Complex penetrating duodenal injuries: less is better.

BACKGROUND: The traditional management of complex penetrating duodenal trauma (PDT) has been the use of elaborate temporizing and complex procedures such as the pyloric exclusion and duodenal diverticulization. We sought to determine whether a simplified surgical approach to the management of complex PDT injuries improves clinical outcome. METHODS: A retrospective review of all consecutive PDT from 2003 to 2012 was conducted. Patients were divided into three groups according to a simplified surgical algorithm devised following the local experience at a regional Level I trauma center. Postoperative duodenal leaks were drained externally either via traditional anterior drainage or via posterior "retroperitoneal laparostomy" as an alternate option. RESULTS: There were 44 consecutive patients with PDT, and 41 of them (93.2%) were from gunshot wounds. Seven patients were excluded owing to early intraoperative death secondary to associated devastating traumatic injuries. Of the remaining 36 patients, 7 (19.4%) were managed with single-stage primary duodenal repair with definitive abdominal wall fascial closure (PDR + NoDC group). Damage-control laparotomy was performed in 29 patients, (80.5%) in which primary repair was performed in 15 (51.7%) (PDR + DC group), and the duodenum was over sewn and left in discontinuity in 14 (48.3%). Duodenal reconstruction was performed after primary repair in 2 of 15 cases and after left in discontinuity in 13 of 14 cases (DR + DC group). The most common complication was the development of a duodenal fistula in 12 (33%) of 36 cases. These leaks were managed by traditional anterior drainage in 9 (75%) of 12 cases and posterior drainage by retroperitoneal laparostomy in 3 (25%) of 12 cases. The duodenal fistula closed spontaneously in 7 (58.3%) of 12 cases. The duodenum-related mortality rate was 2.8%, and the overall mortality rate was 11.1%. CONCLUSION: An application of basic damage-control techniques for PDT leads to improved survival and an acceptable incidence of complications. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, level IV.

A comprehensive five-step surgical management approach to penetrating liver injuries that require complex repair.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to describe a comprehensive five-step surgical management approach for patients with penetrating liver trauma based on our collective institutional experience. METHODS: A prospective consecutive study of all penetrating liver traumas from January 2003 to December 2011 at a regional Level I trauma center in Cali, Colombia, was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 538 patients with penetrating thoracoabdominal trauma were operated on at our institution. Of these, 146 had penetrating liver injuries that satisfied the inclusion criteria for surgical intervention to manage their hepatic and/or associated injuries. Eighty-eight patients (60%) had an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma-Organ Injury Scale (AAST-OIS) of Grade III (54 patients, 37%), Grade IV (24 patients, 16%), and Grade V (10 patients, 7%). This group of patients required advanced "complex" techniques of hemostasis such as the Pringle maneuver (PM), perihepatic liver packing (PHLP), and/or hepatotomy with selective vessel ligation (SVL). The focus of our study was this subgroup of patients, which we further divided into two as follows: those who required only PM + PHLP (55 patients, 63%) to obtain control of their liver hemorrhage and those who required PM + PHLP + SVL (33 patients, 37%). Of the patients who required PM + PHLP + SVL, 10 (27%) required ligation of major intrahepatic branches, which included suprahepatic veins (n = 4), portal vein (n = 4), retrohepatic vena cava (n = 1), and hepatic artery (n = 1). The remaining 23 patients (73%) required direct vessel ligation of smaller intraparenchymal vessels. The overall mortality was 15.9% (14 of 88), with 71.4% (10 of 14) related to coagulopathy. Mortality rates for Grade III was 3.7% (2 of 54), for Grade IV was 20.8% (5 of 24), and for Grade V was 70% (7 of 10). The mortality in the PM + PHLP + SVL group was higher compared with the PM + PHLP group (12 [36.4%] vs. 2 [3.6%], p = 0.001]. CONCLUSION: For those patients who fail to respond to PM + PHLP and/or those who have AAST-OIS penetrating liver injuries, Grades IV and V would benefit from immediate intraparenchymal exploration and SVL.

Ethnicity-related polymorphisms and haplotypes in the human ABCB1 gene.

INTRODUCTION: The human multidrug resistance gene ATP-binding cassette B1 (ABCB1) codes for P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an important membrane-bound efflux transporter known to confer anticancer drug resistance as well as affect the pharmacokinetics of many drugs and xenobiotics. A number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified throughout the ABCB1 gene that may have an effect on P-gp expression levels and function. Haplotype as well as genotype analysis of SNPs is becoming increasingly important in identifying genetic variants underlying susceptibility to human disease. Three SNPs, 1236C-->T, 2677G-->T and 3435C-->T, have been repeatedly shown to predict changes in the function of P-gp. The frequencies with which these polymorphisms exist in a population have also been shown to be ethnically related. METHODS: In this study, 95 individuals representative of the entire ethnic make-up of the USA were compared with 101 individuals from an Ashkenazi-Jewish population. These individuals were analyzed by genomic sequencing and polymerase chain reaction, using restriction fragment length polymorphisms, to calculate their genotype frequencies. RESULTS: A total of 25 SNPs were located in the exons of the ABCB1 gene. All of the polymorphisms identified were in parts of the ABCB1 gene product predicted to be intracellular, and 16 appear to be novel as compared with those listed by the National Center for Biotechnological Information. Frequencies of the 1236C-->T and 2677G-->T/A/C SNPs were similar for the US and Ashkenazi populations (64.2 and 60.4%, respectively for 1236C-->T [chi2: 0.30; p < or = 1]; 55.8 and 64.4%, respectively for 2677G-->T/A/C [chi2: 1.49; p < or = 1]), but were different for 3435C-->T (24.2% for the US population and 69.3% for the Ashkenazi population [chi2: 39.927; p < or = 0.001]). The 1236T/ 2677T/3435T haplotype occurred in 23.6% (standard error: 0.013) of the Ashkenazi population. CONCLUSION: The SNP at location 3435C-->T plays a significant role in the ABCB1 gene. The haplotype and genotype analysis from these data may be used as a basis for studies on the relationship between ABCB1 genotypes and drug efficacy, drug toxicity, disease susceptibility or other phenotypes.