Utility of the Parkland Grading Scale to determine intraoperative challenges during laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a validation study on 206 patients at an academic medical center in Nepal

BACKGROUND

Most of the scoring systems to predict difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy are based on pre-operative clinical and radiological findings. Recently the Parkland Grading Scale system was introduced as a simple intra-operative grading scale. This study aims to utilize the Parkland Grading Scale system to assess the intraoperative challenges during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

METHOD

This was a prospective, cross-sectional study done at Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Chitwan, Nepal. All the patients underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy from April 2020 to March 2021. Based on the initial intra-operative finding, Parkland Grading Scale was noted and at the end of the surgery, the level of difficulty was given by the operating surgeon. All the pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative findings were compared with the scale.

RESULTS

Out of 206 patients, there were 176 (85.4%) females, and 30 (14.6%) males. The median age was 41 years (Range 19-75). The median body mass index was 23.67 kg/m2. There were 35(17%) patients with a history of previous surgery. The rate of conversion to open surgery was 5.8%. According to Parkland Grading Scale, 67(32.5%), 75(36.4%), 42(20.4%), 15(7.3%), and 7(3.4%) were graded as grade 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. There was a difference in the Parkland grading scale in patients with a history of acute cholecystitis, gallbladder wall thickness, pericholecystic collection, stone size, and body mass index (p < 0.05). The total operative time, level of difficulty in surgery, rate of help needed from colleagues or replacement as the main surgeon, bile spillage, drain placement, gallbladder decompression, and conversion rate all increased with an increase in scale (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in the development of post-operative fever, and post-operative hospital stay as the scale increased (p < 0.05). The Tukey-Kramer test for all pair-wise comparisons revealed that each grade was significantly different from each other (p < 0.05) on the difficulty of surgery except for grade 4 from 5.

CONCLUSION

Parkland Grading Scale system is a reliable intra-operative grading system to assess the difficulty in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and helps the surgeon to change the strategy of surgery. An increase in scale is associated with an increased difficulty level of the surgery.

Open Cholecystectomy among Patients undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction:

In the current era, laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the treatment of choice for symptomatic gallstone disease. The aim of this study is to find out the prevalence of open cholecystectomy among patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a tertiary care centre.

Methods:

It is a descriptive cross-sectional study done among 345 patients at the Department of Surgery of a tertiary care centre from June, 2020 to May, 2021 after receiving ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 0770798-271). Convenience sampling was done. Successive patients who underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy during the study period were included. Standard 4 port laparoscopic technique was used for the laparoscopic cholecystectomy and sub-costal Kocher incision was used for the open cholecystectomy respectively. After data collection, entry and analysis were done in Microsoft Excel 2016. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data.

Results:

Out of 345 patients, the prevalence of open cholecystectomy among patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy was 6 (1.73%) (0.35-3.11 at 95% Confidence Interval).

Conclusions:

This study showed that the prevalence of open cholecystectomy among patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy was lower when compared to similar studies conducted in similar settings.

Complications among Patients Undergoing Pancreaticoduodenectomy in Tertiary Care Centers of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction:

Pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure), even after significant evolution, continues to be associated with a high morbidity. The study aimed to find out the prevalence of complications following pancreaticoduodenectomies performed by a single surgeon over a span of 20 years in tertiary care hospitals of Nepal.

Methods:

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from hospital records of patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy between 1999 and 2019 at different institutions in Chitwan, where the principal author was involved. Ethical clearance was taken from the Institutional Review Committee. Convenience sampling was done. Patients' clinical characteristics and diagnoses were noted. Data entry was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated, with frequency and percentage.

Results:

Out of 327 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, complications were found in 125 (38.2%) (32.9-43.7 at 95% Confidence Interval). Respiratory complications were the commonest 32 (9.8%), followed by septicemia 25 (7.6%) and cardiac complications 24 (7.3%). Delayed gastric emptying and postoperative pancreatic fistula were seen in 11 (6.8%) and 4 (2.5%) in the first decade respectively. In the second decade, delayed gastric emptying was noted in 2 (1.2%) and postoperative pancreatic fistula in 1 (0.6%) patient.

