A systematic review on laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy for difficult gallbladders: a lifesaving bailout or an incomplete operation?

INTRODUCTION: Laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy (LSTC) is a bailout procedure that is undertaken when it is not safe to proceed with a laparoscopic total cholecystectomy owing to dense adhesions in Calot's triangle. The main aim of this review was to investigate the early (≤30 days) and late (>30 days) morbidity and mortality of LSTC. METHODS: A literature search of the PubMed® (MEDLINE®), Google Scholar™ and Embase® databases was conducted to identify all studies on LSTC published between 1985 and December 2020. A systematic review was then performed. RESULTS: Overall, 45 studies involving 2,166 subtotal cholecystectomy patients (51% female) were identified for inclusion in the review. The mean patient age was 55 years (standard deviation: 15 years). Just over half (53%) of the patients had an elective procedure. The conversion rate was 6.2% (n=135). The most common indication was acute cholecystitis (49%). Different techniques were used, with the majority having a closed cystic duct/gallbladder stump (71%). The most common closure technique was intracorporeal suturing (53%), followed by endoloop closure (15%). Four patients (0.18%) died within thirty days of surgery. Morbidity within 30 days included bile duct injury (0.23%), bile leak (18%) and intra-abdominal collection (4%). Reoperation was reported in 23 patients (1.2%), most commonly for unresolving intra-abdominal collections and failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography to control bile leak. Long-term follow-up was reported in 30 studies, the median follow-up duration being 22 months. Late morbidity included incisional hernias (6%), symptomatic gallstones (4%) and common bile duct stones (2%), with 2% of cases requiring completion of cholecystectomy. CONCLUSIONS: LSTC is an acceptable alternative in patients with a "difficult" Calot's triangle.

Suprapatellar versus infrapatellar nailing for tibial shaft fractures: A comparison of surgical and clinical outcomes between two approaches.

BACKGROUND: Tibial shaft fractures are a relatively common injury and contemporary treatment includes on-axis fixation with a locked intramedullary nail in the majority of cases. The conventional technique is via an infrapatellar approach but currently there is a trend towards the use of a suprapatellar approach. We compared key variables including operative time, radiation exposure and early patient reported outcomes when adopting a suprapatellar approach to tibial nailing in our unit versus our previous experience of infrapatellar tibial nailing. METHOD: Twenty-eight consecutive patients with tibial fracture underwent tibial nailing via the suprapatellar (SPN) approach. Six patients in the study group were excluded due polytrauma and need for dual orthopaedic and plastic surgery management. We compared outcomes with our most recent 20 consecutive patients who had undergone tibial nailing via an infrapatellar (IPN) approach. Primary surgical outcomes were: operative time, radiation exposure and accuracy of entry point of the nail on both anteroposterior and lateral radiographs. Clinical outcomes included time to weightbearing, time to radiographic union and patient-reported outcome score (Lysholm score). RESULTS: Forty-eight consecutive patients underwent intramedullary nail fixation for tibial shaft fractures and 42 were eligible for inclusion in our study (22 SPN vs 20 IPN). There were no significant differences in patient demographics or injury patterns between the two groups. Operative time and radiation exposure were significantly lower in the SPN group when compared to the IPN group (115 min vs 139 min ± 12.5) (36 cGY/cm2 vs 76.33 cGY/cm2 +/- 20.1). Furthermore, patients in the SPN group reported superior outcome scores at a mean follow up of 3 months (8-24 weeks) There were no observed differences in complication rate between groups and time of final clinical follow up at a minimum of 6 months. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that adoption of the SPN approach requires minimal learning curve, and has the potential benefits of reduced operative time, radiation exposure and superior patient reported outcomes when compared to the conventional infrapatellar approach.

The excised preauricular sinus in 14 years of experience: is there a problem?

The congenital preauricular sinus is usually asymptomatic. However, if recurrent infection occurs, complete surgical excision of the sinus is required. If the sinus tracts are not entirely removed, recurrence is likely to follow. A retrospective study of the surgical results at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, was completed. One-hundred sixty-five primary preauricular excision procedures, performed in 146 patients between the years 1982 and 1996, were reviewed. All clinical, operative, and postoperative data were gathered. Patient outcome and epidemiologic issues were addressed. The overall recurrence rate of this series was 9.09 percent (15 of 165 sinuses). For the group of patients with active infection present at surgery, the recurrence rate was 15.79 percent, and when no infection was present, recurrence rate was 8.22 percent (p value = 0.32, odds ratio = 2.09). Moreover, in patients who underwent surgical drainage of an abscess before the procedure, 16.7 percent of the sinuses recurred, whereas in the patients who did not have an abscess, only 8.16 percent recurred (p value = 0.25, odds ratio = 2.25). In the group of patients in whom auricular cartilage was not excised from the base of the tract, 18.52 percent of the sinuses recurred; when cartilage was excised, the recurrence rate was 4.5 percent (p value = 0.006). A very high recurrence rate of 21.95 percent was found in the group of patients in whom no modality was used to demonstrate the sinus tract at surgery. A high recurrence rate of 10.87 percent was found in the group for whom probing with a cannula was used to identify the tract (p value = 0.17); a low recurrence rate of 2 percent was found in a group with dye injection only (p value = 0.015). In those patients in whom sinus probing and dye injection were used simultaneously, there were no recurrences (0 percent, p value < 0.05). In conclusion, a patient with an actively infected preauricular sinus or one with a previous abscess may have a tendency to experience a higher recurrence rate after excisional surgery. Excising a cartilage piece at the base of the tract and demonstrating the sinus with dye injection or with dye injection and probing at the time of surgery will reduce recurrence rates. In conclusion, we advise the excision of cartilage in the base of the tract as well as the use of methylene blue injection and probing of the sinus at surgery.

Serum cholinesterase activity in population samples from Iraq.

Serum cholinesterase activity has been determined from normal subjects in a sample of the Iraqi population. The enzyme activity was distributed over a comparatively wide range. There was a highly significant difference between males and females with respect to the enzyme level, although the values were relatively higher than those reported elsewhere. The enzyme activity showed no relationship with age and blood group in both sexes.

The effect of cytochalasin B on the rate of growth and ultrastructure of wheat coleoptiles and maize roots.

Cytochalasin B (CB) inhibits the elongation growth of maize roots, and that of wheat coleoptile segments incubated in indolyl-3-acetic acid, by over 30% after a lag period of about 60 min. This long lag is not due to poor tissue penetration by the inhibitor, but seems to reflect a property of the process inhibited by CB. The only visible ultrastructural change accompanying growth inhibition is the accumulation of secretory vesicles in the vicinity of dictyosomes, which occurs between 90 and 300 min. However, a massive accumulation of vesicles is seen after 120 min in root cap cells which possess very active dictyosomes. The results indicate that CB does not inhibit elongation growth by interfering with cytoplasmic streaming. Instead, they indicate that the drug acts to inhibit the secretion of cell wall components at some stage after vesicle production, but prior to their transport.