Microbial findings, sensitivity and outcome in patients with postoperative peritonitis a retrospective cohort study

Tissue-Adhesive, Antibacterial, and Antioxidant Hydrogel Sealant for Sealing Colorectal Anastomotic Leakage and Preventing Postoperative Adhesion

Surgical treatment of colorectal diseases typically involves excising the diseased portion of the bowel and anastomosing the remaining sections to reestablish continuity. Surgical suturing has limitations in preventing anastomotic leakage and postoperative adhesion. To address these challenges, a tissue-adhesive, antibacterial, and antioxidant hydrogel is designed to cover and seal colorectal anastomotic wounds. The hydrogel is formed in situ by simply mixing oxidized hyaluronic acid, adipic acid dihydrazide-modified hyaluronic acid, ε-poly-l-lysine, and tannic acid. The hydrogel exhibits a rapid gelation rate and self-healing ability. Compared with commercial fibrin glue, the hydrogel has superior tissue-adhesive strength and wound sealing performance. The hydrogel displays potent reactive oxygen species scavenging ability and antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The hydrogel also exhibits good biodegradation and biocompatibility. In a cecum-abdominal wall adhesion model in rats, the hydrogel attaches firmly to the injured tissues and serves as a physical barrier to prevent adhesion formation. In anastomotic leakage models after colon resection in rats and rabbits, the hydrogel effectively seals the anastomotic leakage, prevents postoperative adhesion, and promotes anastomotic healing. Thus, this multifunctional hydrogel has strong clinical potential for preventing anastomotic leakage and adhesion formation after colorectal surgery.

An Interior/Exterior Collaboration-Enhanced Intestinal Anastomosis (IECIA) for Multi-Tiered Leakage Complication Management

Anastomotic leakage (AL) is a pervasive and risky postoperative complication that presently features inaccessible prevention, delayed diagnosis, and intractable remediation, resulting in distressing morbidity and mortality. Herein an interior/exterior collaboration-enhanced neoteric intestinal anastomosis (IECIA) is developed, which consists of an interior hydrogel-based protective barrier adhering to mucosa, and exterior synergistic leakage-prevention safeguard sutured to serosa, for multi-tiered leakage complication management. Noticeably, the hydrogel barrier protects anastomosis stoma against injurious stimulation from digestive liquid, consequently reducing leakage risk effectively and comfortably in place of painful gastric tube insertion. The exterior safeguard encompassing fluorescein-loaded hydrogel and electrospun film functions as a secondary defense, exhibiting critical leakage-prevention capability to refrain from lethal intra-abdominal infection. Meanwhile, fluorescein is released to the enteric cavity for following detection within the excrement in case anastomotic leakage occurs, achieving presymptomatic alarming in providing valuable prompts for timely clinical intervention. Importantly, IECIA has been investigated in realistic in vivo end-to-end intestinal anastomosis scenarios as well as simulated leakage models, which present satisfactory postoperative recovery of gastrointestinal functions and systematic indexes. Moreover, the IECIA system is endowed with guaranteed biocompatibility, effective durability, comprehensibility for surgical operation, comfort, and compliance for patients, which demonstrates precious value for clinical translation.

Cecal volvulus in pregnancy: A rare case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Cecal volvulus is a rare cause of obstruction in pregnancy. It accounts for ∼1.5 % of all intestinal obstructions. The diagnosis is challenging and causes increased morbidity and mortality to the mother and fetus. This case report will highlight the life-threatening nature of this condition and emphasize the critical importance of early diagnosis and intervention.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 30-year-old gravida-3 para-2 patient presented with colicky abdominal pain of 24 h duration. She had associated abdominal distension, vomiting and fever. She had amenorrhea of 05-months. The past medical and surgical histories were negative. Her vital signs were deranged and had tenderness all over the abdomen. Ultrasound showed gaseous abdomen and viable fetus in the uterus. Laparotomy has revealed gangrenous cecal volvulus. A right hemicolectomy and end-to-side ileo-transverse colon anastomosis were performed. She expelled a dead fetus after 12 h. She was discharged in good clinical status.

