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Background: Bile duct injury following cholecystectomy is an iatrogenic catastrophe which is associated with significant perioperative morbidity and mortality, reduced long-term survival and quality of life, and high rates of subsequent litigation. The aim of this article was to review the management of bile duct injury after cholecystectomy. Methods: Medline and PubMed database search was undertaken to identify articles in English from 1970 to 2008 using the key words ‘bile duct injury’, ‘cholecystectomy’ and ‘classification’. Additional papers were identified by a manual search of the references from the key articles. Case report was excluded. Results: Early recognition of bile duct injury is of paramount importance. Only 25%–32.4% of injuries are recognized during operation. The majority of patients present initially with non-specific symptoms. Management depends on the timing of recognition, the type, extent and level of the injury. Immediate recognition and repair are associated with improved outcome, and the minimum standard of care after recognition of bile duct injury is immediate referral to a surgeon experienced in bile duct injury repair. There is a growing body of literature supporting the importance of early referral to a tertiary care hospital which can provide a multidisciplinary approach to treat bile duct injury. Inadequate management may lead to severe complications. Conclusions: None of the classification system is universally accepted as each has its own limitation. The optimal management depends on the timing of recognition of injury, the extent of bile duct injury, the patient's condition and the availability of experienced hepatobiliary surgeons.

Background: Jaundice occurs in 5–44% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is an important clinical presentation as the different aetiological causes of jaundice in HCC determine the therapeutic approach and the prognosis. This article aims to review the classification, management and prognosis of patients with jaundice associated with HCC. Methods: A Medline search was undertaken to identify articles using the key words ‘hepatocellular carcinoma’, ‘jaundice’ and ‘tumour thrombus’. Additional articles were identified by a manual search of the references from the key articles. Results: Patients with jaundice due to hepatic parenchymal insufficiency (hepatocellular type) have a very dismal prognosis. For patients with biliary obstruction due to HCC (icteric type), the reported 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates after curative resection were 57.1–100%, 20–47% and 6.7–45%, respectively. The mean survival after palliative biliary drainage alone was less than 6 months but when biliary drainage was combined with other palliative treatment, the mean survival could be up to 1 year. Conclusions: It is important to differentiate the hepatocellular type from the icteric type of HCC. For patients with the icteric type of HCC, curative liver resection can achieve a survival comparable to that in patients without jaundice. For patients with unresectable icteric type of HCC, treatment can provide improvement in patient’s quality of life and survival.

Background: The aim of the present study was to review the long-term result of patients with carcinoma of gallbladder with adequate investigations and aggressive surgical resection. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out on patients with carcinoma of gallbladder treated at the Division of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong from January 1997 to December 2002. Results: Of the 47 patients with carcinoma of gallbladder, 28 patients were treated symptomatically because they were found to have metastatic disease (n = 22), unresectable disease (n = 2) or poor associated medical disease (n = 4). One patient had carcinoma in-situ after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. No further treatment was considered necessary. The remaining 18 patients (38.3%) came to laparotomy after preoperative investigations with ultrasonography, computed tomography, endoscopic or percutaneous cholangiography, and visceral angiography. Laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasound were used in the later part of the study. Radical cholecystectomy was carried out in 14 patients (77.8%). The in-hospital mortality rate was 5.3% and the surgical morbidity was 31.6%. The remaining four patients underwent palliative cholecystectomy because of the extent of the disease. The overall 5-year survival for the 47 patients was 19.1%, for the 18 patients who came to laparotomy was 44.4%, and for the 14 patients who underwent resection with curative intent was 57.1%. Conclusions: With adequate preoperative investigations, and the use of laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasound, radical resection was possible in the majority of patients who came to laparotomy for carcinoma of gallbladder. Aggressive radical resection gave good results.

Background: The present article aims to study the pattern and need of Intensive Care Unit admission after major head and neck operations. Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken of the hospital records of patients who underwent major head and neck operations during the period from February 1997 to February 2000 at the Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Results: A total of 268 consecutive elective major operations were carried out over the 3 year period. The patients’ age ranged from 14 to 82 years with a mean of 55 years. The male to female ratio was 4:1. Forty-seven patients underwent an operation with a combination of major resection, neck dissection, flap reconstruction and tracheostomy (‘flaps group’). Two hundred and twenty-one patients had major head and neck operations without the need of flap reconstruction (‘non-flaps group’). Three (6.3%) out of 47 patients (flaps group) were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) immediately after the operation. Only one patient (2.2%) out of the remaining 44 patients was admitted for emergency treatment 3 weeks post operation. All four patients recovered uneventfully. In the non-flaps group of 221 patients, there were 12 (5.4%) planned admissions and 2 (0.96%) unplanned admissions to ICU. In the group of planned admissions, one out of the 12 patients died. The other two patients who were not planned for ICU admission died of basal meningitis that was disease-related rather than related to the intensity of postoperative care. The overall admission rate to ICU was 18 (6.7%) out of 268 patients. The overall mortality was 1.1% (one planned, two unplanned). Conclusion: The present study showed that it is safe and cost-effective to discharge the majority of patients after major head and neck operations back to a specialist ward for nursing care.

