Multi-visceral resection of malignant tumors with left-sided portal hypertension.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Left-sided portal hypertension (LSPH) is an uncommon clinical syndrome which may lead to bleeding from isolated gastric varices and pancreatitis is the most common etiology. Despite the particular rare incidence of LPSH caused by malignant tumor, the optimal management remains undefined. METHODOLOGY: From January 2006 to December 2009, a total of 8 patients of left-sided portal hypertension caused by malignancies were admitted into the department of surgery of our hospital. Medical records of those patients were retrieved and analyzed, including etiologies, clinical presentations, diagnostic methods and surgical approaches. RESULTS: Of current series, pancreatic tumors (5/8) and retroperitoneal tumors (3/8) were the primary etiologies. Those patients mainly presented with upper gastrointestinal bleeding or irregular left upper abdominal pain and isolated gastric varices became important clinical evidence. All those patients were performed multi-visceral resection. No recurrent upper gastrointestinal bleeding occurred during the follow-up period and three patients died 6, 18 and 21 months postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Although LSPH caused by malignant tumor is uncommon and difficult to deal with, deliberate evaluation of preoperative CT images will ensure the success of an aggressive multi-visceral resection and the prognoses in those patients are relatively promising.

Amyand's hernia in elderly patients: diagnostic, anesthetic, and perioperative considerations.

The presence of a vermiform appendix in an inguinal hernia sac is termed as Amyand's hernia. Although rare, mistakes in diagnosis and treatment can cause catastrophic results. Charts of patients with inguinal hernia were reviewed, and four cases of Amyand's hernia were confirmed. The clinical presentation, anesthetic, and perioperative management of Amyand's hernia were further analyzed. The mean age of patients was over 70 years, and all were males. None of the patients were diagnosed preoperatively. All the patients had little abdominal complaint only with a right inguinal mass and dragging sensation for several hours. Due to the short time after incarceration and significant cardiovascular and pulmonary comorbidities, manual reduction was attempted first in three patients. With complete preoperative evaluation and careful perioperative support, all patients underwent appendectomy and Bassini's hernia repair through a groin incision. Based on age-related organ failure and associated chronic medical illnesses of geriatric patients, the difficulties in the diagnosis and treatment are also summarized and analyzed.

The plication and splinting procedure for idiopathic sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis.

Idiopathic sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (ISEP) is a rare cause of small intestinal obstruction. Histologically, ISEP is characterized by a thick fibrotic membrane encasing the small bowel without any apparent pathophysiological factors. While ISEP is predominantly present congenitally in female adolescents from subtropical region, it has been identified throughout the world. Evidence-based effective diagnostics and treatments are pitifully thin. We experienced six cases, four males and two females, which exhibited symptoms in their later thirties and forties. Five patients presented with acute and subacute intestinal obstruction, and one patient with cryptorchidism and seminoma was referred. Due to the limitation in distention and motility of bowel loops of ISEP, imaging exams may not be very reliable for accurate diagnosis and estimation of obstruction progress. They were successfully treated with the mesenteric plication and intraluminal splinting procedures. Two cases had an uneventful postoperative period, and the returns of normal bowel function were delayed in the other four patients. Two recurrences of small bowel obstructions were noted over a mean follow-up period of 33 months with mild symptoms. This article reviews the patterns of clinical presentations, diagnostic clues, and theories of potential risk factors of ISEP as well as its controversial surgical managements.

Surgical management in biliary restricture after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for bile duct injury.

AIM: To discuss the surgical method and skill of biliary restricture after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for bile duct injury. METHODS: From November 2005 to December 2006, eight patients with biliary restricture after Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for bile duct injury were admitted to our hospital. Their clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: Bile duct injury was caused by cholecystectomy in the eight cases, including seven cases with laparoscopic cholecystectomy and one with mini-incision choleystectomy. According to the classification of Strasberg, type E1 injury was found in one patient, type E2 injury in three, type E3 injury in two and type E4 injury in two patients. Both of the type E4 injury patients also had a vascular lesion of the hepatic artery. Six patients received Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for the second time, and one of them who had type E4 injury with the right hepatic artery disruption received right hepatectomy afterward. One patient who had type E4 injury with the proper hepatic artery lesion underwent liver transplantation, and the remaining one with type E3 injury received external biliary drainage. All the patients recovered fairly well postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy is still the main approach for such failed surgical cases with bile duct injury. Special attention should be paid to concomitant vascular injury in these cases. The optimal timing and meticulous and excellent skills are essential to the success in this surgery.

