Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis: the University of Puerto Rico experience.

OBJECTIVE: To review the experience with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis surgery for ulcerative colitis at the University Hospital. BACKGROUND: As many as 40% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 75% with Crohn's disease (CD) require some surgery for their disease. The number of patients referred to our clinics for evaluation and management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has risen in the past seven years. A multidisciplinary IBD service has been created at the University Hospital for the care of these patients, leading to a dramatic increase in the number of surgeries performed for IBD. Over the past decade the ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) has emerged as the procedure of choice in most patients with ulcerative colitis requiring total colectomy for management of their disease. Even though the procedure is associated with a considerable morbidity rate, it has become very popular since it avoids the need for a permanent stoma and presumably rids the patient of disease and subsequent cancer risk. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients were identified as having IPAA for ulcerative colitis between 1993-2000. Indications for surgery were intractability and toxic megacolon. Complications were pouchitis in 11/25 (44%), anastomotic stricture in 6/25 (24%), small bowel obstruction in 4/25 (16%), and pouch failure in 2/25 (8%). Other complications included wound abscess in 1/25 (4%), and sexual dysfunction in 1/25 (4%) patients. There was no mortality; the patients' quality of life was rated as greatly improved in 14 of 17 patients interviewed (82.4%) and 16 of 17 said they would recommend the surgery to others (94.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The results of IPAA surgery, morbidity, mortality, and patient satisfaction in our series were similar to other centers around the world.

[Spontaneous bladder perforation secondary to bacterial cystitis. Cause of acute abdomen in diabetic elderly]. / Perforación vesical espontánea secundaria a cistitis bacteriana. Causa de abdomen agudo en ancianos diabéticos.

Presentation of two clinical cases of spontaneous vesical rupture secondary to bacterial cystitis in elderly patients. One corresponds to an intraperitoneal perforation while the second case was extraperitoneal. The patients were, in both cases, diabetic women admitted in emergency due to acute abdomen. We considered that although vesical perforation secondary to bacterial cystitis is a very uncommon process, it should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen in predisposed patients (diabetic elderly patients with pyuria). In such instances, a retrograde cystography would provide the diagnosis. Although extraperitoneal vesical perforations can be resolved with a vesical catheter or cystostomy, extravasation of the infected urine may result in a perivesical abscess and septic shock. Early surgical management should be considered in these cases.

Invasive bladder cancer in women.

A total of 84 radical cystectomies were performed for invasive bladder cancer in 67 men (79.8%) and 17 women (20.2%). The present study investigated the possible sex-dependent differences in the pattern of invasive bladder cancer. More than 40% of the women presented lower urinary tract syndrome alone or with haematuria, giving a clinical picture similar to acute cystitis. This caused an average time-lag in diagnosis of 18.5 months in the women and 8 months in the men. There was a higher frequency of non-transitional cell carcinoma in the women (17.6%) than in the men (2.9%). We found statistically significant differences (p < 0.005) in tumor grade: 35.2% of the women had low grade tumors, compared to 7.4% of the men. However, no significant differences in staging or survival rate were found when comparing the two sexes. This leads us to believe that bladder cancer is less aggressive in women.