Recurrence of volvulus after sigmoidectomy

WSES consensus guidelines on sigmoid volvulus management

Sigmoid volvulus is a common surgical emergency, especially in elderly patients. Patients can present with a wide range of clinical states: from asymptomatic, to frank peritonitis secondary to colonic perforation. These patients generally need urgent treatment, be it endoscopic decompression of the colon or an upfront colectomy. The World Society of Emergency Surgery united a worldwide group of international experts to review the current evidence and propose a consensus guidelines on the management of sigmoid volvulus.

Left sided gallbladder and liver without situs inversus and recurrent sigmoid volvulus after alleged previous total sigmoid resection; a case report and review of literatures

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Acute abdomen is an emergency condition which necessitates urgent management. Obstruction accounts to the majority of causes of acute abdomen. As acute abdomen can lead to a dramatic and fatal complication, rapid diagnosis and management are utterly important. Sigmoid volvulus is the commonest cause of large bowel obstruction in Africa and particularly in Ethiopia. Left side gallbladder and liver without situs inversus is a very rare clinical finding with few reports in the history of literatures.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 53 years old male patient presented to our emergency department with failure to pass feces and flatus of 6 days duration. He had similar four episodes previously and sigmoid resection-anastomosis was done five years back at a referral hospital. The abdomen was distended to drum like appearance with visible peristalsis and midline previous surgical scar. The distension is more prominent to right upper quadrant resembling a bent inner tube. Upon entering the abdomen, there was 360 degrees clockwise volvulated remnant sigmoid and descending colon. There was small bowel adhesion to abdominal wall which snugs the large bowel at the neck of volvulus. The liver and gallbladder are on the left upper quadrant and right upper quadrant of abdomen is empty. The gallbladder is to the left of the round/falciform ligament.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

Intestinal obstruction is one of the commonest causes of acute abdomen carrying significant mortality if not intervened timely. Sigmoid volvulus is one of the common causes of large bowel obstruction more happening in the adults and elderly. It is reported that patients with megacolon and mega rectum have risk of recurrence of volvulus even after sigmoid resection. Left side gallbladder without situs inversus is a very rare occurrence and very few reports in the literature to date.

CONCLUSION

Optimal sigmoid resection in sigmoid volvulus and subtotal colectomy when sigmoid volvulus is associated with megacolon and megacolon are said to reduce postoperative volvulus recurrence. Special care and workup should be a priority during cholecystectomy in left-sided gallbladder to avoid biliary tract and vascular injury.

Modification of mesosigmoidoplasty for nongangrenous sigmoid volvulus

Mesosigmoidoplasty is a nonresective procedure for nongangrenous sigmoid volvulus. It aims to correct the main pathogenetic factor of this condition, the narrow but long mesosigmoid. Although it had been demonstrated by intraoperative measurements that this has indeed achieved its purpose, recurrent volvulus has been reported after the procedure. This has raised the question of whether an operation on the mesosigmoid's peritoneal cover alone is sufficient to maintain the change in shape. The modification presented here aims at more sustainable shortening and widening of the mesosigmoid by including all its layers in the procedure. Of 31 consecutive patients with sigmoid volvulus operated on in Malawi in East Africa, 14 had the nongangrenous variety. Twelve of them underwent modified mesosigmoidoplasty without any major perioperative complications. There was one relaparotomy following misdiagnosis of cryptic Hirschsprung's disease and one true recurrence secondary to a technical error during the previous operation. During a follow-up of eight patients for 4 to 8 months, there were no complaints about abdominal discomfort or changed stool habits. Thus including all layers of the mesosigmoid in the plastic procedure did not increase short-term morbidity and in theory should be advantageous in respect to preventing recurrence. Applying it to a larger series with prolonged follow-up seems to be justified.

Minimizing recurrence after sigmoid volvulus

BACKGROUND

This study was a retrospective review of a series of patients with sigmoid volvulus to identify risk factors for recurrence and recommend appropriate treatment.

METHODS

Thirty-five patients with sigmoid volvulus were treated over 8 years.

RESULTS

Six patients had emergency surgery for peritonitis. Twenty-eight of the other 29 patients had successful endoscopic decompression; 15 of these patients had elective surgery during the same admission. Twelve of the 14 patients who refused operation after endoscopic decompression developed recurrent volvulus, a median of 2.8 months later. Eight subsequently agreed to surgery and underwent elective operation following repeat decompression. Of 29 patients who had surgery, 27 had sigmoid colectomy (two were initial Hartmann procedures) and two had subtotal colectomy. Six patients who had sigmoid colectomy developed recurrent volvulus. Concomitant megacolon and megarectum at the time of initial surgery were significant predictors of recurrence.

CONCLUSION

Subtotal colectomy, carried out as the primary procedure if there is concomitant megacolon or megarectum, might reduce the risk of recurrent sigmoid volvulus.

Nonresective alternative for the cure of nongangrenous sigmoid volvulus

PURPOSE

Recurrence in sigmoid colon volvulus is a very vexing problem, because it occurs after all types of treatment including a resection of the sigmoid. A nonresective procedure that prevents recurrence in the long term has been devised and tried during the period 1968 to 1992.

