Effect of intraoperative botulinum toxin injection on delayed gastric emptying and need for endoscopic pyloric intervention following esophagectomy: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression analysis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of intraoperative botulinum toxin (BT) injection on delayed gastric emptying (DGE) and need for endoscopic pyloric intervention (NEPI) following esophagectomy. In compliance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses statement standards, a systematic review of studies reporting the outcomes of intraoperative BT injection in patients undergoing esophagectomy for esophageal cancer was conducted. Proportion meta-analysis model was constructed to quantify the risk of the outcomes and direct comparison meta-analysis model was constructed to compare the outcomes between BT injection and no BT injection or surgical pyloroplasty. Meta-regression was modeled to evaluate the effect of variations in different covariates among the individual studies on overall summary proportions. Nine studies enrolling 1070 patients were included. Pooled analyses showed that the risks of DGE and NEPI following intraoperative BT injection were 13.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.9-18.6%) and 15.2% (95% CI: 7.9-22.5%), respectively. There was no difference between BT injection and no BT injection in terms of DGE (odds ratio [OR]: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.20-1.61, P = 0.29) and NEPI (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 0.42-7.12, P = 0.45). Moreover, BT injection was comparable to pyloroplasty in terms of DGE (OR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.35-2.08, P = 0.73) and NEPI (OR: 8.20, 95% CI: 0.63-105.90, P = 0.11). Meta-regression suggested that male gender was negatively associated with the risk of DGE (coefficient: -0.007, P = 0.003). In conclusion, level 2 evidence suggests that intraoperative BT injection may not improve the risk of DGE and NEPI in patients undergoing esophagectomy. The risk of DGE seems to be higher in females and in early postoperative period. High quality randomized controlled trials with robust statistical power are required for definite conclusions. The results of the current study can be used for hypothesis synthesis and power analysis in future prospective trials.

Barrett's Registry Collaboration of academic centers in Ireland reveals high progression rate of low-grade dysplasia and low risk from nondysplastic Barrett's esophagus: report of the RIBBON network.

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the main pathological precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Progression to high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or EAC from nondysplastic BE (NDBE), low-grade dysplasia (LGD) and indefinite for dysplasia (IND) varies widely between population-based studies and specialized centers for many reasons, principally the rigor of the biopsy protocol and the accuracy of pathologic definition. In the Republic of Ireland, a multicenter prospective registry and bioresource (RIBBON) was established in 2011 involving six academic medical centers, and this paper represents the first report from this network. A detailed clinical, endoscopic and pathologic database registered 3,557 patients. BE was defined strictly by both endoscopic evidence of Barrett's epithelium and the presence of specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM). A prospective web-based database was used to gather information with initial and follow-up data abstracted by a data manager at each site. A total of 2,244 patients, 1,925 with no dysplasia, were included with complete follow-up. The median age at diagnosis was 60.5 with a 2.1:1 male to female ratio and a median follow-up time of 2.7 years (IQR 1.19-4.04), and 6609.25 person years. In this time period, 125 (5.57%) progressed to HGD/EAC, with 74 (3.3%) after 1 year of follow-up and 38 (1.69%) developed EAC, with 20 (0.89%) beyond 1 year. The overall incidence of HGD/EAC was 1.89% per year; 1.16% if the first year is excluded. The risk of progression to EAC alone overall was 0.57% per year, 0.31% excluding the first year, and 0.21% in the 1,925 patients who had SIM alone at diagnosis. Low-grade dysplasia (LGD) progressed to HGD/EAC in 31% of patients, a progression rate of 12.96% per year, 6.71% with the first year excluded. In a national collaboration of academic centers in Ireland, the progression rate for NDBE was similar to recent population studies. Almost one in two who progressed was evident within 1 year. Crucially, LGD diagnosed and confirmed by specialist gastrointestinal pathologists represents truly high-risk disease, highlighting the importance of expertise in diagnosis and management, and providing indirect support for ablative therapies in this context.

The 100 most cited manuscripts in emergency abdominal surgery: A bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND: The number of citations a scientific article receives provides a good indication of its impact within any given field. This bibliometric analysis aimed to identify the 100 most cited articles in Emergency Abdominal Surgery (EAS), to highlight key areas of interest and identify those that have most significantly shaped contemporary clinical practice in this newly evolving surgical specialty. This is of increasing relevance as concerns grow regarding the variable and suboptimal outcomes in Emergency General Surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Thomson Reuters Web of Science database was used to search using the terms [Emergency AND Abdom* AND Surg*] to identify all English language, full manuscripts. Results were ranked according to citation number. The top 100 articles were further analysed by subject, author, journal, year of publication, institution, and country of origin. RESULTS: The median (range) citation number of the top 100 out of 7433 eligible papers was 131 (1569-97). The most cited paper (by Goldman et al., Massachusetts General Hospital, New England Journal of Medicine; 1569 citations) focused on cardiac risk stratification in non-cardiac surgery. The Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care published the most papers and received most citations (n = 19; 2954 citations. The majority of papers were published by centres in the USA (n = 52; 9422 citations), followed by the UK (n = 13; 1816 citations). The most common topics of publication concerned abdominal aneurysm management (n = 26) and emergency gastrointestinal surgery (n = 26). CONCLUSION: Vascular surgery, risk assessment and gastrointestinal surgery were the areas of focus for 59% of the contemporary most cited emergency abdominal surgery manuscripts. By providing the most influential references this work serves as a guide to what makes a citable emergency surgery paper.

