Predicting chronic post-operative pain following laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair.

BACKGROUND: Chronic post-operative pain (CPP) following laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair (LIHR) may cause significant morbidity and be more problematic than recurrence. Determining pre-operative risk may reduce morbidity. Our aim was to determine prevalence of CPP following LIHR and identify risk factors for its development. METHODS: Data from patients undergoing LIHR (1996-2004) at one District General Hospital were collected, including demographics, body mass index, pre-operative pain, LIHR type (TEP or TAPP, primary/recurrent, unilateral/bilateral) and post-operative complications including CPP (pain lasting > or = 1 year). RESULTS: A total of 881 patients underwent LIHR (1,029 hernias). Of these, 523 (60%) patients completed the questionnaire, and 72/523 (13.8%) patients experienced CPP. Presence of pre-operative pain (P < 0.001), recurrent LIHR (P = 0.021) and age < 50 years (P < 0.001) were significantly correlated with CPP. CONCLUSION: Chronic post-operative pain following LIHR is more prevalent than recurrence. Pre-operative pain, surgery for recurrent inguinal hernias (following anterior repair) and younger age at surgery predict development of CPP. Identification of 'high-risk' patients may improve management, reducing morbidity and cost.

Anatomical distribution of colorectal cancer over a 10 year period in a district general hospital: is there a true "rightward shift"?

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies of patients with colorectal cancer have suggested a shift towards the proximal colon and an increase in the incidence of right sided colon cancer. This study aimed to determine the anatomical distribution of colorectal cancer over a 10 year period in a district general hospital. METHODS: Records of patients diagnosed with primary colorectal cancer from 1993 to 2002 were reviewed for demographic data, histology subtype, and anatomical location of the tumour. Tumours located at and proximal to the splenic flexure were defined as right sided cancer and tumours arising distal to the splenic flexure were defined as left sided cancer. RESULTS: A total of 763 patients were included in the study, of whom all had adenocarcinoma and 99% were white. Sixty nine percent of cancers were left sided and 31% were right sided. Although there was a 4% increase in the proportion of right sided cancers, there was no statistically significant increase using logistic regression analysis. Mann-Whitney U test revealed no significant difference in age at diagnosis between the right and left sided cancers. Although a higher proportion of females were diagnosed with right sided cancer compared with left sided cancer, this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The anatomical distribution of colorectal cancer has been fairly stable at this hospital with no evidence of a shift towards the proximal colon. No differences were identified in the tumour distribution with respect to gender and age at diagnosis. Our findings support the initial application of flexible sigmoidoscopy for investigating patients with suspected colorectal malignancy and follow up colonoscopy for selected patients to exclude right sided pathology.

Effects of anticoagulation and ileal resection on the development and spread of experimental intestinal carcinomas.

The possibility that anticoagulation with warfarin might inhibit the development of spontaneous metastases from intestinal carcinomas induced by azoxymethane (AOM) was tested in Sprague-Dawley rats with and without 60% distal small-bowel resection (DSBR). Warfarin (0.5 mg/l) was added to the drinking water from 1 week or 12 weeks postoperatively, and thromboplastin times were measured thereafter. AOM was given by 12 weekly s.c. injections (10 mg/kg/week), starting 1 week after DSBR. Besides increasing the sensitivity of rats to warfarin, DSBR itself caused partial anticoagulation, probably because of vitamin K malabsorption: at 30 weeks faecal fat was 59-93% higher, while serum B12 was 40% lower (> 0.05 P > 0.005). Adaptive growth of the jejunum and caecum after DSBR was manifested by 22-76% increases in segmental weight and surface area (P < 0.001). DSBR produced a 4-fold increase in duodenojejunal tumours at 15-25 weeks (P = 0.025) and a 76% increase in colorectal tumours at 25-35 weeks (P < 0.005). Eight of 20 control rats dying after 15 weeks had lymphatic metastases, compared with 0 of 15 rats with DSBR plus warfarin from week 1 (P = 0.005). The overall prevalence of metastases was reduced by both DSBR and warfarin, when assessed independently. Intestinal carcinogenesis induced by AOM is enhanced by the adaptive response to DSBR, but anticoagulation inhibits spontaneous metastases in this model.

Serial insulin tests over a five-year period after highly selective vagotomy for duodenal ulcer.