[Clinical degree of the superior mesenteric vein involvement with the surgery in the pancreas uncinate process carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To create the clinical degree of the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) involvement in pancreas uncinate process carcinoma (PUPC) and its clinical significance to be discussed. METHODS: According to the contiguous relationship between the SMV and the PUPC, the clinical degree of SMV involvement in PUPC are as followings four grades, 1 grade, the grade of clear boundary. 2 grade, the grade of fuzzy boundary. 3 grade, the grade of dissolved boundary. 4 grade, the grade of SMV infringed. The coherence between the type under the CT scan (Tx) and the type under the inoperative judgement (Sx) were analyzed with Kappa-test. RESULTS: There is a significant difference between the grade of SMV involvement and the surgery. The resection rate is 100% in 1st grade, 97.4% in 2nd grade, 65.8% in 3rd grade and 21.7% in 4th grade. There is coherent in the degree judgement between the CT scan and the inoperative inspection (U = 15.96, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: There is clinical significance to establish the degree of SMV involvement in PUPC. It is helpful for clinician to accurately know its anatomic characteristic and decide more reasonable surgical strategy.

The solid-pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas: the clinical characteristics and surgical treatment.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Since being named and reclassified by WHO in 1996, solid-pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of pancreas has been recognized as a special entitative disease that is different from pancreatic cancer and should be recognized and treated more accurately in the surgical process. The clinic characteristics and surgical strategy on 25 cases of SPT of pancreas from the authors' center are discussed. METHODS: The clinical pathology and the surgical methods of 25 SPTs were retrospectively studied. The analyses were performed by the statistical software package SAS6.12. RESULTS: No tumor recurrences were found in all patients. There was significant difference between operative types in radical resection and the tumor position of the pancreas (P = 0.0011). The judgment on the tumor's boundary could directly affect the adoptable operative types (P = 0.0099). CONCLUSIONS: As a uniquely entitative disease, SPT is a kind of uncommon neoplasm with low-grade malignancy with a strong rate of occurrence in women. Surgical resection is most favorable in the treatment of SPT, which has excellent prognosis. The course of SPT, the possible malignant cells by the frozen section biopsy, and the tumor's boundary are important for operators to decide an operative scheme. SPT that has infiltrated contiguous vessels, organs, even with local liver metastasis should not be regarded as operative contraindication. The choice of the local tumor resection, the part of pancreas resection or radical resection depends on the judgment of the tumor's boundary, whereas operative types in radical resection depend on the tumor position of the pancreas.

Clinical misdiagnosis of solid pseudopapillary tumour of pancreas.

BACKGROUND: Since being reclassified by WHO in 1996, solid pseudopapillary tumour (SPT) of pancreas has been recognized as the internationally accepted name. Clinicians are lacking in knowledge of this rare disease so the misdiagnosis and inappropriate therapy are hard to avoid. The clinic data on 22 patients were summarized to study the misdiagnosis and treatment of a sample of SPTs. METHODS: Twenty-two female patients with SPT were studied retrospectively and divided into two groups, the misdiagnosed group and the correctly diagnosed one. The analyses were performed with Fisher test with accurate probability for categorical data, and Kruskal-Wallis test for ranked data. RESULTS: The rate of misdiagnosis in this sample was 45.5%. The misdiagnosed SPTs were apt to be the incomplete capsule ones (P = 0.020), which resulted in obvious difficulties during operation (P = 0.024). In the misdiagnosed SPT group, the medical expenses increased significantly (P = 0.042), and the number of days in hospital greater than in correctly diagnosed group (P = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS: Although SPT has low malignancy with excellent prognosis after surgical treatment in most patients, the misdiagnosis of SPT increases the social and economic burdens on patients. It is important to analyse the causes of misdiagnosis.

Reasonable choice of surgical procedures for patients with portal hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: To assess individualized therapeutic protocol for patients with portal hypertension on the basis of accumulated knowledge about the mechanism of portal hypertension. DATA SOURCES: Patients data on shunt and other surgical procedures from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China and the published papers. RESULTS: The direction of blood flow of the collateral vessels in the gastro-splenic region is an important factor in deciding surgical strategy because there is a close relationship between surgical risk and the classification of liver function. Clinically it is confirmed that each patient needs an individualized surgical procedure and that prophylactic operation is suitable for patients with splenomegaly, splenism associated with serious esophageal varices and hemorrhagic tendency under endoscopy but acceptable liver function. The shunt diameter (SD) (SD = 0.67 x PVD) is determined in our patients according to individualized hemodynamics. The rehemorrhagic rate after shunt being higher than that in others may be related to lesioned gastric mucosa caused by portal hypertension or bleeding and temporary melena. This finding is good for prevention of hepatic encephalopathy. The life quality and labor ability of patients will be improved because of hepatopetal flow in the portal vein. With strict indications for reoperation, selective operation is performed as soon as possible when hemorrhage is controlled conservatively and liver function improved. Once the patient with cirrhosis associated with portal hypertension is scheduled for liver transplantation, treatment of hemorrhage should aim to keep the patient in good condition and to avoid the protocol that may be disadvantageous to liver transplantation in the future. CONCLUSION: Surgical procedures for patients with portal hypertension should follow the principle of individualization. To obtain the best outcome, the choice of reasonable surgical procedure is expected.