Relative accuracy of emergency CT in adults with non-traumatic abdominal pain.

OBJECTIVE: CT examination prior to emergency laparotomy has become ubiquitous in contemporary clinical practice, but the relative accuracy of CT in this context has not been widely reported. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and strength of agreement between the perceived pre-operative CT diagnosis and operative findings. METHODS: Data from patients undergoing pre-operative CT prior to emergency laparotomy from January 2013 to June 2014 in a large teaching hospital were analysed. The CT diagnosis was compared with operative findings using the χ(2) test and weighted kappa statistic (Kw). Results were further analysed related to the time of day the CT was reported, anatomical location and grade of the reporting radiologist. RESULTS: 361 patients [median age 67 years (18-98 years); 180 males] underwent CT prior to emergency laparotomy. CT reports were deemed accurate in 318 (88.1%) cases and inaccurate in 43 (11.9%) cases, which resulted in 5 negative laparotomies in this latter cohort (11.6%, χ(2) 37.50, df 1; p < 0.0001). Accuracy and strength of agreement varied with anatomical location of the pathology; upper gastrointestinal (UGI) 75.5%, Kw 0.673 (0.531-0.815; p < 0.001); small bowel 89.9%, Kw 0.781 (0.687-0.875, p < 0.001); lower gastrointestinal (LGI) 90.4%, Kw 0.821 (0.749-0.893; p < 0.001). CT examinations reported within normal working hours had higher strength of agreement [Kw 0.832 (0.768-0.896), p < 0.001] than CTs reported out of hours [Kw 0.789 (0.721-0.857), p < 0.001], but there was no significant difference in overall accuracy (89.9 vs 86.0%; χ(2) 1.306, df 1, p = 0.253). Reporter seniority was not associated with improved diagnostic accuracy (χ(2) 1.825, df 1; p = 0.177). CONCLUSION: CT agreement with emergency operative pathology was good to excellent, but the strength of agreement varied in relation to anatomical location of pathology. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Overall accuracy was 88.1% with good to excellent agreement between pre-operative CT and emergency laparotomy findings in adult patients with non-traumatic abdominal pain in the acute setting. Diagnostic accuracy of CT reporting varies with anatomical location of pathology.

Diagnostic miss rate for colorectal cancer: an audit.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common cancer worldwide. While screening improves survival, avoiding delayed diagnosis in symptomatic patients is crucial. Computed tomographic colonography (CTC) or colonoscopy is recommended as first-line investigation and most societies recommend counseling patients undergoing colonoscopy about a miss rate of 5%. This audit evaluates "miss rate" of colorectal investigations, which have led to diagnostic delay in symptomatic cases in a district general hospital in the United Kingdom. METHODS: This is a retrospective review of 150 consecutive CRC cases presenting between August 2010 and July 2011. Evidence of bowel investigations done in the 3 years prior to diagnosis was obtained from computerized health records. Data regarding previous bowel investigations such as colonoscopy, CTC, double contrast barium enema (DCBE), and CT abdomen/pelvis were collected. RESULTS: 6.7% cases were identified via screening pathway while 93% were identified through symptomatic pathway. 17% (26/150) of newly diagnosed CRC had been investigated in the preceding 3 years. Of these, 8% (12/150) had false negative results. The false negative rate for CRC diagnosis was 3.5% for colonoscopy (3/85), 6.7% for CTC (1/17), 9.4% for CT (5/53), and 26.7% for DCBE (4/15). Some patients had a missed diagnosis despite more than one diagnostic test. Time delay to diagnosis ranged from 21-456 days. CONCLUSIONS: 17% of patients diagnosed with CRC had been investigated in the previous 3 years. Higher miss rate of barium enema should preclude its use as a first-line modality to investigate CRC.

Parathyroid cysts: a clinical and radiological challenge.

Parathyroid cysts are rare causes of neck swelling accounting for 0.6% of thyroid and parathyroid lesions. They may be functional, resulting in the release of parathyroid hormone, or non-functional. Non-functional cysts may be cosmetically unacceptable or cause dysphagia, dyspnoea or recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy as a result of compression. This article presents a young woman who was diagnosed with a thyroid cyst both on examination and imaging. However, the final histology confirmed this to be parathyroid in origin and this should be considered in the differential of such neck swellings.