METHODS

The procedure involves extraperitonealization of the whole sigmoid colon via a left paracolic gutter incision in a manner akin to an extraperitonealized colostomy and placing it in the left half of the infraumbilical abdominal wall. This article presents a study of 84 patients who underwent this operation and who were followed-up. Some very useful practical points for ensuring the success of the procedure are also presented.

RESULTS

The subjects comprised 58 male and 26 female patients, aged 10 to 81 (median, 60) years. The operating time ranged from 40 to 70 (median, 50) min. The operative mortality (9 percent) and morbidity of the procedure including cardiopulmonary complications (7 percent), incidence of small-bowel obstruction (1 percent), and incisional hernia formation (2.3 percent), were reasonably low. The incidence of wound-healing problems was significantly (P < 0.02) reduced in the 1980s and 1990s. Seventy-six patients were available for follow-up ranging from 0.5 to 25 (mean+/-standard error, 6.671+/-0.573; median, 6) years. Forty-eight patients were followed-up for five or more years. No patients developed recurrence of volvulus during the entire follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

This nonresective, recurrence-free procedure provides a cure for nongangrenous sigmoid volvulus. It may be performed safely, even in relatively poor-risk patients, with acceptably low morbidity and mortality rates.

Ileosigmoid knotting in Turkey. Review of 68 cases

PURPOSE

The high mortality associated with ileosigmoid knotting prompted us to review the collected experiences of three university hospitals in order to establish a more rational approach to the problem.

METHOD

The clinical records of 68 patients with ileosigmoid knotting from 1970 to 1990 were reviewed with respect to incidence, etiopathogenesis, clinical features, treatment, and clinical outcome.

RESULTS

The most common type of ileosigmoid knotting was Type IA (48.5 percent), in which the active ileum encircled the passive sigmoid in a clockwise manner. Fifty (73.5 percent) patients developed a gangrenous bowel whereas 18 patients did not show any definite evidence of impairment of bowel viability. En bloc removal of gangrenous knot and reestablishment of intestinal continuity by enteroenteric or enterocolic anastomosis combined with the Hartmann procedure, which was employed in 20 (42.6 percent) cases, constituted the most frequently preferred operation. The mortality rate in this series was 30.9 percent (21/68) and toxic shock, which ultimately resulted in multiple organ failure, was the major cause of death. It was remarkable to note that there was an inverse correlation between the duration of symptoms and the mortality rate reflecting the dramatic rapidity and severity of symptoms due to tightness of the knot which led to early and extensive gangrene, thus inevitably urged the patients to seek medical help without delay.

CONCLUSION

The performance of prompt, individualized surgical treatment in conjunction with the use of advanced measures of critical care to combat the disastrous consequences of multiple organ failure would contribute greatly to improve survival rate in victims of this dreadful entity.

Sigmoid volvulus in west Africa: a prospective study on surgical treatments

To evaluate the efficacy of different types of surgery, we performed a prospective, randomized trial in 31 consecutively hospitalized patients with sigmoid volvulus. These patients represented 8 percent of 377 cases of emergency surgery. At the time of surgery, the patients were divided into two groups according to the absence (Group A) or presence (Group B) of bowel gangrene. At random, each group was assigned two surgical treatments. Seventeen patients entered Group A and underwent mesosigmoidopexy (seven patients) or resection and primary anastomosis (10 patients). Fourteen patients entered Group B and underwent Hartmann's procedure (eight patients) or resection and primary anastomosis (six patients). Overall mortality was four patients among 31 (13 percent), with a significant prevalence in the group with gangrene (21.4 percent vs. 5.8 percent). In Group A, the rate of success in patients treated with resection-anastomosis was higher than that in patients undergoing mesosigmoidopexy (90 percent vs. 71.5 percent). In Group B, a meaningful difference was observed between the rate of success of patients undergoing Hartmann's procedure and that of those undergoing resection and primary anastomosis (87.5 percent vs. 50 percent). The mortality rates were 12.5 percent and 33.3 percent, respectively. The results of our study show that the therapeutic approach to sigmoid volvulus should be diversified according to the absence or presence of gangrenous colon. The treatment of choice seems to be resection with primary anastomosis in patients with viable colon and Hartmann's procedure in patients with gangrenous colon.

Sigmoid volvulus in Kaduna, Nigeria

Worldwide regional variations exist in the incidence of sigmoid volvulus. This article describes the experience with sigmoid volvulus at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Kaduna, Nigeria. Sixty of 121 patients who had large-bowel obstruction over a 15-year period had sigmoid volvulus. Fifty-seven (95 percent) had gangrenous bowel. The mortality rate was 16.7 percent. The clinical presentation and the treatment modalities offered are discussed.

Sigmoid volvulus with and without megacolon

Sixty-six consecutive patients, admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, with sigmoid volvulus, fell into two groups, 60 without and six with acquired megacolon. In the former group, flatus tube decompression was usually successful, and sigmoid resection provided a cure. In the group with megacolon, the history was longer; patients more often had bowel symptoms before or between acute episodes of volvulus; flatus tube decompression was rarely successful; and symptoms persisted after sigmoidectomy and were sometimes associated with recurrence of volvulus of the new "sigmoid." It seems that nothing less than total colectomy will cure these patients.