PREOPERATIVE URETERAL STENT PLACEMENT IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF INTRAOPERATIVE IDENTIFICATION OF IATROGENIC URETERAL INJURY?

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“The use of prophylactic ureteral stents remains controversial and could help in the intraoperative identification of ureteral injury.”

Methods:
Patients undergoing elective abdominal colorectal surgery and preoperative ureteral stent placement at three enterprise-wide tertiary referral hospitals between 2015 and 2021 were retrospectively identified through their billing records. The main study endpoint was ureteral injury identified within 30 days postoperatively. The decision to place ureteral stents was at the discretion of the treating surgeon. A number of demographic, disease-related, and treatment-related variables were examined for possible association with ureteral stent placement. We compared the incidence of ureteral injury and timing of the identification according to use of ureteral stents. Bivariate associations were examined using Kruskal-Wallis tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables.


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Incidence of biliary stricture formation after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for benign and malignant periampullary disease.

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“Between January 1995 and April 2003, 1595 patients underwent PD for periampullary disease (392 benign, 1203 malignant). A retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database was performed to determine the incidence of biliary stricture after PD.”

Results: “Forty-two of the 1595 patients (2.6%) who underwent PD developed postoperative jaundice secondary to a stricture of the biliary-enteric anastomosis. There was no difference in the incidence of biliary strictures after resection for benign (n = 10, 2.6%) or malignant disease (n = 32, 2.6%). The median time to stricture formation resulting in jaundice was 13 months (range, 1–106 months) and was similar for patients with benign and malignant disease. Preoperative jaundice did not protect against biliary stricture formation. By univariate analysis, biliary strictures were associated with preoperative percutaneous biliary drainage (odds ratio [OR] = 2.11, P = 0.02) and postoperative biliary stenting (OR = 2.11, P = 0.013). Postoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with malignant disease was not associated with stricture formation. All strictures were initially managed with percutaneous biliary balloon dilatation and stenting, and only 2 patients required redo hepaticojejunostomy. Recurrent neoplastic disease was discovered in only 3 of the 32 patients (9%) with malignant disease. All 3 of these patients had cholangiocarcinoma as their initial diagnosis.”

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Iatrogenic urologic injuries 

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Ferrara M, Kann BR. Urological injuries during colorectal surgery. Clin Colon Rectal Surg. 2019 May;32(3):196-203.

“A recent retrospective population-based study of patients in the United States undergoing colorectal surgery found the overall incidence of ureteral injury to be 0.28%. The incidence was found to be significantly higher in patients with stage 3 or 4 cancer, malnutrition, steroid use, and in operations done at teaching hospitals. Rectal cancer cases were found to have the highest rates of ureteral injuries (7.1/1,000), followed by Crohn’s disease and diverticular disease (2.9/1,000 each). In this review, laparoscopic surgery was associated with a lower incidence of ureteral injuries when compared with open (1.1 vs. 2.8/1,000, p  < 0.001). Of the specific operations reviewed, abdominoperineal resection (APR) was found to have the highest rate of ureteral injury at 7.1/1,000 cases.” (Ferrara, 2019, p. 196)

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Essential Articles for Surgical Residents

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We are excited to share a new section titled “Essential Articles for Surgical Residents.”

Keeping up with surgical literature in residency can be challenging. This list was created to serve as an easily accessible, up-to-date, and evidence-based resource for residents.

The content has been curated by faculty from each department and is intended to supplement the standard educational curriculum of each rotation with current and relevant literature.

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Resource Highlight: Surgical Anatomy Apps for Liver, Lung, and Male Pelvis

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These were created by Emory University and are available for Apple devices.

Download here.

Surgical Anatomy of the Liver

“This app is for trainees, medical students, instructors, and anyone that needs a quick way to learn or teach liver anatomy.This hands-on tool allows you to mentally map the 3D anatomy of the liver in a way that was never possible with illustrations or imaging studies.

Emory Surgical Oncologist Shishir Maithel, MD, FACS, guided a certified medical illustrator in the process of digitally sculpting the anatomy to be both clear and accurate. The anatomy is a synthesis of radiographic, cadaveric, and surgical references, as well as hundreds of hours of liver surgery.”

