ABSTRACT
The adverse physiological effects of pneumo and retro-peritoneum are relatively well known. However, the clinical implications of compromised mesenteric circulation through several mechanical and physiological mechanisms are not as well recognized. We describe a fatal case of intestinal infarction following an elective retroperitoneoscopic right sympathectomy. The patient was a 88-year-old man who died 30 hours after an uneventful anesthesia and right endoscopic lumbar sympathectomy. An emergency explorative laparotomy revealed a massive intestinal infarction due to thrombosis of the superior mesenteric artery. We reviewed the literature on laparoscopic procedures and mesenteric ischemia. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of intestinal infarction following retro-pneumoperitoneum. We conclude that the presence of a severe multidistrectual? arteriopathy may represent a major risk factor in retroperitoneoscopic procedures.
ABSTRACT
A rare case of synchronous bilateral testicular germ cell tumor of different histological type is described. We report the case of a 39-year-old man with this unusual condition and discuss the value of the histopathological diagnosis in therapy and prognosis. A thorough review of the literature is also presented, and for the first time the precise histological subtype of each reported tumor, as diagnosed by the authors of the original paper, is illustrated.
