Radical versus conservative surgical treatment of liver hydatid cysts: A paired comparison analysis.

BACKGROUND: The management of liver hydatid cysts (LHC) is complex and includes surgery, percutaneous drainage, chemotherapy and observation. Broadly, there are two types of surgical treatment for LHC - conservative surgery (CS) and radical surgery (RS). The purpose of this study was to compare the outcome of RS and CS. METHODS: Data from all patients with LHC treated in Sahloul Hospital, between January 2000 and December 2019, were retrieved. To minimize selection bias, paired comparison analysis (PCA) was performed. RESULTS: A total of 914 patients were included in this study. RS and CS were performed in 284 and 630 patients, respectively. After PCA, 206 patients were included in each group. The incidence of intraoperative bleeding was significantly higher in the RS group. The overall morbidity was significantly lower in the RS group. Thity-four patients developed recurrence with significantly higher recurrence in CS group. CONCLUSION: RS is associated with fewer postoperative complications and lower recurrence rate compared to CS. RS may be the preferred procedure for LHC if the expertise is available.

Surgical management of giant hepatic hemangioma: A 10-year single center experience.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic hemangiomas are the most typical benign mesenchymal lesions of the liver. Most of these lesions are asymptomatic. Giant hepatic hemangiomas (GHH) (>10 cm) are often symptomatic and require surgical intervention. This study aimed to describe the clinical findings, risk factors, diagnostic approach and management of GHH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with GHH treated at our hospital from January 2008 to December 2018. The medical records of each patient were reviewed to obtain the clinical and surgical data. RESULTS: Twelve patients with GHH were treated during the study period. 9 were female and 3 were male. The mean age of diagnosis was 48,2 years. The most common presenting symptom was abdominal pain. Eight patients presented an abdominal mass. Indications for surgical resections were rupture (n = 2), Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (n = 1) and abdominal pain (n = 9). Right hepatectomy was done in four patients, left lobectomy in four patients, and enucleation in four patients. Embolization was performed in 4 patients, but due to the persistence of symptoms or bleeding, surgery was indicated. The mean operative time was 3.5 h, and median blood loss was 870 ml. The median hospital stay was 5.3 days. For four patients, we registered postoperative complications causing death in one case. All alive patients were asymptomatic at a median follow-up of 55 months. CONCLUSION: Despite limitations and alternative modalities, surgery remains the only effective curative treatment for GHH.

Surgical clip migration following laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A rare cause of acute cholangitis.

Clip migration following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is a rare and late complication of LC. The first case of surgical clip migration after LC was reported in 1992, and since then less than 100 cases have been reported in the literature. We report the case of cholangitis secondary to a surgical clip migration in an 83 years old male patient, 8 years after LC. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the abdomen (CT) showed intra and extrahepatic ducts dilatation secondary to a hyperdense object located in the distal common bile duct (CBD). It was removed successfully from the CBD by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography after sphincterotomy. At the last follow-up of one year after her admission, the patient is symptom-free with normal liver enzyme and abdominal CT. Surgical clip migration into CBD, should be included in the differential diagnosis while treating patients with the past surgical history of LC. Early diagnosis and treatment of this complication can avoid serious complications.

Ectopic pancreas: A rare cause of occult gastrointestinal bleeding.

Ectopic pancreas (EP) is a rare entity characterized by the development of pancreatic tissue in areas other than the pancreas. We present the case of a 16-year-old female with a heterotopic pancreas in the jejunum revealed by occult gastrointestinal bleeding. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen revealed a 2 × 3 cm enhancing nodular jejunal mass suspicious of a neuroendocrine or gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Octreoscan was planned but the patient presented in the emergency department with fever and sudden onset severe abdominal pain. The patient underwent emergency laparotomy. On abdominal exploration, appendicular perforation was present for which appendectomy and peritoneal lavage were performed. The small jejunal lesion seen on CT was identified during surgery and segmental jejunal resection with end-to-end anastomosis was performed. The histopathological examination of the jejunal mass revealed the presence of pancreatic acini and ductal structures without islets of Langerhans in the submucosa of the small intestine covered by normal mucosa. At the last follow-up of eight months after surgery, the patient is symptom-free and the abdominal CT is normal. Preoperative diagnosis of EP requires high clinical suspicion and should be included in the differential diagnosis while treating patients with gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrointestinal mass on CT.