Annali italiani di chirurgia
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Comparative Study
[Objectives of a bloodless surgery program. A comparative study (major surgery vs. minor-medium surgery) in 51 Jehova's Witnesses patients].
The purpose of this retrospective review of the charts of 51 Jehovah's Witness patients, who underwent surgery without blood transfusions, was to compare two study groups (major surgery vs minor-medium surgery). ⋯ A close team-work between surgeons, anesthesiologists and hematologists is determinant in a reference center that guarantees experience, organization, professionality, respect for the patients' will and, above all, low morbidity and mortality rates, as those reported by our series.
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The aim of this retrospective study was to characterize the risk factors of hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in a consecutive series of 687 OLT, comparing the branch patch anastomosis (BPA) with the end-to-end anastomosis (EEA), in order to investigate, moreover, which technique may be statistically associated with a reduced incidence of HAT. ⋯ Even if the type of arterial reconstruction was not found to be an independent risk factor in reducing HAT incidence after OLT, our current preferred method of arterial anastomosis is the branch patch technique, using the hepatic-gastroduodenal bifurcation, with a HAT rate of 1.44%.
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Case Reports
A case of "silent" pheochromocytoma presenting as spontaneous retroperitoneal hematoma.
Pheochromocytoma of the adrenal gland can be the cause of massive and lethal retroperitoneal haemorrhage presenting as acute abdomen. Here we report a case of retroperitoneal hematoma, with concomitant peritoneal spillage, due to the spontaneous rupture of a silent pheochromocytoma. The main clinical findings of this disease will be described. Therapy and prognosis will be also discussed.
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Chest injuries have a high and steadily increasing incidence in western countries, but only some of the most common problems they create require an emergency thoracotomy or surgical video thoracoscopy. Flail chest, persistent pneumothorax, massive haemothorax, mediastinal emphysema, cardiac tamponade and intrathoracic foreign bodies can be identified as major surgical problems. Some of such patients (i.e. those with flail chest or foreign bodies) would be immediately candidates for major intervention. ⋯ Fortunately, major surgical procedures are not really frequent in the management of thoracic traumas. Only 42 (3.5%) of nearly 2,000 patients with non-penetrating thoracic injuries had a thoracotomy or an surgical video thoracoscopy. The figure is far different for penetrating wounds; in fact 12 patients (41%) of 29 underwent mayor surgery.
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Hypocholesterolemia seems to represent a significant predictive factor of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. The authors, on the basis of recent literature data, aim to clarify the possible correlation between preoperative hypocholesterolemia and the risk of septic postoperative complications .205 patients undergoing to surgery for gastrointestinal diseases were the object of the study. Patients undergoing "minor" abdominal surgery or video-laparoscopic surgery and classified ASA III-IV were excluded. ⋯ The highest incidence of postoperative septic complications (72.7%) was encountered, significantly (X2 = 7.6, p < 0.001), in the patients (11 cases, 5.9%) with cholesterol levels below 105 mg/dl). The results of this study seems to indicate a significant relationship between preoperative hypocholesterolemia and the incidence of septic complications after surgery. Moreover, evaluation of blood cholesterol levels before major surgery might represent a predictive factor of septic risk in the postoperative period.