Destructive granuloma derived from a liver cyst: a case report. (49/300)

We herein report the case of an idiopathic liver cystic mass which aggressively infiltrated the thoraco-abdominal wall. A 74-year-old woman who had a huge cystic lesion in her right hepatic lobe was transferred to our hospital for further examinations. Imaging studies revealed a simple liver cyst, and the cytological findings of intracystic fluid were negative. She was followed up periodically by computed tomography (CT) scans. Seven years later, she complained of a prominence and dull pain in her right thoraco-abdominal region. CT revealed an enlargement of the cystic lesion and infiltration into the intercostal subcutaneous tissue. We suspected the development of a malignancy inside the liver cyst such as cystadenocarcinoma, and she therefore underwent surgery. A tumor extirpation was performed, including the chest wall, from the 7th to the 10th rib, as well as a right hepatic lobectomy. Pathologically, the lesion consisted of severe inflammatory change with epithelioid cell granuloma and bone destruction without any malignant neoplasm. No specific pathogens were evident based on further histological and molecular examinations. Therefore the lesion was diagnosed to be a destructive granuloma associated with a long-standing hepatic cyst. Since undergoing surgery, the patient has been doing well without any signs of recurrence.  (+info)

Primary anterior abdominal wall actinomycosis. (50/300)

Actinomycosis of the anterior abdominal wall is rare. We report a 50-year-old diabetic man who presented with a left hypochondrial mass of three weeks duration associated with fever. Abdominal computed tomography showed a 2 x 4 cm mass projecting from the internal abdominal wall associated with surrounding inflammation. The mass did not decrease after a week of intravenous antibiotics. Excision of the mass and primary closure of the abdominal wall were performed. The mass involved the deep muscles of anterior abdominal wall. The omentum was adherent to the parietal peritoneum underneath the mass. Microscopical examination of the mass was consistent with actinomycosis. The postoperative period was uneventful and the patient recovered completely. The patient received penicillin for six months.  (+info)

Ultrasound-guided blocks of the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve: accuracy of a selective new technique confirmed by anatomical dissection. (51/300)

BACKGROUND: Ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve blocks may be used in the diagnosis of chronic groin pain or for analgesia for hernia repair. This study describes a new ultrasound-guided approach to these nerves and determines its accuracy using anatomical dissection control. METHODS: After having tested the new method in a pilot cadaver, 10 additional embalmed cadavers were used to perform 37 ultrasound-guided blocks of the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve. After injection of 0.1 ml of dye the cadavers were dissected to evaluate needle position and colouring of the nerves. RESULTS: Thirty-three of the thirty-seven needle tips were located at the exact target point, in or directly at the ilioinguinal or iliohypogastric nerve. In all these cases the targeted nerve was coloured entirely. In two of the remaining four cases parts of the nerves were coloured. This corresponds to a simulated block success rate of 95%. In contrast to the standard 'blind' techniques of inguinal nerve blocks we visualized and targeted the nerves 5 cm cranial and posterior to the anterior superior iliac spine. The median diameters of the nerves measured by ultrasound were: ilioinguinal 3.0x1.6 mm, and iliohypogastric 2.9x1.6 mm. The median distance of the ilioinguinal nerve to the iliac bone was 6.0 mm and the distance between the two nerves was 10.4 mm. CONCLUSIONS: The anatomical dissections confirmed that our new ultrasound-guided approach to the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve is accurate. Ultrasound could become an attractive alternative to the 'blind' standard techniques of ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve block in pain medicine and anaesthetic practice.  (+info)

Abdominal wall abscess formation two years after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. (52/300)