Twenty-one patients underwent serial insulin testing, approximately 1 week, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years after highly selective vagotomy (HSV) for duodenal ulcer (DU). They were thought to be representative of the much larger number of patients who have undergone HSV for DU in Leeds. The results obtained were compared with the responses to insulin of 40 other DU patients who were tested before HSV. Before operation, all tests were positive in the 1st hr after insulin ("early-positive") by Hollander's criteria and the mean peak acid response to insulin after subtraction of basal acid output (PAO1) was 33 mEq per hr. One week after HSV, all 21 tests were negative and mean PAOI was 0.05 mEq per hr. One year after HSV, 62% OF 21 tests were Hollander-positive and PAOI had increased significantly (P less than or equal to 0.001) to a mean of 2.3 mEq per hr. Three years after HSV, 15 of 17 tests (94%) were Hollander-positive and mean PAOI was 3.1 mEq per hr (0.1 greater than or equal to P greater than or equal 0.05, compared with PAOI at 1 year). Five years after HSV, 65% of 20 tests were positive and mean PAOI was 3.5 mEq per hr, a significant increase (P less than or equal 0.05) compared with PAOI at 1 year. Only 2 patients (10%) had consistently negative insulin tests over the 5-year period and neither of them was tested 3 years after operation. Thus, HSV was found to abolish consistently the acid response to insulin soon after operation, but on serial testing 90% of the patients eventually developed positive responses to insulin by Hollander's criteria. Most of the acid responses to insulin after HSV were small and the mean reduction in PAOI 5 years after compared with PAOI before operation is approximately 90%. The positive responses to insulin in the long term after HSV could be due to vagal nerve regeneration or to other causes. After a mean period of follow-up of 5 years (range 3 1/2 to 6 1/2 years), only 1 of the first 100 patients who were treated by HSV for DU in Leeds has so far developed recurrent ulceration. The findings of a positive response to insulin by Hollander's criteria more than 1 year after HSV appears to have no prognostic significance.

Long term effect of highly selective vagotomy on basal and maximal acid output in man.

Basal acid output (BAO) and Maximal acid outputs (MAO) were measured 5 years after highly selective vagotomy (HSV) in 21 patients who had previously undergone serial testing of BAO and MAO for up to 2 years after HSV. BAO was found to have decreased from a mean of 1.7 mEq per hr, 1 year after HSV, to 1.4 mEq per hr, 5 years after HSV (not significant). The mean reduction in BAO at 5 years, compared with the preoperative BAO of 8.4 mEq per hr, was 79%. The mean peak acid response to pentagastrin (PAO-Pg) increased from 20.2 mEq per hr at 1 year to 22.6 mEq per hr at 5 years (0.1 greater than P greater than 0.05). The mean reduction in PAO-Pg, compared with the preoperative PAO-Pg of 43 mEq per hr, was 51% at 1 year and 48% at 5 years. Inasmuch as acid outputs seem unlikely to increase further after 5 years, it is concluded that HSV produces a permanent reduction of about 80% in basal acid output and 50% in maximal acid output.

Simplified computer-aided diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.

A simplified version of a system for computer-aided diagnosis of acute abdominal pain has been tested by "new" personnel unfamiliar with the previous system. After a two-month learning period the system proved more accurate in its diagnoses than the unaided clinician, and during the first five months of using the system the unaided clinicians' accuracy rose from 73% to 84%. When computer "feedback" was withdrawn the clinicians' diagnostic accuracy reverted towards the previous, "unaided" level. These findings further validate the concept of the computer as a potentially valuable diagnostic aid but indicate that a training period and computer feedback are important factors in its 4 use.

Faecal fat excretion after truncal, selective, and highly selective vagotomy for duodenal ulcer.

Faecal fat excretion was measured on a metabolic ward in 16 patients with duodenal ulcer before operation, and in patients who were in good health more than one year after truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty (n = 11), bilateral selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty (n = 9), or highly selective vagotomy without a drainage procedure (HSV, n = 12). Excretion of faecal fat was significantly greater (p < 0.01) in patients after both truncal and selective vagotomy with drainage than in patients before operation. Fat excretion in HSV patients was little different from that of preoperative patients. If steatorrhoea is defined as a faecal fat output of more than 6 g per day, one of 16 preoperative patients with duodenal ulcer (6%) had steatorrhoea, one of 12 HSV patients (8%) had steatorrhoea, one of nine patients after selective vagotomy and pyloroplasty (11%) had steatorrhoea but five of 11 patients after truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty (45%) had steatorrhoea.