A case report on a rare cause of bowel ischaemia in penetrating trauma

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Gastric mucormycosis is a rare condition that usually manifests in immunocompromised patients. It's a lethal disease with a poor prognosis requiring prompt diagnosis and aggressive management. Although found more commonly in immunocompromised patients, it can also affect the immunocompetent patient, highlighting the importance of clinical suspicion when dealing with a critically ill patient.

CASE PRESENTATION

This is a case report on a patient who presented with penetrating trauma to the abdomen requiring surgical intervention. Damage control surgery was performed in the form of a right hemicolectomy ('clip and drop') for extensive colonic injuries (AAST Grade V) with contamination of the abdominal cavity [1]. In the days subsequent to the injury, he developed sepsis and progressive bowel ischaemia and necrosis, requiring surgical debridement. Histological findings revealed mucormycosis of the gastrointestinal tract.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

The diagnosis of mucormycosis depends on high clinical suspicion as well as histopathological evidence. The management comprises of surgical debridement and appropriate antifungal therapy. Timeous diagnosis and adequate treatment may improve the prognosis.

CONCLUSION

This was a challenging case for the clinicians involved, highlighting that the clinician should consider this infection as a rare cause of bowel ischaemia in the back of their minds when dealing with such patients.

Hernioscopy: a reliable method to explore the abdominal cavity in incarcerated or strangulated inguinal hernias spontaneously reduced after general anaesthesia

PURPOSE

The diagnosis of bowel or omental ischaemia in strangulated inguinal hernias needs visual exploration of the content of the hernia sac. In some cases, the content of the sac retracts spontaneously into the abdomen at the induction of anaesthesia, so making sure of its viability can be quite difficult. Hernioscopy can allow direct inspection of the whole abdominal cavity and the performance of surgical procedures such as small bowel, large bowel or omental resection, without the need of a formal laparotomy.

METHODS

Hernioscopy entails inserting a 10-12-mm trocars in the hernia sac, after its complete mobilization. A 30° camera is then passed into the abdomen through the sac and a thorough examination of the abdominal cavity is performed. If necessary, accessory trocars can be inserted into the hernia sac or through the abdominal wall to perform additional procedures such as bowel resection. After the exploration and the eventual resection, the operation is concluded with a tension-free mesh repair of the hernia.

RESULTS

We performed hernioscopy on eight patients. In four of them, no ischaemia was found and the operation was concluded with mesh repair of the hernia. In four patients, a further operative procedure was necessary. No significant postoperative surgical complications were recorded.

CONCLUSIONS

Hernioscopy is an easy and reliable method to explore the abdominal cavity and make sure of the viability of the bowel in patients with strangulated inguinal hernia and to proceed to minimally invasive resection if needed.

Bowel ischaemia after endovascular aneurysm repair

The aim of this review was to investigate presentation, aetiology, management, and outcomes of bowel ischaemia following EVAR. We present a case report and searched electronic bibliographic databases to identify published reports of bowel ischaemia following elective infra-renal EVAR not involving hypogastric artery coverage or iliac branch devices. We conducted our review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement standards. In total, five cohort studies and three case reports were included. These studies detailed some 6,184 infra-renal elective EVARs, without procedure-related occlusion of the hypogastric arteries, performed between 1996 and 2014. Bowel ischaemia in this setting is uncommon with an incidence ranging from 0.5 to 2.8 % and includes a spectrum of severity from mucosal to transmural ischaemia. Due to varying reporting standards, an overall proportion of patients requiring bowel resection could not be ascertained. In the larger series, mortality ranged from 35 to 80 %. Atheroembolization, hypotension, and inferior mesenteric artery occlusion were reported as potential causative factors. Elderly patients and those undergoing prolonged procedures appear at higher risk. Bowel ischaemia is a rare but potentially devastating complication following elective infra-renal EVAR and can occur in the setting of patent mesenteric vessels and hypogastric arteries. Mortality ranges from 35 to 80 %. Further research is required to identify risk factors and establish prophylactic measures in patients that have an increased risk of developing bowel ischaemia after standard infra-renal EVAR.

Sigmoid Volvulus Through a Transmesenteric Hernia

Internal hernias are a rare pathology with very low incidence. Transmesenteric hernias represent less than 10% of all cases and may occur at any age. They involve more often the small bowel and, more rarely, the colon. We present a case of a sigmoid volvulus through a transmesenteric hernia in a 19-year-old patient.