DISCUSSION

Cecal volvulus involves axial rotation of the ascending colon, cecum, and terminal ileum about associated mesentery. Pregnancy is among the pre-disposing factor for cecal volvulus. The diagnosis is often challenging because of non-specific presentations. Radiologic procedures are helpful in the diagnosis. The primary treatment is surgical intervention.

CONCLUSION

Cecal volvulus is a rare life-threatening cause of obstruction in pregnancy. It is an emergency situation, and early diagnosis and intervention are crucial to decreasing morbidity and mortality. The most effective treatment is surgical resection.

Development and Validation of a Novel Nomogram Model for Early Diagnosis of Anastomotic Leakage After Laparoscopic Colorectal Cancer Surgery

Background: This study aimed to investigate the clinical value of inflammatory factors for predicting anastomotic leakage (AL) after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery and establish a nomogram model to assess the probability of its occurrence. Patients and Methods: Data of 637 patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery between June 2019 and June 2022 were collected. Differences in procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cell (WBC) levels before surgery and on postoperative day (POD) 3 and 5 were compared between patients with and without AL (AL and non-AL groups, respectively). The diagnostic accuracy was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and a nomogram model was developed. Results: Post-operative AL occurred in 46 (7.2%) patients. Procalcitonin, CRP, and WBC levels on POD 3 and 5 were higher in the AL group than in the non-AL group. The AUCs of PCT, CRP, and WBC levels for predicting AL on POD 3 were 0.833, 0.757, and 0.756, respectively, which were better than those on POD 5 (AUC = 0.669, 0.581, and 0.588, respectively). The nomogram model for AL was developed based on five variables (PCT, CRP, WBC, American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] grade and comorbidities), and it had an AUC of 0.922. Calibration curves demonstrated that the nomogram had good fit. The Delong test showed that the AUC of the nomogram for predicting the probability of AL was higher than that of PCT alone (z = 2.311, p = 0.02). Conclusions: Procalcitonin measured on POD 3 seems to be a promising negative predictor of AL after laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery. Furthermore, the nomogram model developed in our study, which utilizes a series of predictors that can be easily accessed, has demonstrated potential to further improve the prediction accuracy.

Microbiological profile of patients treated for postoperative peritonitis: temporal trends 1999-2019

BACKGROUND

Temporal changes in the microbiological resistance profile have been reported in several life-threatening infections. However, no data have ever assessed this issue in postoperative peritonitis (POP). Our purpose was to assess the rate of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in POP over a two-decade period and to analyse their influence on the adequacy of empirical antibiotic therapy (EAT).

METHODS

This retrospective monocentric analysis (1999-2019) addressed the changes over time in microbiologic data, including the emergence of MDROs and the adequacy of EAT for all intensive care unit adult patients treated for POP. The in vitro activities of 10 antibiotics were assessed to determine the most adequate EAT in the largest number of cases among 17 antibiotic regimens in patients with/without MDRO isolates. Our primary endpoint was to determine the frequency of MDRO and their temporal changes. Our second endpoint assessed the impact of MDROs on the adequacy of EAT per patient and their temporal changes based on susceptibility testing. In this analysis, the subgroup of patients with MDRO was compared with the subgroup of patients free of MDRO.

RESULTS

A total of 1,318 microorganisms were cultured from 422 patients, including 188 (45%) patients harbouring MDROs. The growing proportions of MDR Enterobacterales were observed over time (p = 0.016), including ESBL-producing strains (p = 0.0013), mainly related to Klebsiella spp (p < 0.001). Adequacy of EAT was achieved in 305 (73%) patients. Decreased adequacy rates were observed when MDROs were cultured [p = 0.0001 vs. MDRO-free patients]. Over the study period, decreased adequacy rates were reported for patients receiving piperacillin/tazobactam in monotherapy or combined with vancomycin and imipenem/cilastatin combined with vancomycin (p < 0.01 in the three cases). In patients with MDROs, the combination of imipenem/cilastatin + vancomycin + amikacin or ciprofloxacin reached the highest adequacy rates (95% and 91%, respectively) and remained unchanged over time.

