Pilonidal sinus: a comparative study of treatment methods

INTRODUCTION

Pilonidal disease is a very common anorectal problem without a clinical consensus on its optimal management.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the methods used by our clinic and determine the outcomes in relation to healing, hospitalization time and recurrence.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We have studied all the cases of patients with pilonidal sinus that were treated surgically in our clinic from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 1999.

RESULTS

A total of 111 patients were treated of whom 92 (82,8%) were men and 19 (17,2%) were women. Ages ranged from 16 to 65 years with an average age of about 25,1 years. Of the 111 patients, 63 were treated with marsupializationand the remaining 48 were treated by excision (29 with open excision and 19 with the primary suture technique). One hundred and two (91,9%) patients were discharged from the hospital after the surgical procedure, while the remaining 9 patients were hospitalized for 24 hours. The healing time for marsupialization was 27,3 days, the primary suture technique was 11,7 days and the open excision method took 46,4 days. Recurrence was observed in 16 patients (14,4%). Recurrence appeared in 4 (6,35%) of the 63 patients subjected to marsupialization, 1 of the 29 patients subjected to open incision, and 11 (57,8%) of the 19 patients subjected to primary closure.

CONCLUSION

In the absence of inflammation and/or recurrence, marsupialization is the surgical method of choice as it has a low percentage of recurrence and an acceptably short healing period.In apparently large, inflamed and recurrent situations, open excision is preferred.

Intraperitoneal administration of local anesthetics in laparoscopic surgery: pharmacological, anatomical, physiological and pathophysiological considerations

Local anesthetics, because of their ability to cause a reversible blockade in transmission of impulses along the central and peripheral neural pathways are used to induce analgesia. In laparoscopic surgery procedures, the reduction of postoperative pain is one of the biggest benefits compared with open surgery. However, the pain is not completely absent after laparoscopic surgery. The intraperitoneal administration of local anesthetic intraoperatively in laparoscopic surgery can reduce the intensity of postoperative pain. This method has been in use since the early nineties and seems to be effective. The purpose of this review is to assess the pharmacology of local anesthetics, the anatomy and physiology of the peritoneum, the physiology of preemptive analgesia, and the pathophysiology of pain and review the data from the use of this method so as to make it more effective. For the safest and longest intraperitoneal administration of local anesthetics the following significant points must be taken into consideration: administration of local anesthetic should be done at the beginning, in short-term intervention and both at the beginning and end of surgery for longer-term intervention, administration of local anesthetic should be combined with a vasoconstrictor, usage of solutions of small volume and high concentration of local anesthetic, coverage of the greatest possible surface of the parietal peritoneum (by using a nebulizer), adherence to a waiting period of 10-15 minutes after administration of local anesthetic and usage of a safe and longer duration local anesthetic like levobupivacaine.

Hernia mesh repair of the anterior abdominal wall and antibiotic chemoprophylaxis: multiple doses of antibiotics failed to prevent or reduce wound infection

BACKGROUND

Mesh repair of the anterior abdominal wall hernias is a popular technique and commonly accepted among the majority of surgeons. The technique used most frequently today is the free tension technique. It is uncertain whether antibiotic prophylaxis is necessary to prevent post operative wound infection, especially when a foreign body like a polypropylene mesh is used.

METHODS

We have studied retrospectively the patients who received surgical treatment in our department for anterior abdominal wall hernia during the period of January 1995 -December 2004. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the doses of antibiotics administered.

RESULTS

In 780 out of 1245 cases, a mesh of polypropylene was used. In our sample, we excluded 221 patients due to diseases that made the use of antibiotics necessary. We have studied the frequency of superficial and deep infections in correlation with the use of antibiotics (cephalosporin of second generation or a combination of ampicillin plus sulbactam).

CONCLUSION

No difference was observed in the incidence of surgical trauma infection in relation to the duration and the doses of antibiotic cover. The wound infection rate in the current study does not support the use of multiple doses of antibiotics, as this rate does not differ from the rates of infection reported in the literature. Further studies are needed to clarify if antibiotic chemoprophylaxis with one dose or no chemoprophylaxis should be recommended.

Acute adult intussusception caused by primary cecal non Hodgkin lymphoma

Intussusception of the bowel is rather rare in adults and in about 80-90% of the cases is secondary to an underlying intraluminal pathology that serves as a lead point. In cases of colonic intussusception malignancy occurs in 63-66% of patients and it is usually adenocarcinoma and rarely lymphoma. The presenting symptoms are non specific and are in most cases of long duration, consistent with a chronic intussusception causing partial intestinal obstruction. We present a rare case of primary colorectal lymphoma in a 29 years old female that was complicated by acute ileocecal intussusception, treated with en bloc resection without reduction.

Ingested toothpick fistula of the ileum mimicking Crohn's disease

Foreign body ingestion is an accidental or an intentional event, with most of the ingested foreign bodies passing spontaneously through the gastrointestinal tract without incidents. About 10-20% of them, especially long and sharp objects like toothpicks, will fail to pass through the entire gastrointestinal tract and may cause symptoms. Toothpick injury of the gastrointestinal tract is often associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. The complications that can be caused by toothpick ingestion are obstruction, perforation, hemorrhage, fistula formation, small bowel inflammation, sepsis and even death. Diagnosis of toothpick injury can be difficult as there are no specific physical findings or laboratory examinations which may aid the diagnosis and even imaging studies are of little help as wooden toothpicks are radiolucent. We report a rare case of incidental toothpick ingestion which caused an ileum fistula and mimicked Crohn's disease.

Giant cutaneous plasmacytoma of the sacrococcygeal region

BACKGROUND

Cutaneous plasmacytoma is a very rare manifestation of extramedullary plasmacytoma, with only 32 cases having been reported so far in the last 60 years. Extramedullary plasmacytoma is a plasma cell tumor that involves soft tissues, without any signs of systemic spread of multiple myeloma or bone marrow involvement. The cutaneous lesions usually range in diameter from 1 to 5 cm and can be treated with radiotherapy or surgical excision.

OBJECTIVE AND CONCLUSION

We present a case of a giant cutaneous plasmacytoma of the sacrococcygeal region with a diameter of 12 cm that was treated with surgical excision.

Primary myeloid sarcoma of the jejunum and greater omentum causing small intestine obstruction

Myeloid sarcoma, which is highly associated with acute myeloid leukemia, is defined as an extramedullary discrete tumor mass, consisted by immature myeloid cells or myeloblasts. Myeloid sarcoma usually involves the skin, lymph node, bone, soft tissue and testis, while involvement of the gastrointestinal tract is rather uncommon. The diagnosis depends on histological features and immunohistochemical results. We present a rare case of myeloid sarcoma, with synchronous involvement of the jejunum and the greater omentum, manifesting with small bowel obstruction.

Metaplastic breast carcinoma in a patient with Von Recklinghausen's disease

Metaplastic carcinomas of the breast are uncommon lesions and account for < 5% of all breast malignancies. A type of metaplastic carcinoma is carcinosarcoma, an even more rare lesion. We present a case of carcinosarcoma in association with Von Recklinghausen's disease in a 60-year-old woman. Von Recklinghausen's disease is an autosomal dominant disorder that is localized at the long arm of chromosome 17 and affects 1 in 4000 individuals. There are few reports on breast tumor development and incidence in patients with Von Recklinghausen's disease. To our knowledge, there has been no report of breast carcinosarcoma associated with Von Recklinghausen's disease. We comment on the difficulties of diagnosis and treatment and the possibility of breast tumors occurring more frequently in patients with Von Recklinghausen's disease.