Gas in Hepatic Portal Veins with Gastric Massive Dilatation and Pneumatosis in Acute Pancreatitis

Gas in portal veins is a rare phenomenon observed secondary to bowel ischaemia and necrosis. A young girl with history of pica ingestion presented with acute abdomen with huge distension. Investigation revealed air in hepatic portal veins, air within stomach wall, and massive distension of stomach secondary to acute pancreatitis. Successful conservative treatment confirmed the current concept that all cases of hepatic portal venous gas do not warrant immediate surgical intervention.

Long-term prognosis and a prediction model for acute bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery

OBJECTIVES

Bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery is associated with a high postoperative mortality. No scoring system exists as yet to predict this complication following surgery. In addition, the long-term survival is not known. We sought to evaluate in-hospital outcomes and long-term outcomes in bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery. We also sought to devise a simple risk prediction model for this catastrophic entity.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study of data entered prospectively into our cardiac surgical database between July 1999 and May 2014. We compared the short- and long-term outcomes of patients who developed bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery with those who did not develop bowel ischaemia using propensity-matched analysis. We developed a prediction model for bowel ischaemia from logistic regression.

RESULTS

In total, 13 853 patients underwent cardiac surgery. Of these, 85 had confirmed bowel ischaemia following surgery. The in-hospital mortality rate for those with bowel ischaemia was 60%, while in those without bowel ischaemia, the mortality rate was 3% (P < 0.0001). In those bowel ischaemia patients who had a laparotomy for corrective surgery, the in-hospital mortality was significantly less compared with those who did not have a laparotomy (39.2 vs 91.2%, P < 0.0001). The long-term survival for bowel ischaemia at 2, 6 and 10 years was 35% (±5), 31% (±5) and 26% (+/6), respectively. Multivariable analysis revealed that advanced age at surgery, peripheral vascular disease, intra-aortic balloon pump usage, NYHA IV and postoperative atrial fibrillation were the significant (P < 0.005) determinants of developing postoperative bowel ischaemia. We developed a model to predict bowel ischaemia and validated it within our population (c-index = 0.781).

CONCLUSIONS

We have shown that whilst bowel ischaemia carries a higher short-term mortality, the long-term mortality is not significantly greater for those few who survive to discharge. We have developed a simple prediction model to identify those at high risk of developing bowel ischaemia following cardiac surgery in order to optimize perioperative strategies in future.

Association between probiotics and enteral nutrition in an experimental acute pancreatitis model in rats

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Recently, a randomized controlled trial showed that probiotic prophylaxis was associated with an increased mortality in enterally fed patients with predicted severe pancreatitis. In a rat model for acute pancreatitis, we investigated whether an association between probiotic prophylaxis and enteral nutrition contributed to the higher mortality rate.

METHODS

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated to four groups: 1) acute pancreatitis (n = 9), 2) acute pancreatitis and probiotic prophylaxis (n = 10), 3) acute pancreatitis and enteral nutrition (n = 10), and 4) acute pancreatitis, probiotic prophylaxis and enteral nutrition (n = 11). Acute pancreatitis was induced by intraductal glycodeoxycholate and intravenous cerulein infusion. Enteral nutrition, saline, probiotics and placebo were administered through a permanent jejunal feeding. Probiotics or placebo were administered starting 4 days before induction of pancreatitis and enteral nutrition 1 day before start until the end of the experiment, 6 days after induction of pancreatitis. Tissue samples and body fluids were collected for microbiological and histological examination.

RESULTS

In all animals, serum amylase was increased six hours after induction of pancreatitis. After fulfilling the experiment, no differences between groups were found in histological severity of pancreatitis, degree of discomfort, weight loss, histological examination of small bowel and bacterial translocation (all p > 0.05). Overall mortality was 10% without differences between groups (p = 0.54).

CONCLUSION

No negative association was found between prophylactic probiotics and enteral nutrition in acute pancreatitis. No new clues for a potential mechanism responsible for the higher mortality and bowel ischaemia in the PROPATRIA study were found.

Colonic tumour precipitating caecal volvulus within a diaphragmatic hernia

An 85-year-old woman presented with sudden onset of generalised abdominal pain and absolute constipation for 4 d. On examination she had a distended abdomen. Plain abdominal radiograph revealed a gas filled viscous within the left upper quadrant. Subsequent computed tomography suggested caecal volvulus herniated through a left diaphragmatic hernia. The patient underwent reduction of the internal hernia, right hemicolectomy and mesh repair of the diaphragmatic hernia. Postoperative recovery was uneventful. Histology revealed a Dukes’ A colonic cancer within the caecum. Herniation of caecal volvulus through a diaphragmatic hernia is a very rare condition and may have been precipitated by the colonic tumour.