Laparoscopic anterior rectopexy to the promontory for full-thickness rectal prolapse in 175 consecutive patients: short- and long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: There are multiple procedures to treat full-thickness rectal prolapse. No consensus exists as to the best surgical option. All procedures have a significant recurrence rate. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to report short- and long-term technical results following laparoscopic removal of the Douglas pouch peritoneum and anterior rectopexy in patients with total rectal prolapse. DESIGN: This study is a prospective evaluation of consecutive patients. SETTINGS: This investigation was conducted at a single academic colorectal unit. PATIENTS: Between May 1996 and June 2009, 175 consecutive patients (17 males) with a mean age of 58 years (range, 16-94) were operated on. INTERVENTION: The Douglas pouch peritoneum was excised, 2 synthetic meshes were fixated to the anterior part of the lower rectum with five 4-mm staples and to the promontory with 3 spiked chromium staples, and the peritoneum was closed over the meshes to isolate them from the abdominal cavity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were reviewed at months 1, 6, 12, and then annually. Mortality, morbidity, and recurrence were analyzed. Median follow-up was 74 months (range, 24-181). Recurrence rate was calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: : There was no mortality. Morbidity (5.1%) consisted in temporary brachial plexus palsy in 2 cases, urinary infection in 3 cases, ureteral lesion in 1 patient having had a previous bone graft on the promontory for spondylolisthesis (JJ catheter), and perforation of the small bowel because of adhesions (laparoscopic suture) in 1 case. One patient presented with a rectal erosion at month 9 (transanal removal of the mesh). Two patients presented with a recurrence of the rectal prolapse at months 6 and 24 (recurrence rate of 3% at 5 years) that was treated with anal artificial sphincter in one and redo operation in the other. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic removal of the Douglas pouch peritoneum and rectopexy to the promontory is a safe and efficient procedure to treat full-thickness rectal prolapse.

Hepatic arterial embolization in the management of blunt hepatic trauma: indications and complications.

BACKGROUND: The objective was to clarify the role of hepatic arterial embolization (AE) in the management of blunt hepatic trauma. METHODS: Retrospective observational study of 183 patients with blunt hepatic trauma admitted to a trauma referral center over a 9-year period. The charts of 29 patients (16%) who underwent hepatic angiography were reviewed for demographics, injury specific data, management strategy, angiographic indication, efficacy and complications of embolization, and outcome. RESULTS: AE was performed in 23 (79%) of the patients requiring angiography. Thirteen patients managed conservatively underwent emergency embolization after preliminary computed tomography scan. Six had postoperative embolization after damage control laparotomy and four had delayed embolization. Arterial bleeding was controlled in all the cases. Sixteen patients (70%) had one or more liver-related complications; temporary biliary leak (n=11), intra-abdominal hypertension (n=14), inflammatory peritonitis (n=3), hepatic necrosis (n=3), gallbladder infarction (n=2), and compressive subcapsular hematoma (n=1). Unrecognized hepatic necrosis could have contributed to the late posttraumatic death of one patient. CONCLUSION: AE is a key element in modern management of high-grade liver injuries. Two principal indications exist in the acute postinjury phase: primary hemostatic control in hemodynamically stable or stabilized patients with radiologic computed tomography evidence of active arterial bleeding and adjunctive hemostatic control in patients with uncontrolled suspected arterial bleeding despite emergency laparotomy. Successful management of injuries of grade III upward often entails a combined angiographic and surgical approach. Awareness of the ischemic complications due to angioembolization is important.

Doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation and rectoanal repair (HAL-RAR) for the treatment of grade IV hemorrhoids: long-term results in 100 consecutive patients.

