Spontaneous acalculous gallbladder perforation

Spontaneous acalculous gallbladder perforation post-cardiac transplantation

Spontaneous acalculous gallbladder perforation is a rare radiological and clinical phenomenon with life-threatening consequences. In the setting of recent cardiac transplantation, the condition is increasingly uncommon and difficult to diagnose preoperatively. We describe a case of spontaneous acalculous gallbladder perforation in an intensive care unit (ICU) patient, most likely due to a combination of cardiac transplantation and immunosuppression. There are no such documented cases in the literature with an established preoperative diagnosis, to the best of our knowledge. Abdominal CT and targeted ultrasound proved complimentary in establishing the diagnosis, facilitating successful and timely treatment with urgent cholecystectomy.

How to apply clinical cases and medical literature in the framework of a modified "failure mode and effects analysis" as a clinical reasoning tool--an illustration using the human biliary system

BACKGROUND

Clinicians use various clinical reasoning tools such as Ishikawa diagram to enhance their clinical experience and reasoning skills. Failure mode and effects analysis, which is an engineering methodology in origin, can be modified and applied to provide inputs into an Ishikawa diagram.

METHOD

The human biliary system is used to illustrate a modified failure mode and effects analysis. The anatomical and physiological processes of the biliary system are reviewed. Failure is defined as an abnormality caused by infective, inflammatory, obstructive, malignancy, autoimmune and other pathological processes. The potential failures, their effect(s), main clinical features, and investigation that can help a clinician to diagnose at each anatomical part and physiological process are reviewed and documented in a modified failure mode and effects analysis table. Relevant medical and surgical cases are retrieved from the medical literature and weaved into the table.

RESULTS

A total of 80 clinical cases which are relevant to the modified failure mode and effects analysis for the human biliary system have been reviewed and weaved into a designated table. The table is the backbone and framework for further expansion. Reviewing and updating the table is an iterative and continual process. The relevant clinical features in the modified failure mode and effects analysis are then extracted and included in the relevant Ishikawa diagram.

CONCLUSIONS

This article illustrates an application of engineering methodology in medicine, and it sows the seeds of potential cross-pollination between engineering and medicine. Establishing a modified failure mode and effects analysis can be a teamwork project or self-directed learning process, or a mix of both. Modified failure mode and effects analysis can be deployed to obtain inputs for an Ishikawa diagram which in turn can be used to enhance clinical experiences and clinical reasoning skills for clinicians, medical educators, and students.

Gallbladder perforation: a rare complication of postoperative chemotherapy of gastric cancer

A middle-aged man presented 1 day after being discharged from hospital with completing the first course of postoperative chemotherapy. He suffered a sudden persistent high fever and chills. It was noted that he had a history of a total gastrectomy (with D2 lymphadenectomy) 1 month ago. His admission bloods revealed total bilirubin was 142.2umol/L , indirect bilirubin of 107.6umol/L and white cell count of 20.05×10⁹/L. A color doppler ultrasound scan confirmed fluid and gas around liver and hilus lienis while the gallbladder cannot be detected. During Computed Tomography (CT) guided puncture positioning technology and setting a three-channel tube, about 400 ml of foul smell hazel turbid liquid was drained out. He was diagnosed as gallbladder perforation and he was underwent conservative treatment consist of drainage, banning diet, total parenteral nutrition and intravenous antibiotics. Then he recovered well within the subsequent 10 days and was discharged.