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Surgical treatment and risk of recurrence of horseshoe anorectal abscess

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Gaertner WB, et al. The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Anorectal Abscess, Fistula-in-Ano, and Rectovaginal Fistula. Dis Colon Rectum. 2022 Aug 1;65(8):964-985. Full-text for Emory users.

Patients with acute anorectal abscess should be treated promptly with incision and drainage. Grade of recommendation: strong recommendation based on low-quality evidence, 1C.

“Abscesses that cross the midline (ie, horseshoe) can be challenging to manage. These abscesses most often involve the deep postanal space and extend laterally into the ischiorectal spaces. [40,71] Under these circumstances, primary lay-open fistulotomy should typically be avoided because these fistulas tend to be transsphincteric. The Hanley procedure, a technique that drains the deep postanal space and uses counter incisions to address the ischiorectal spaces, is effective in the setting of a horseshoe abscess, [71] although it may negatively impact anal sphincter function. [40,71] A modified Hanley technique using a posterior midline partial sphincterotomy to unroof the postanal space plus seton placement has a high rate of abscess resolution and has been reported to better preserve anorectal function compared to other operative interventions. [40,72,73]” (p. 969)

“After drainage, abscesses may recur in up to 44% of patients, most often within 1 year of initial treatment. [2,10,70] Inadequate drainage, the presence of loculations or a horseshoe-type abscess, and not performing a primary fistulotomy are risk factors for recurrent abscess (primary fistulotomy is further addressed in recommendation no. 4). [10,71,72]” (p. 969)

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Urinary retention in thoracic epidural patients

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Choi S, Mahon P, Awad IT. Neuraxial anesthesia and bladder dysfunction in the perioperative period: a systematic review. Can J Anaesth. 2012 Jul;59(7):681-703. Erratum in: Can J Anaesth. 2017 Dec 18. Full-text for Emory users.

Principal findings: Our search yielded 94 studies, and in 16 of these studies, the authors reported time to micturition after intrathecal anesthesia of varying local anesthetics and doses. Intrathecal injections were performed in 41 of these studies, epidural anesthesia/analgesia was used in 39 studies, and five studies involved both the intrathecal and epidural routes. Meta-analysis was not possible because of the heterogeneity of interventions and reported outcomes. The duration of detrusor dysfunction after intrathecal anesthesia is correlated with local anesthetic dose and potency. The incidence of urinary retention displays a similar trend and is further increased by the presence of neuraxial opioids, particularly long-acting variants. Urinary tract infection secondary to catheterization occurred rarely.

Conclusions: Neuraxial anesthesia/analgesia results in transient detrusor dysfunction. The duration of dysfunction depends on the potency and dose of medication used; however, it does not appear to result in significant morbidity.

Allen MS, et al. Optimal Timing of Urinary Catheter Removal After Thoracic Operations: A Randomized Controlled Study. Ann Thorac Surg. 2016 Sep;102(3):925-930. Full-text for Emory users.

Results: The study enrolled 374 patients, 217 men (58%) and 157 women (42%). The 247 eligible and evaluated patients, 141 (57.1%) men and 106 (42.9%) women, were a median age of 61.5 years (range, 21 to 87 years). There were no statistically significant differences in any of the preoperative or operative categories between the two groups. Median length of stay was 5 days (range, 2 to 42 days) for all patients, and there was no difference between the two groups. Postoperatively, 19 patients (7.7%) required urinary catheter reinsertion after it was removed. A significantly greater number of patients in the early removal group required reinsertion of the urinary catheter (15 [12.4%] vs 4 [3.2%]); p = 0.0065). Patients whose urinary catheter was removed within 48 hours of the operation had a much higher rate of bladder scans postoperatively (59.5% [n = 72]) and required more in-and-out catheterization than those whose urinary catheter was removed 6 hours after the epidural analgesia was discontinued (31.0% [n = 39]; p < 0.0001). The only documented urinary tract infection in the entire cohort occurred in a patient whose urinary catheter was removed within 48 hours after the operation. No urinary tract infections developed in the 126 patients whose urinary catheter remained in place until the epidural catheter was removed.

Conclusions: In a randomized control trial, patients with an epidural catheter in place after a general thoracic surgical operation have a higher rate of urinary problems when the urinary catheter is removed early, while the epidural catheter is still in place, compared with patients whose urinary catheter is removed after the epidural analgesia is discontinued.

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