INTRODUCTIONEctopic spleen is an uncommon clinical entity as splenectomy for treatment of ectopic spleens accounts for less than 0.25% of splenectomies. The most common age of presentation is childhood especially under 1 year of age followed by the third decade of life.PRESENTATION OF CASEThe present report refers to a patient with torsion of a pelvic spleen treated with splenectomy. The patient exhibited a period of vague intermittent lower abdominal pain lasted 65 days followed by a period of constant left lower quadrant pain of increasing severity lasted 6 days. On the first 65 days, vague pain was attributed to progressive torsion of the spleen which resulted in venous congestion. On the last 6 days, exacerbation of pain was attributed to irreducible torsion, infraction of the arterial supply, acute ischemia, strangulation and rupture of the gangrenous spleen. Diagnosis was made by CT which revealed absence of the spleen in its normal position, a homogeneous pelvic mass with no contrast enhancement, free blood in the peritoneal cavity, and confirmed by laparotomy.DISCUSSIONClinical manifestations of ectopic spleen vary from asymptomatic to abdominal emergency. Symptoms are most commonly attributed to complications related to torsion. Operative management, including splenopexy or splenectomy, is the treatment of choice in uncomplicated and complicated cases because conservative treatment of an asymptomatic ectopic spleen is associated with a complication rate of 65%.CONCLUSIONAlthough an ectopic spleen can be easily identified on clinical examination, it is commonly misdiagnosed until the manifestation of complications in adulthood.

Since Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is rarely diagnosed in adults, there is no consensus on what type of procedure to be performed for symptomatic MD and whether to resect or not an accidentally discovered MD. Treatment of symptomatic MD is definitive surgery, including diverticulectomy, wedge, and segmental resection. The type of procedure depends on: (a) the integrity of diverticulum base and adjacent ileum; (b) the presence and location of ectopic tissue within MD. The presence of ectopic tissue cannot be accurately predicted intraoperatively by palpation and macroscopic appearance. When present, its location can be predicted based on height-to-diameter ratio. Long diverticula (height-to-diameter ratio >2) have ectopic tissue located at the body and tip, whereas short diverticula have wide distribution of ectopic tissue including the base. When indication of surgery is simple diverticulitis, diverticulectomy should be performed for long and wedge resection for short MD. When indication of surgery is complicated diverticulitis with perforated base, complicated intestinal obstruction and tumor, wedge, or segmental resection should be performed. When the indication of surgery is bleeding, wedge and segmental resection are the preferred methods for resection. Regarding management of incidentally discovered MD, routine resection is not indicated. The decision making should be based on risk factors for developing future complications, such as: (1) patient age younger than 50 years; (2) male sex; (3) diverticulum length >2 cm; and (4) ectopic or abnormal features within a diverticulum. In this case, diverticulectomy should be performed for long and wedge resection for short MD.

Afferent loop obstruction is a purely mechanical complication that infrequently occurs following construction of a gastrojejunostomy. The operations most commonly associated with this complication are gastrectomy with Billroth II or Roux-en-Y reconstruction, and pancreaticoduodenectomy with conventional loop or Roux-en-Y reconstruction. Etiology of afferent loop obstruction includes: (1) entrapment, compression and kinking by postoperative adhesions; (2) internal herniation, volvulus and intussusception; (3) stenosis due to ulceration at the gastrojejunostomy site and radiation enteritis of the afferent loop; (4) cancer recurrence; and (5) enteroliths, bezoars and foreign bodies. Acute afferent loop obstruction is associated with complete obstruction of the afferent loop and represents a surgical emergency, whereas chronic afferent loop obstruction is associated with partial obstruction. Abdominal multiple detector computed tomography is the diagnostic study of choice. CT appearance of the obstructed afferent loop consists of a C-shaped, fluid-filled tubular mass located in the midline between the abdominal aorta and the superior mesenteric artery with valvulae conniventes projecting into the lumen. The cornerstone of treatment is surgery. Surgery includes: (1) adhesiolysis and reconstruction for benign causes; and (2) by-pass or excision and reconstruction for malignant causes. However, endoscopic enteral stenting, transhepatic percutaneous enteral stenting and direct percutaneous tube enterostomy have the principal role in management of malignant and radiation-induced obstruction. Nevertheless, considerable limitations exist as a former Roux-en-Y reconstruction limits endoscopic access to the afferent loop and percutaneous approaches for enteral stenting and tube enterostomy have only been reported in the literature as isolated cases.

Adrenocortical oncocytomas are exceptionally rare. To our knowledge, only 23 cases have been reported in the world literature, most of which were benign and nonfunctioning. We report a case of adrenocortical oncocytoma diagnosed by pathological examination of an extirpated right adrenal mass in a young woman. We discuss this case and review the literature on this unusual entity.

Even though the rate of anastomotic leakage in patients with intraperitoneal anastomosis after colon resection for colorectal cancer is low, it remains a significant complication and a major cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality.

Stapled hemorrhoidopexy (SH) has become a widely accepted surgical procedure for hemorrhoids; however, one of the most serious complications of this technique is severe bleeding. We report a case of extensive hemoperitoneum after SH for third-degree hemorrhoids. On postoperative day (POD) 1, the patient complained of severe abdominal pain and clinical signs of peritonitis soon became evident. Computed tomography (CT) showed blood in the abdomen. We performed an emergency exploratory laparotomy, which revealed extensive hemoperitoneum, and a devitalized, edematous rectum with a tense hematoma, approximately 1 cm above the staple line and extending up to the level of the peritoneal reflection. We also found a small seromuscular laceration in the anterior aspect of the rectum just above the peritoneal reflection. This small laceration was bleeding actively. Thus, we performed a low anterior resection and the patient was discharged from hospital 10 days later. We report this case to raise awareness of the possibility of life-threatening intra-abdominal complications without evidence of typical rectal bleeding.

The immediate postoperative intraperitoneal administration of 5-FU plus IFN impairs colonic healing. However, when the colonic anastomoses were covered with fibrin glue, the injection of 5-FU plus IFN had no adverse effects on the integrity of the anastomoses.

No abstract