Thoracic Penetrating Wounds with Cardiac Injury: A Single-Center Experience.

Background: Management protocols for patients with penetrating cardiac injury have undergone a dramatic transition during the last decades. However, even today cardiac trauma remains a major medical problem. Methods: Retrospective single-center case series study, 41 patients with precordial wounds hospitalized at the Institute of Emergency Medicine, Chisinau, period 2005-2020. Mean age - 45.8 Ã+- 8.9 years, M:F/19.5:1. Traumatic event: stabbing (82.9%,n=34) or gunshot wound (17.1%,n=7). Preoperative paraclinical examinations: electrocardiography, chest X-ray, FAST, pleurotomy, pericardial puncture, and thoracoscopy. Results: 36 (87.8%) patients were hemodynamically unstable on hospitalization, and 19 (52.8%) were immediately transferred to the operating room. Preferred surgical access: left anterolateral thoracotomy - 26 (63.4%), right anterolateral thoracotomy - 13 (31.7%), and left posterolateral thoracotomy - 2 (4.9%). Non-penetrating lesions were discovered in 5 (12.2%) while penetrating trauma in other 36 (87.8%) cases, most frequently the right ventricle being injured. Additional intrathoracic lesions discovered in 29 (70.7%) patients: pulmonary parenchyma rupture - 25 (86.2%), internal mammary artery injury - 3 (10.3%), and intercostal artery injury - 1 (3.5%). The average length of stay was 13.2 Ã+- 4 days, including stay in the Intensive Care Unit - 2.9 Ã+- 1.2. Mortality rate -17.1% (n=7). Conclusions: Successful cardiac suture determined the survival rate of 82.9%. Lethality increases proportionally to the severity of the cardiac injury, the volume of blood loss, and damage to the right vs left heart chambers.

Liposarcoma of the colon: a case report and review of literature.

Liposarcoma is a malignant mesenchymal tumor frequently located in the retroperitoneum and rarely presents as an isolated lesion in the colon. To our knowledge, only three cases of primary colon liposarcoma have been reported in the world literature to date. In this article, we report a case of liposarcoma of the colon in a 46-year-old man. The patient presented with abdominal pain and a palpable mass. Abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomogram confirmed the presence of a large intra-abdominal fatty tissue mass, but the colon origin of the tumor was revealed only on laparotomy. During surgery, a voluminous (12 cm x 11 cm x 10 cm) lesion situated in the subserosa of the ascending colon was found, and a right hemicolectomy with radical lymph node dissection was performed. The pathological diagnosis of the resected tumor revealed primary colon liposarcoma (myxoid subtype). The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient remained free of disease for 12 months. No adjuvant therapy was performed. Diagnostic and therapeutic problems related to this type of neoplasm as well as literature reviews are reported. Curative R0 resection remains the main treatment for primary and recurrent liposarcomas.

Giant submucosal lipoma of the cecum: report of a case and review of literature.

Lipoma of the colon is a relatively rare benign tumor. A case with intermittent subacute colon obstruction due to a giant lipoma of the cecum is reported. A 51-year-old woman presented with intermittent, abdominal crampy pain in the right upper and lower quadrants, accompanied by alternative episodes of diarrhea and constipation. She had had similar symptoms over the last three months. A double-contrast barium enema showed a large (approx. 7 cm in diameter) polypoid mass occluding the lumen of the cecum and the ascending colon. Colonoscopy revealed a submucosal mass suspected of benign tumor but too large for endoscopic resection. Surgery revealed a hard elongated mass in the right colon, which telescoped into the transverse colon and caused colo-colonic intussusception. Right hemicolectomy was performed and pathology documented a mature, submucosal lipoma of the cecum. Six years after the surgery, the patient has not showed any of the previous symptoms. Along with a review of the literature, the incidence, diagnosis complications and treatment of colonic lipomas are discussed.