BACKGROUND: Spillage of gallstones within the subcutaneous tissue during laparoscopic cholecystecomy may lead to considerable morbidity. METHODS: We describe an abdominal wall abscess formation in a 50-year-old female that developed 24 months after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. RESULTS: Spilled gallstones at the umbilical port site went undetected. Subsequently, an umbilical port-site abscess formed and was treated 2 years later. CONCLUSION: Any patient with a foreign body in the subcutaneous tissues after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be considered to have a retained stone. Use careful dissection, copious irrigation, and a retrieval device to avoid stone spillage. If spillage does occurs, percutaneous drainage and antibiotics followed by open retrieval of the stones should achieve adequate results during those delayed presentations of abdominal wall abscesses.  (+info)

The management of incisional hernia. (53/300)

Many thousand laparotomy incisions are created each year and the failure rate for closure of these abdominal wounds is between 10-15%, creating a large problem of incisional hernia. In the past many of these hernias have been neglected and treated with abdominal trusses or inadequately managed with high failure rates. The introduction of mesh has not had a significant impact because surgeons are not aware of modern effective techniques which may be used to reconstruct defects of the abdominal wall. This review will cover recent advances in incisional hernia surgery which affect the general surgeon, and also briefly review advanced techniques employed by specialist surgeons in anterior abdominal wall surgery.  (+info)

Infection on polypropylene mesh implantation site in the abdominal wall of rats with induced bacterial peritonitis. (54/300)

PURPOSE: Evaluate incidence of bacterial growth on implanted meshes in the abdominal wall of rats after to induce bacterial peritonitis. METHODS: 36 rats were used. They were allocated in two groups: group B, experiment group (n =18) and group S, control group (n =18). They were submitted to the implant of polypropylene meshes on the abdominal wall, at the preperitoneal space. Then, in the animals of the experiment group, the induction of peritonitis was made through the inoculation in the peritoneal cavity of standardized solution of Escherichia coli. In the animals of the control group it was made through the inoculation of physiologic solution. The animals of both groups were reallocated in three subgroups of six animals and observed until the reoperations time, for evaluation of the implantation sites, collection of the meshes for cultures, evaluation of the abdominal cavity and peritoneal lavage for cultures. The reoperations occurred in 24, 48 and 72 hours. RESULTS: All the animals of the experiment group presented clinical symptoms of peritonitis. The cultures of the meshes taken off from the implantation sites were positive in 83% of the animals when the moment of the evaluations was of 24 hours, decreasing to 33% in 48 hours and 17% in 72 hours. Globally, it was of 44%. In the animals of the control group there was no case of positive culture neither in the meshes, nor in the peritoneal lavages. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental model used was effective, producing 100% of peritonitis. The incidence of bacterial growth on the implanted polypropylene meshes was 83% in 24 hours, decreasing with the time.  (+info)

The use of tensor fascia lata pedicled flap in reconstructing full thickness abdominal wall defects and groin defects following tumor ablation. (55/300)

