Upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy indications in northern Nigeria.

Upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy is one of the commonly performed endoscopic procedures, and has only recently become available in Nigeria. The indications for upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy in three health facilities in Northern Nigeria were reviewed. Two hundred and sixty-nine patients were found to have undergone upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy. Their ages ranged from 12-90 years with a mean of 48.1+16.2 years. There were 46.8% males and 53.2% females. The commonest indication for the procedure was dyspepsia (61.0%), followed by upper gastrointestinal bleeding, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gastric cancer, gastric outlet obstruction, acute exacerbation of peptic ulcer disease, dysphagia, epigastric mass, excessive salivation, abdominal pain, anaemia, chronic diarrhoea, haematochexia and persistent vomiting.

Full-term pregnancy in an incisional hernia--a case report.

We report a case of full-term pregnancy in a 40 year old woman who presented with her fifth pregnancy with the uterus in the incisional hernia sac hanging below the groin. She has had previous abdominal operation through a midline scar. Complication of the previous operation led to the incisional hernia into which she carried a full term pregnancy. Caesarian section and bilateral tubal ligation were done with repair of the incisional hernia with nonabsorbable suture with uneventful postoperative recovery. It is advised that surgeons carrying out abdominal operations for whatever reason, the operations should be done on fit patient as much as possible, proper incisions should be made and the fascia should be closed with non-absorbable sutures (mass closure) in order to avoid occurrence of incisional hernias. Emergency operations in the abdomen including caesarian section, surgical principles should always be observed.