Conclusions:

The prevalence of complications in our study was comparable to other national and international studies. Surgery-specific complications such as delayed gastric emptying and postoperative pancreatic fistula showed a decline over the decade.

Role of liver enzymes in patients with blunt abdominal trauma to diagnose liver injury

BACKGROUND

The liver is the second most injured organ following blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) after the spleen. Although the computed tomography (CT) scan is considered as the gold standard for diagnosing liver injury in BAT, it may not readily available in all the hospitals. This study was performed to evaluate the role of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) in patients with BAT and its significance in predicting the diagnosis and severity of the liver injury.

METHOD

The study was conducted in Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital (CMCTH) from February 2019 to May 2020. It was a prospective observational study. All the patients with BAT were received by on-duty surgical residents in the emergency department. Based on the imaging and operative finding, patients with liver injury and without liver injury were noted with the associated injury. For comparisons of clinical and grading characteristics between the two groups (liver injury and no liver injury), the chi-squared test was used for categorical variables as appropriate, and the Mann-Whitney U test used for quantitative variables (AST and ALT). The comparisons between more than two groups (grade of injury) were performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was used to calculate the optimal cut-off value of AST and ALT.

RESULTS

Among the 96 patients admitted with BAT, 38 patients had liver injury and 58 patients had no liver injury. The median length of the intensive care unit (ICU) stay of patients with liver injury was higher than without liver injury. There was a significant difference in the median level of AST and ALT (< 0.001) between patients with liver injury and no liver injury. The area under the ROC curve of AST was 0.89 (95% confidence interval 0.86-0.98) and of ALT was 0.92 (95% confidence interval 0.83-0.97). The area under the curve demonstrated that the test was a good predictor for the identification of liver injury and also the severity of liver enzymes. The cut-off values for the liver injury were 106 U/l and 80 U/l for AST and ALT, respectively. Based on these values, AST ≥ 106 U/l had a sensitivity of 71.7%, a specificity of 90%, a positive predictive value of 86.8%, and a negative predictive value of 77.6%. The corresponding values for ALT ≥ 80 U/l were 77.8%, 94.1%, 92.1%, and 82.8%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we report the optimal cut-off value of AST and ALT for liver injury in BAT as ≥ 106 U/l and 80 U/l, respectively. The elevated level of AST and ALT might assist the emergency physicians and surgeons to timely refer the suspected patients with the liver injury to a tertiary center.

Medical Thoracoscopy for Undiagnosed Exudative Pleural Effusion: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction:

Medical thoracoscopy has recently gained renewed interest due to its minimal invasive nature and high yield diagnostic outcome. This study aims to observe diagnostic yield and safety of medical thoracoscopy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion.

Methods:

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in two tertiary care hospitals in Chitwan from March 2018 to May 2018. Ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board was obtained. Convenient sampling was done that included all the patients who met criteria for undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion after diagnostic thoracocentesis. Patients having contraindication to procedure and who refused consent were excluded. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and data are presented as mean SD and frequency (percentage).

Results:

A total of 14 patients underwent rigid medical thoracoscopy. All 14 patients had unilateral pleural effusion. The overall diagnostic yield was 100%. Malignancy was the most frequent histopathology diagnosis seen in 11 (78.57%) patients, the commonest being metastatic adenocarcinoma in 8 (57.1%). Pleural tuberculosis and acute-on-chronic pleuritis were seen in 2 (14.3%) and 1 (7.1%) patients, respectively. Pleural deposits and hemorrhagic pleural fluid were the two commonest findings, seen in 10 (70.1%) and 9 (64.3%) patients, respectively. Two (14.3%) patients clinically treated as tuberculous pleural effusion was re-diagnosed to have metastatic adenocarcinoma. Procedure related mortality and major complications were nil. Common procedurerelated minor complications observed were mild to moderate pain and mild bleeding, observed in 3 (21.4%) and 2 (14.3%) patients, respectively.

Conclusions:

Medical thoracoscopy is a safe, well-tolerated and high yield procedure in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion. This art of medicine should be promoted in daily medical practice.

