--need for a new nomenclature.

Reasons for conversion from laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) to open cholecystectomy (OC) were analysed in 47 patients. In 35 patients, the surgeon converted LC to OC by choice because of difficult anatomy or difficult pathology while in 12 patients the surgeon was forced to convert from LC to OC because of complications. We propose that conversions from LC to OC should be classified into two groups-"conversions-by-choice" and "conversions-per-force".

Transcholedochal cholecystolithotomy for a variant of Mirizzi's syndrome.

Obstruction of the common bile duct by impaction of a gallstone in the neck or the cystic duct of the gallbladder results into repeated attacks of cholangitis (Mirizzi's syndrome). In suspected cases preoperative diagnosis can be made by ultrasonography and cholangiography. We report two patients of a variant of Mirizzi's syndrome. The common bile duct was obstructed by a stone impacted in the neck and causing extrinsic compression from behind. Ultrasonography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography diagnosed the condition as common bile duct stone in both the cases. The anomaly could be diagnosed only after choledochotomy. Stones were retrieved by transcholedochal cholecystolithotomy--an innovative surgical procedure for this variant of Mirizzi's syndrome.

Intestinal endometriosis.

Two cases with intestinal endometriosis, one with a right iliac fossa mass and the other with subacute intestinal obstruction, are presented. In both the cases, the diagnosis was not suspected clinically and was reached only on histological examination of the resected specimens.