Oesophageal and gastric obstruction in a cocaine body packer.

While the management of asymptomatic body packers is mainly conservative, few individuals will require surgery for acute toxicity related to packets rupture, intestinal obstruction or very slow progression of the packages. Obstruction of the lower oesophagus or stomach is not frequently reported. We report the case of a 49-year-old woman who had ingested 92 cocaine-containing packages. She was admitted to the hospital after opioid syndrome related to the intake of morphine and codeine to decrease intestinal transit. The presence of more than 80 packages was suspected in the stomach on the initial abdomen computed tomography. Due to the absence of progression of the packages after four days of well-conducted laxative therapy and to major gastric distension at abdomen tomography, surgery was decided and gastrotomy allowed the evacuation of 80 packages that were still present in the stomach or in the lower oesophagus. In addition, 12 other packages had been retrieved either after laxative therapy (9) or by evacuation via the anal canal (3) after palpation of the intestine during the surgical procedure. No complication was observed.

Transinguinal preperitoneal groin hernia repair using a preperitoneal mesh preformed with a permanent memory ring: a good alternative to Lichtenstein's technique.

PURPOSE: The transinguinal preperitoneal (TIPP) technique uses a preperitoneal mesh preformed with a permanent memory ring, which greatly facilitates application of Rives' technique. The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate our primary results by systematic clinical and ultrasound evaluations more than 1 year after surgery. METHODS: This unicentric study included all consecutive adult patients treated with surgery for a groin hernia by the same surgeon using the same technique between December 2006 and December 2008. Any patient who participated in this study had both a systematic clinical and ultrasound control between 6 months and 3 years after surgery. RESULTS: In this study, we performed 145 hernia repairs. There was no infection of the mesh and no clinical recurrence; additionally there was an ultrasound recurrence (n = 3) in 2% of asymptomatic patients and chronic pain in 4.8% of patients who did not require the consumption of systematic painkillers and are not limited in their activities. CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to correct a groin hernia using a preperitoneal preformed mesh with a permanent memory ring. Our study confirms the positive results of Pélissier and colleagues (Pélissier and Ngo, Ann Chir 131:590-594, 2006; Pélissier et al. J Chir 144(4):5S35-5S40, 2007; Pélissier et al. Hernia 11:229-234, 2007; Pélissier et al. Hernia 12:51-56, 2007) and Berrevoet et al. (Hernia 13:243-249, 2009; Langenbeck's Arch Surg 395:557-562, 2010) and is the first study to use a systematic clinical and ultrasound control more than 1 year after surgery. This technique has a low rate of complications, including ultrasound recurrence in 2% of patients without any clinical recurrence and chronic pain in 4.8% of patients who did not require the consumption of systematic painkillers and are not limited in their activities. This technique consisted of the placement of a patch in the preperitoneal space, which combines the benefits of the anterior approach (i.e., easy technique, short learning curve, low cost) and the preperitoneal placement of the mesh (less recurrence, less pain). This procedure is a good alternative to Lichtenstein's technique.