Category Archives: Gastroenterology

Pancreaticoduodenectomy in patients with previous Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

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Shah MM, Martin BM, Stetler JL, Patel AD, Davis SS, Sarmiento JM, Lin E. Reconstruction Options for Pancreaticoduodenectomy in Patients with Prior Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2017 Nov;27(11):1185-1191.

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“In summary, of the 13 patients that have been described in the literature who underwent PD after RYGB, 7 (54%) of these patients underwent reconstruction, similar to our preferred approach (Fig. 2), which involved remnant gastrectomy with the BP limb forming the BP anastomoses. Overall, 8 (61.5%) of the 13 patients had remnant gastrectomy. Five patients did not have a remnant gastrectomy. There are 10 patients in the literature where the surgeon attempted resecting the gastric remnant, and 8 (80%) of these patients had successful remnant gastrectomy. However, based on the published literature, this is clearly a small sampling of what might have actually been performed. We have had three such patients where we performed PD in patients with prior RYGB (similar to Fig. 2a). In all patients, we had adequate BP limb length for the anastomoses. The patients had early recovery of bowel function and were discharged from the hospital on or before postoperative day 5 without any significant complications. Continue reading →

Crohn’s Disease: Biologics and immunomodulators

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Hazlewood GS, et al. Comparative effectiveness of immunosuppressants and biologics for inducing and maintaining remission in Crohn’s disease: a network meta-analysis. Gastroenterology. 2015 Feb;148(2):344-54.e5; quiz e14-5.

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Key Findings: 

“One good-quality RCT and one poor-quality RCT were included. Intravenous infliximab was compared to oral ciclosporin, azathioprine, and the combination of azathioprine and infliximab among moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis patients without adequate response to corticosteroid treatment. In a pragmatic trial, there was no significant difference in quality-adjusted survival, mortality, colectomy rates, time to colectomy, lengths of hospital stay after randomization, severe adverse reactions or severe adverse effects, and quality of life measures. However, ciclosporin was associated with longer log-transformed hospital stays than infliximab. In the same trial, the UK resource use was considered. It was concluded that the total health service costs for ciclosporin were considerably lower than infliximab and ciclosporin was not less effective than infliximab.

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The utility of biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease, with a focus on fecal calprotectin

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Petryszyn P, et al. Faecal calprotectin as a diagnostic marker of inflammatory bowel disease in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms: meta-analysis. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019 Nov;31(11):1306-1312.

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“The study aimed to assess efficacy of faecal calprotectin as a diagnostic marker of IBD in patients with symptoms suggestive of such diagnosis. Inclusion criteria comprised experimental and observational studies, adults with gastrointestinal symptoms, calprotectin as index and colonoscopy as reference test, presence of data on/enabling the calculation of diagnostic accuracy parameters. For each study, sensitivity and specificity of faecal calprotectin were analysed as bivariate data. Nineteen studies were identified. The total number of patients was 5032. Calculated pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.882 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.827-0.921] and 0.799 (95% CI, 0.693-0.875), respectively. Following faecal calprotectin incorporation in the diagnostic work-up of 100 people with suspected IBD, 18 non-IBD patients will have a colonoscopy performed and one patient with the disease will not be referred for this examination. Faecal calprotectin concentration measurement is a useful screening test to rule out IBD, at the same time reducing the need for colonoscopy by 66.7%.”

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Choosing the appropriate patch repair based on the duodenal perforation size

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Poris S, et al. Routine versus selective upper gastrointestinal contrast series after omental patch repair for gastric or duodenal perforation. Surg Endosc. 2018 Jan; 32(1):400-404.

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“Age greater than 60 years (p-0.0470, CI-0.76-31.54), pulse rate greater than 110/minute (p-0.0217, CI-1.04-34.48), systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg (p-0.0016, CI-2.04-71.9), haemoglobin level less than 10 g/dl (p-0.0009, CI-2.25-135.02), serum albumin less than 2.5 grams/dl (p-0.0145, CI-1.21-38.31), total lymphocyte count less than 1800 cells/mm-3 (p-0.0003, CI-8.9-42.2), size of perforation greater than 5 mm (p-0.0011, CI-1.09-36.13) were identified as risk factors for releak. Serum albumin, hemoglobin and size of perforation were independent risk factors for prediction of releak on multivariate analysis. The anthropometric parameters namely mean triceps skin fold thickness, mean mid arm circumference and mean body mass index were all significantly less in cases as compared to controls. Releak was found to be a significant cause of death in patients with perforated duodenal ulcer. A total of 8 patients died in both the groups. The mortality rate in the releak group was 55.6% (5 out of 9 patients) compared to 2.7% (3 out of 110 patients) in the control group [p-0.0001].”

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Article of interest: Volvulus of the Small Bowel and Colon

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Kapadia MR. Volvulus of the Small Bowel and Colon. Clin Colon Rectal Surg. 2017 Feb; 30(1):40-45.

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“Volvulus of the intestines involves twisting around a fixed point. It may occur anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract where there is a long, mobile intestinal segment with a narrow mesenteric attachment. Volvulus leads to luminal obstruction and can compromise intestinal blood flow. For this reason, it tends to be a surgical emergency which requires prompt attention. Failure to recognize the signs and symptoms of intestinal volvulus may lead to bowel ischemia and perforation.”

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Stomal necrosis

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Murken DR, Bleier JIS. Ostomy-Related Complications. Clin Colon Rectal Surg. 2019 May;32(3):176-182.

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“Stomal necrosis has been reported to occur in up to 20% of ostomates in the immediate postoperative period ([Fig. 1]).[3] Specific risk factors for stoma necrosis include emergent operation, inadequate mobilization of the bowel, excessive mesenteric resection resulting in inadequate arterial blood supply to or venous drainage from the bowel, and constriction in the abdominal wall due to excessively small openings in the fascia, abdominal wall mesh, or skin.[10] [20] Importantly, the obese patient is seven times more likely to experience stoma necrosis than the nonobese patient.[21] Stoma necrosis is much less common for loop stomas given the dual blood supply to both the afferent and efferent limbs.”

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