BACKGROUND: Doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation is a minimally invasive technique for the treatment of symptomatic hemorrhoids that has been applied successfully for grade II and III hemorrhoids but is less effective for grade IV hemorrhoids. Development of a special proctoscope enabled the combination of hemorrhoidal artery ligation with transanal rectoanal repair (mucopexy), which serves to lift and then secure the protruding hemorrhoids in place. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe our experience with this combined procedure in the treatment of grade IV hemorrhoids. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Outpatient colorectal surgery unit. PATIENTS: Consecutive patients with grade IV hemorrhoids treated from April 2006 to December 2008. INTERVENTION: Hemorrhoidal artery ligation-rectoanal repair. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Operating time, number of ligations, number of mucopexies and associated procedures, and postoperative symptoms were recorded. Pain was graded on a visual analog scale. Follow-up was at 2, 6, and 12 months after surgery, and then annually. RESULTS: A total of 100 consecutive patients (64 women, 36 men) with grade IV hemorrhoids were included. Preoperative symptoms were bleeding in 80 and pain in 71 patients; 19 patients had undergone previous surgical treatment for the disease. The mean operative time was 35 (range, 17-60) minutes, with a mean of 9 (range, 4-14) ligations placed per patient. Eighty-four patients were discharged on the day of the operation. Nine patients developed early postoperative complications: pain in 6, bleeding in 4, dyschezia in 1, and thrombosis of residual hemorrhoids in 3. Late complications occurred in 4 patients and were managed conservatively. Recurrence was observed in 9 patients (9%), with a mean follow-up of 34 (range, 14-42) months. LIMITATIONS: The 2 main weaknesses of the study were the lack of very long-term follow-up and the absence of a comparison with hemorrhoidectomy or hemorrhoidopexy. CONCLUSION: Doppler-guided hemorrhoidal artery ligation with rectoanal repair is safe, easy to perform, and should be considered as an effective option for the treatment of grade IV hemorrhoids.

Sacral nerve stimulation for fecal incontinence: causes of surgical revision from a series of 87 consecutive patients operated on in a single institution.

PURPOSE: Sacral nerve stimulation is offered to patients presenting with fecal incontinence of neurological or idiopathic etiology, when medical management has failed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of surgical revision following sacral nerve stimulation in consecutive patients who had received implants. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From September 2001 to August 2009, 123 patients (105 women) of mean age 56 years were operated on for neurological (n = 104) or idiopathic (n = 19) fecal incontinence. The mean preoperative Cleveland Clinic score was 13/20 (range 6/20 to 19/20). Eighty-seven patients of 123 had a positive test and underwent stimulator implantation. Any stimulator dysfunction was prospectively studied. RESULTS: Among the 87 patients, 36 had surgical revision of the device for the following reasons: device-related failure due to infection in 4 (successful reimplant in 4), electrode displacement in 2, electrode breakage in 2 (reimplantation of electrode in 4), and dysfunction owing to impedance increase of the system in 4; adverse stimulation with pain in 7 (stimulator repositioning in 4 and explantation in 3); battery depletion either spontaneously (n = 6) or owing to a MRI examination (n = 2); total or partial loss of clinical efficacy in 9 (removal of the generator and electrode). CONCLUSION: Sacral nerve stimulation is a recognized treatment for fecal incontinence. The stimulator reoperation rate is high and is caused by stimulator dysfunction in 24% of cases.

Can adequate lymphadenectomy be obtained by laparoscopic resection in rectal cancer? Results of a case-control study in 200 patients.

AIM: The aim of this study is to compare pathological findings in rectal cancer specimens obtained by laparoscopy or laparotomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bowel length, distal and circumferential margins, and number of total and positive nodes harvested were prospectively recorded in specimens obtained from 100 consecutive patients who had a laparoscopic total mesorectal excision for cancer. These data were compared with those extracted from a well-matched group of 100 patients who had an open procedure. RESULTS: The mean length of the specimens was 31.04 cm in the case group and 29.45 cm in the control group (not significant (NS)). All distal margins in both groups were negative. The circumferential margin was positive in four cases in the case group and nine cases in the control group (NS). The mean number of lymph nodes harvested was 13.76 nodes/patient in the case group and 12.74 nodes/patient in the control group (NS). The mean number of involved lymph nodes was 1.18 node/case in the case group and 1.96 node/case in group 2 (NS). CONCLUSION: There is no difference between laparoscopic or open approaches concerning specimen's length, distal margin, circumferential margin, and total and positive lymph nodes. Laparoscopic rectal resection is not only technically feasible but it seems also oncologically safe.

Delayed celiotomy or laparoscopy as part of the nonoperative management of blunt hepatic trauma.