CONCLUSIONS

We observed high proportions of MDRO in patients treated for POP associated with increasing proportions of MDR Enterobacterales over time. High adequacy rates were only achieved in antibiotic combinations involving carbapenems and vancomycin, while piperacillin/tazobactam is no longer a drug of choice for EAT in POP in infections involving MDRO.

Clinical epidemiology and case fatality due to antimicrobial resistance in Germany: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2021

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is of public health concern worldwide.AimWe aimed to summarise the German AMR situation for clinicians and microbiologists.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 60 published studies and data from the German Antibiotic-Resistance-Surveillance (ARS). Primary outcomes were AMR proportions in bacterial isolates from infected patients in Germany (2016-2021) and the case fatality rates (2010-2021). Random and fixed (common) effect models were used to calculate pooled proportions and pooled case fatality odds ratios, respectively.ResultsThe pooled proportion of meticillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus infections (MRSA) was 7.9% with a declining trend between 2014 and 2020 (odds ratio (OR) = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.886-0.891; p < 0.0001), while vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus faecium (VRE) bloodstream infections increased (OR = 1.18; (95% CI: 1.16-1.21); p < 0.0001) with a pooled proportion of 34.9%. Case fatality rates for MRSA and VRE were higher than for their susceptible strains (OR = 2.29; 95% CI: 1.91-2.75 and 1.69; 95% CI: 1.22-2.33, respectively). Carbapenem resistance in Gram-negative pathogens (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterobacter spp. and Escherichia coli) was low to moderate (< 9%), but resistance against third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones was moderate to high (5-25%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibited high resistance against carbapenems (17.0%; 95% CI: 11.9-22.8), third-generation cephalosporins (10.1%; 95% CI: 6.6-14.2) and fluoroquinolones (24.9%; 95% CI: 19.3-30.9). Statistical heterogeneity was high (I2 > 70%) across studies reporting resistance proportions.ConclusionContinuous efforts in AMR surveillance and infection prevention and control as well as antibiotic stewardship are needed to limit the spread of AMR in Germany.

[Antibacterial therapy for secondary peritonitis at different ages]

The review is devoted to antibiotic therapy for secondary community-acquired and postoperative peritonitis in children and adults. The authors analyze the features of pathogenic microflora in secondary peritonitis at different ages, sensitivity of microorganisms to various antibacterial drugs. Particular emphasis is placed on the choice of antimicrobial drugs and various antibiotic regimens, especially when initial empiric treatment is prescribed.

Risk factors for therapeutic failure in the management of post-operative peritonitis: a post hoc analysis of the DURAPOP trial

BACKGROUND

Therapeutic failure is a frequent issue in the management of post-operative peritonitis.

OBJECTIVES

A post hoc analysis of the prospective, multicentre DURAPOP trial analysed the risk factors for failures in post-operative peritonitis following adequate source control and empirical antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Overall failures assessed post-operatively between Day 8 and Day 45 were defined as a composite of death and/or surgical and/or microbiological failures. Risk factors for failures were assessed using logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

Among the 236 analysed patients, overall failures were reported in 141 (59.7%) patients, including 30 (12.7%) deaths, 81 (34.3%) surgical and 95 (40.2%) microbiological failures. In the multivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with overall failures were documented piperacillin/tazobactam therapy [adjusted OR (aOR) 2.10; 95% CI 1.17-3.75] and renal replacement therapy on the day of reoperation (aOR 2.96; 95% CI 1.05-8.34). The risk factors for death were age (aOR 1.08 per year; 95% CI 1.03-1.12), renal replacement therapy on reoperation (aOR 3.95; 95% CI 1.36-11.49) and diabetes (OR 6.95; 95% CI 1.34-36.03). The risk factors associated with surgical failure were documented piperacillin/tazobactam therapy (aOR 1.99; 95% CI 1.13-3.51), peritoneal cultures containing Klebsiella spp. (aOR 2.45; 95% CI 1.02-5.88) and pancreatic source of infection (aOR 2.91; 95% CI 1.21-7.01). No specific risk factors were identified for microbiological failure.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest a predominant role of comorbidities, the severity of post-operative peritonitis and possibly of documented piperacillin/tazobactam treatment on the occurrence of therapeutic failures, regardless of their type.