Management of Traumatic Liver Injury in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal

BACKGROUND

The liver is most frequently injured solid organ in abdominal trauma. The non-operative management is the standard treatment for hemodynamically stable patients. This study analyse the epidemiological aspects, injury patterns, treatment modalities and outcome in patients with liver injuries only and associated injuries outside the liver.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study in patients with liver injuries admitted from 1st March 2014 to 31st January 2019 at Chitwan Medical College and Hospital, Nepal. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A consisted of isolated liver injury and Group B liver injury with associated injury of other organs. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS

A total of 61 patients were admitted with liver injury. There were 18 (29.5 %) patients with liver injury alone (group A) and 43 (70.5 %)liver injury associated with other organs (group B). Low grade liver injuries were 48 (78.7 %) and high grade 13 (21.3 %). The operative management was done for one liver injury with biliary peritonitis in group A. In group B, 16 patients required laparotomy and operative management for associated abdomen injuries.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-operative treatment modality in hemodynamically stable patients with isolated liver injuries was safe and effective.

Comparison of clinical course of Acute Biliary and Non-Biliary Pancreatitis

Introduction: Incidence of acute pancreatitis (AP) varies in different parts of the world. The published data are mainly based on retrospective analysis of hospital admissions, which show that there are considerable geographical differences in the incidence rate. There are also regional divergences with regard to the etiology, and its impact on morbidity and mortality. Therefore, we compare the clinical course of acute biliary and non-biliary pancreatitis at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) as well as we compare the morbidity and mortality and duration of hospital stay in these groups. Methods: This prospective study included the patients with a diagnosis of AP over a period of one year. Eighty-five patients with the diagnosis of AP were included in the study. Revised Atlanta classification system (2012) was used to diagnose and define the severity of disease. The occurrence of local and systemic complications, median duration of hospital stay and mortality in AP was studied. Results: Among 85 patients, 34 patients were females and 51 were males. Among them, 46 patients belonged to the biliary group and 39 belonged to the non-biliary group. Alcohol intake was the major etiology in the non-biliary group (n = 26) and all of them were male. The majority of the gallstone induced AP patients were female (n = 29). Twenty-nine patients developed severe acute pancreatitis (SAP: 16 in biliary and 13 patients in non-biliary group). Complications were mostly seen in SAP. The acute fluid collection was the most common local complication (15 patients in biliary and 15 patients in non-biliary group, p > 0.05) and respiratory failure was the most common systemic complication (18 patients in biliary and 16 patients in non-biliary group, p > 0.05) in both groups. Three patients in biliary group and four patients in non-biliary group died due to multi-organ failure (p > 0.05). There was no statistical significant difference in the median duration of hospital stay in these groups. Conclusion: Though pathogenesis vary for different etiologies, once the disease process has started, local complications, systemic complications, duration of hospital stay and mortality in AP depends on the severity of the disease irrespective of the etiology.

Comparative study between 3-ports and 4-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy for the cases of gall stone disease

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is currently accepted approach for the management of patients with cholelithiasis. The standard method for removal of gall bladder in laparoscopic cholecystectomy is by using four ports. Although other techniques such as by using 3 ports or only single port are being practiced, their safety and efficacy has not been established. This study was done to assess the efficacy and safety of the use of only three ports for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Methods: Between August 2013 and February 2014, 78 patients with the diagnosis of cholelithiasis were operated. Patients were randomized into 3-ports group and 4-ports group using random number. Operative time taken for the procedure and operative findings were noted. Postoperative pain and complications were noted in both groups. The two groups were compared using student-T test and chi square test. Results: There was no significant difference in the operating time taken for the 3-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 4-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However operating time was significantly higher when the cases that had dense adhesions present were compared with those who did not have. Conversion from 3-ports technique to 4-ports technique was determined mainly by the degree of adhesions and to some degree by the BMI of the patient. Postoperative wound infection rate was similar among the two groups. There was no incidence of biliary injury in both the groups.Conclusion: 3-ports laparoscopic cholecystectomy is safe and efficient approach for the selected patients who seek for lesser invasive method of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.