Background: The usefulness of both technetium Tc-99m sestamibi (MIBI) scintigraphy and ultrasonography (USG) scan for the detection of enlarged parathyroid glands secondary to renal hyperparathyroidism is rarely addressed. Methods: A retrospective study from July 1999 to June 2005 was carried out on patients with secondary and tertiary hyperparathyroidism to determine the role of preoperative localization. Results: In the 5 years, 73 patients with renal hyperparathyroidism underwent initial bilateral neck exploration with total parathyroidectomy. Four patients underwent neck exploration with parathyroidectomy for persistent hyperparathyroidism. Two patients underwent neck exploration with parathyroidectomy for recurrent hyperparathyroidism. For patients with initial secondary/tertiary hyperparathyroidism, MIBI scintigraphy correctly showed 101 of 276 (36.6%) surgically confirmed enlarged parathyroids, whereas USG scan showed 99 of 276 (35.9%) surgically confirmed enlarged parathyroids. For persistent or recurrent secondary/tertiary hyperparathyroidism, MIBI scintigraphy and USG scan had sensitivity of 100 and 50%, respectively. Conclusions: In conclusion, preoperative localization studies have a limited value when used before first neck exploration in secondary/tertiary hyperparathyroidism because of the poor results in identifying all parathyroid glands. In persistent/recurrent hyperparathyroidism, it may play a useful role in localization of the missed or ectopic parathyroid gland.

Background: Cytoreductive surgery (debulking surgery) as a multidisciplinary treatment approach for inoperable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma has been shown to prolong survival and provide symptomatic relief for good surgical risks patients in non-randomized studies before. Methods: A non-randomized comparative study was performed in a tertiary referral centre between January 2001 and December 2006. The outcome of a consecutive series of patients with inoperable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who received cytoreductive surgery was compared with a control group of patients who received palliative treatment without surgery. Two techniques of cytoreductive surgery were used: (i) partial hepatectomy for the main tumour plus intraoperative local ablative therapy for the smaller tumour nodules in the liver remnant; and (ii) partial hepatectomy for the main tumour plus postoperative transarterial chemoembolization. Results: The overall survival of cytoreductive surgery group (n = 18) was significantly better than that of the palliative treatment group (n = 15) (3-year overall survival, 54% vs 22%; median survival, 18 vs 11 months) (P =0.038). In the cytoreductive surgery group, there was no operative mortality. Postoperative morbidity rate was 16.7%. The mean hospital stay was 8 days. Conclusion: Cytoreductive treatment strategy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma can be considered as one of the options in selected patients with low operative risks and reasonable liver function. Further prospective randomized trials are required to validate this aggressive surgical approach.

Background: Mirizzi syndrome was reported in 0.3–3% of patients undergoing cholecystectomy. The distortion of anatomy and the presence of cholecystocholedochal fistula increase the risk of bile duct injury during cholecystectomy. Methods: A Medline search was undertaken to identify articles that were published from 1974 to 2004. Additional papers were identified by a manual search of the references from the key articles. Results: A preoperative diagnosis was made in 8–62.5% of cases. Open surgical treatment gave good short-term and long-term results. There was a lack of good data in laparoscopic treatment. Conversion to open surgery rates was high, and bile duct injury rate varied from 0 to 22.2%. Conclusion: A high index of clinical suspicion is required to make a preoperative or intraoperative diagnosis, which leads to good surgical planning to treat the condition. Open surgery is the gold standard. Mirizzi syndrome should still be considered as a contraindication for laparoscopic surgery.

Background: Surgical treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma remains a great challenge to surgeons because of its low resectability, poor survival, and high operative mortality and morbidity. Methods: The medical and pathological records of 36 patients with a preoperative diagnosis of ‘resectable’ hilar cholangiocarcinoma operated on by us between January 1998 and December 2002 were studied. The clinical presentations, operative records, and pathology results were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Twenty-six patients (72%) underwent resection with curative intent. Apart from resection of the extrahepatic biliary tree and porta hepatis lymph node dissection, 85% received concomitant en-bloc liver resection and 4% received ex situ liver resection and auto-transplantation. The margin of resection was negative (R0 resection) in 73% of patients, and microscopically positive (R1 resection) in the remaining 27%. The 30-day hospital mortality was 7.6%. Of the patients, 42% had major postoperative complications. The median survival was 20 months, with the longest survival 75 months. The 1-, 3- and 5-year actuarial overall survival rate after resection with curative intent was 77%, 31%, and 12%, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year actuarial overall survival after R0 resection was 84%, 42%, and 16%, respectively. Tumour recurrence occurred in 58% of patients. Conclusions: Aggressive surgery increases the resectability of hilar cholangiocarcinoma. R0 resection provides the only chance of long-term survival of these patients.

The present article aims to study the pattern and need of Intensive Care Unit admission after major head and neck operations.A retrospective study was undertaken of the hospital records of patients who underwent major head and neck operations during the period from February 1997 to February 2000 at the Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Department of Surgery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.A total of 268 consecutive elective major operations were carried out over the 3 year period. The patients' age ranged from 14 to 82 years with a mean of 55 years. The male to female ratio was 4:1. Forty-seven patients underwent an operation with a combination of major resection, neck dissection, flap reconstruction and tracheostomy ('flaps group'). Two hundred and twenty-one patients had major head and neck operations without the need of flap reconstruction ('non-flaps group'). Three (6.3%) out of 47 patients (flaps group) were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) immediately after the operation. Only one patient (2.2%) out of the remaining 44 patients was admitted for emergency treatment 3 weeks post operation. All four patients recovered uneventfully. In the non-flaps group of 221 patients, there were 12 (5.4%) planned admissions and 2 (0.96%) unplanned admissions to ICU. In the group of planned admissions, one out of the 12 patients died. The other two patients who were not planned for ICU admission died of basal meningitis that was disease-related rather than related to the intensity of postoperative care. The overall admission rate to ICU was 18 (6.7%) out of 268 patients. The overall mortality was 1.1% (one planned, two unplanned).The present study showed that it is safe and cost-effective to discharge the majority of patients after major head and neck operations back to a specialist ward for nursing care.