BACKGROUND: Nonoperative management (NOM) is considered standard treatment for 80% of blunt hepatic trauma (BHT). NOM is associated with some events that may require delayed operation (DO), usually considered a criterion of failure of NOM. METHODS: A retrospective case note review was performed on 257 consecutive patients with BHT, with a median age of 32.7 years, admitted from 1994 to 2005. We considered the 186 patients (72%) who had an initial indication of NOM, and focused on the 28 patients who were secondarily operated (DO), mainly on the 22 patients operated on for liver-related indications. Celioscopy was used in five cases. RESULTS: The severity grade of these 22 patients was: zero grade I, seven grade II, ten grade III, four grade IV, one grade V. The timing of DO varied from day 0 to day 11. Ten patients were operated on for a peritoneal inflammatory syndrome. Death occurred in three patients at days 2, 10, and 125. One was attributed to underestimation of hepatic necrosis, another to a nondiagnosed peritoneal inflammatory syndrome; 27, 3% of the patients had liver-related complications. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that BHT treated by NOM must be frequently reevaluated and that DO is an actual part of the so-called nonoperative treatment. The use of laparoscopic washing has to be proposed as soon as day 3 or 5 in patients with large hemoperitoneum and any sign of inflammatory response (fever, leukocytosis, discomfort, tachycardia).

Place of arterial embolization in severe blunt hepatic trauma: a multidisciplinary approach.

This study evaluates the efficacy of arterial embolization (AE) for blunt hepatic traumas (BHT) as part of a combined management strategy based on the hemodynamic status of patients and CT findings. From 2000 to 2005, 84 patients were admitted to our hospital for BHT. Of these, 14 patients who had high-grade injuries (grade III [n = 2], grade IV [n = 9], grade V [n = 3]) underwent AE because of arterial bleeding and were included in the study. They were classified into three groups according to their hemodynamic status: (1) unresponsive shock, (2) shock improved with resuscitation, and (3) hemodynamic stability. Four patients (group 1) underwent, first, laparotomy with packing and, then, AE for persistent bleeding. Ten patients who were hemodynamically stable (group 1) or even unstable (group 2) underwent AE first, based on CT findings. AE was successful in all cases. The mortality rate was 7% (1/14). Only two angiography-related complications (gallbladder infarction) were reported. Liver-related complications (abdominal compartment syndrome and biliary complications) were frequent and often required secondary interventions. Our multidisciplinary approach for the management of BHT gives a main role to embolization, even for hemodynamically unstable patients. In this strategy AE is very efficient and has a low complication rate.

Selective venous sampling in recurrent and persistent hyperparathyroidism: indication, technique, and results.

Between 1992 and 2002, 542 patients underwent a surgical treatment for hyperparathyroidism in our department. Twenty-three selective venous sampling procedures (SVS) were performed because of the failure of the other methods of diagnosis. These patients have recurrent or persistent hyperparathyroidism. Noninvasive methods of topographical diagnosis have failed or they have given contradictory results. In our experience, the surgeon needs a precise localization of the pathological glands in these difficult cases. In our series of SVS, specificity was 85.7% and sensitivity was 94.7%. Our results show that a high postoperative gradient of parathyroid hormone in the internal thoracic veins indicates an ectopic pathological gland in the thymus. A high gradient in a vertebral vein indicates a pathological superior parathyroid gland, usually in a retro-esophageal position.

Computer-aided hepatic tumour ablation: requirements and preliminary results.

Surgical resection of hepatic tumours is not always possible, since it depends on different factors, among which their location inside the liver functional segments. Alternative techniques consist in local use of chemical or physical agents to destroy the tumour. Radio frequency and cryosurgical ablations are examples of such alternative techniques that may be performed percutaneously. This requires a precise localisation of the tumour placement during ablation. Computer-assisted surgery tools may be used in conjunction with these new ablation techniques to improve the therapeutic efficiency, whilst they benefit from minimal invasiveness. This paper introduces the principles of a system for computer-assisted hepatic tumour ablation and describes preliminary experiments focusing on data registration evaluation. To keep close to conventional protocols, we consider registration of pre-operative CT or MRI data to intra-operative echographic data.