BACKGROUND: The tensor fascia lata is a versatile flap with many uses in reconstructive plastic surgery. As a pedicled flap its reach to the lower abdomen and groin made it an attractive option for reconstructing soft tissue defects after tumor ablation. However, debate exists on the safe dimension of the flap, as distal tip necrosis is common. Also, the adequacy of the fascia lata as a sole substitute for abdominal wall muscles has been disputable. The aim of the current study is to report our experience and clinical observations with this flap in reconstructing those challenging defects and to discuss the possible options to minimize the latter disputable issues. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From April 2001 to April 2004, 12 pedicled TFL flaps were used to reconstruct 5 central abdominal wall full thickness defects and 6 groin soft tissue defects following tumor resection. In one case, bilateral flaps were used to reconstruct a large central abdominal wall defect. There were 4 males and 7 females. Their age ranged from 19 to 60. From the abdominal wall defects group, all repairs were enforced primarily with a prolene mesh except for one patient who was the first in this study. Patients presenting with groin defects required coverage of exposed vessels following tumor resection. All patients in the current study underwent immediate reconstruction. RESULTS: The resulting soft tissue defects in this study were due to resection of 4 abdominal wall desmoid tumors, a colonic carcinoma infiltrating the abdominal wall, 4 primary groin soft tissue sarcomas, a metastatic SCC of the leg to groin nodes, and a primary SCC of the groin. The size of the flaps used ranged from 20 x 10 cm to 31 x 18 cm. All flaps survived. However, distal flap necrosis occurred in 4 cases. Three of those cases developed in flaps reconstructing abdominal wall defects, and one case developed in a flap used to cover a groin defect. In the former 3 cases, the flap was simply transposed without complete islanding of the flap. In the latter case, a very large flap was harvested beyond the safe limits with its distal edge just above the knee. In addition, wound dehiscence of the flap occurred in 2 other cases from the groin 132 group. Nevertheless, all the wounds healed spontaneously with repeated dressings. Out of the 5 cases that underwent abdominal wall reconstruction, one case developed ventral hernia, in which bilateral TFL flaps were used without mesh enforcement. There was minimal donor site morbidity in the form of partial skin graft loss in 2 cases. The average follow up period in this study ranged from 6 months to 2 years. Only one patient died of distant metastasis of a SCC of the groin skin, 8 months postoperatively and another 2 patients with abdominal desmoid tumors developed local recurrence. CONCLUSION: The tensor fascia lata flap is a reliable and a versatile flap, with minimal donor site morbidity. Problems with the flap's vascularity of its distal part should not be encountered, if the flap is harvested within the safe limits and properly designed and the edges comfortably insetted to the defect. A pedicled flap would be appropriate for lower abdominal wall defects, and is better islanded to achieve extra mobilization and allow a tension free closure, while for groin defects, simple flap transposition should be enough. Nevertheless, reconstruction for full thickness abdominal wall defects by this flap is a static reconstruction. We therefore strongly recommend enforcing the repair with a synthetic mesh primarily to minimize the incidence of ventral hernia. However, further studies with larger number of cases are needed to confirm this observation.  (+info)

Adenoviral human BCL-2 transgene expression attenuates early donor cell death after cardiomyoblast transplantation into ischemic rat hearts. (56/300)

BACKGROUND: Cell transplantation for myocardial repair is limited by early cell death. Gene therapy with human Bcl-2 (hBcl-2) has been shown to attenuate apoptosis in the experimental setting. Therefore, we studied the potential benefit of hBcl-2 transgene expression on the survival of cardiomyoblast grafts in ischemic rat hearts. METHODS AND RESULTS: H9c2 rat cardiomyoblasts were genetically modified to express both firefly luciferase and green fluorescent protein (mH9c2). The cells were then transduced with adenovirus carrying hBcl-2 (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2). Lewis rats underwent ligation of the left anterior descending artery (LAD) to induce a sizable left ventricular (LV) infarct. Hearts were explanted and the infarcted region was restored using collagen matrix (CM) seeded with 1x10(6) mH9c2 cells (n=9) or AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2 cells (n=9). Control animals received CM alone (n=6) or no infarct (n=6). Restored hearts were transplanted into the abdomen of syngeneic recipients in a "working heart" model. Cell survival was evaluated using optical bioluminescence imaging on days 1, 5, 8, 14, and 28 after surgery. The left heart function was assessed 4 weeks postoperatively using echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging. During 4 weeks after surgery, the optical imaging signal for the AdCMVhBCL2/mH9c2 group was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of the mH9c2-control group. Both grafts led to better fractional shortening (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2: 0.21+/-0.03; mH9c2: 0.21+/-0.04; control: 0.15+/-0.03; P=0.04) and ejection fraction (AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2: 47.0+/-6.2; mH9c2: 48.7+/-6.1; control: 34.3+/-6.0; P=0.02) compared with controls. Importantly, no malignant cells were found in postmortem histology. CONCLUSIONS: Transduction of mH9c2 cardiomyoblasts with AdCMVhBcl-2 increased graft survival in ischemic rat myocardium without causing malignancies. Both AdCMVhBcl-2/mH9c2 and mH9c2 grafts improved LV function.  (+info)