Search

Background: Incisional hernias are a frequent complication, and their prevention includes proper closure of the abdominal wall., Methods: A prospective study was conducted at a third-level hospital after the introduction of a midline laparotomy closure protocol. An objective measurement of the suture length to incision length ratio was made. and the postoperative results were analyzed., Results: 127 patients were included and 34 of them (26.8%) had received a technically deficient closure. Incisional hernia was described in 20.5% of cases. An improvement in the quality of the abdominal wall closure was demonstrated over time., Conclusion: The abdominal wall closure was deficient in nearly one- quarter of the laparotomies performed at a third-level medical center. A protocol improved the quality of the laparotomy closure., (Copyright © 2019 AEC. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Tumors of the lower third of the rectum are a challenge for the surgeon. Among the various techniques of surgical treatment of these lesions, radical surgery and ultra low anterior anastomosis is one of the therapeutic options. This technique is a defy both in the evaluation of the potential patient as in the surgical technique. Such evaluation and treatment processes must be audited in order to keep proper quality indices both in the oncological as in their functional results. This is only possible when both the multidisciplinary and surgical teams have an adequate and ongoing specialized training and a satisfactory volume of patients treated. Details of this technique, its indications and results are reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2014 Asociación Española de Cirujanos. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)

The most frequent tumors that grow in the retrorectal space are embryological. Their management requires adequate knowledge of the characteristics of these lesions. We present five cases of retrorectal tumors.

Oat cell tumors in the common bile duct are extremely rare. We describe the case of a 76-year-old man with skin and mucous jaundice of 15 days' duration without constitutional syndrome. A tumor was diagnosed in the mid portion of the common bile duct. After surgical resection, pathological analysis revealed small-cell (oat cell) carcinoma. The treatment of these tumors is multidisciplinary. Surgery is followed by chemo- and radiotherapy.

Ectopic mediastinal parathyroid glands are uncommon (1-11% of all cases of hyperparathyroidism). Median sternotomy used to be performed to resect them, with large and painful incisions that prolonged the length of hospital stay. Current imaging techniques (thoracic computed tomography and Tc-mibi scan) can accurately locate the ectopic glands, allowing minimally invasive exploration. We report a new surgical technique: video-assisted thoracoscopic resection associated with intraoperative Tc-mibi scintigraphy for ectopic mediastinal parathyroid glands. This technique allows minimally invasive access and reduces complications and length of hospital stay. Therefore we believe that video-assisted thoracoscopy could become the technique of choice in patients with high surgical risk and a fifth ectopic parathyroid gland. We report the case of a 49-year-old man in whom surgery was successful.

We report the case of a 48-year-old man who was admitted to the intensive care unit for acute respiratory distress. After discharge, the patient showed massive pneumoperitoneum. None of the complementary investigations provided information on the cause. The patient underwent surgery but no intraoperative diagnosis was reached. We believe that this case is of interest since pneumoperitoneum is a frequent entity that often leads to emergency laparotomy. The cause is usually perforation, although in a substantial proportion of cases the pneumoperitoneum is non-surgical, or idiopathic.