Background: In a period of 5 years, 2 patients with enterolith ileus, caused by jejunal diverticulosis, were treated in our hospital. In order to learn more about treatment options, the literature was reviewed. Methods: The case history of the 2 patients is described. Relevant articles were identified using Medline^® and PubMed^®. Data regarding patient gender, age, operative findings, therapeutic measures and outcome were collected. Results: Including patients reported in the literature, 34 cases of intestinal obstruction due to enteroliths expelled from jejunal diverticula were identified. A distinction is made between complicated and uncomplicated enterolith ileus. If there are signs of bowel ischemia, other (unborn) enteroliths, inflammation of the bowel or if there are signs of a (sealed) perforation, the case is considered a complicated enterolith ileus. If none of these signs are present, uncomplicated enterolith ileus is present. In uncomplicated enterolith ileus (21 patients), more often milking and crushing or enterotomy was performed. In complicated enterolith ileus (13 patients), more often a segmental resection of the involved jejunum was performed (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Small bowel obstruction due to enteroliths expelled from jejunal diverticula is a rare condition. Relevant literature is only available in the form of case reports. On the basis of the presented patients and patients reported in the literature, a justifiable therapeutic strategy is presented. The least invasive step in the therapeutic approach is to crush and milk the obstructing enterolith down to the colon. Laparoscopic crushing and milking of the enterolith is described. If this fails an enterotomy could be tried, if possible proximal or distal from the obstruction site, in order to make an incision in a less edematous area. If the first two strategies fail, or if complicated enterolith ileus is present, resection of the involved jejunal segment could be considered.

No abstract

Background: A rare complication of diverticulosis of the colon is giant colonic diverticula (GCD). The condition was first described in English literature in 1953 [1, 2]. Methods: A Medline search was undertaken for English, French and German language articles on ’giant colonic diverticula’. Results: A total of 135 patients were identified, presenting with a total of 155 GCD [1–98]. With a complication rate of 28% and an operative mortality of 5%, GCD seems to have a high clinical significance. Radiological examination of choice seems to be plain abdominal X-ray and CT examination, barium enema carries the risk of perforation of the diverticulum, and should not be performed. Conclusions: There are different therapeutic options, in our opinion diverticulectomy alone is not the treatment of choice. Because of the possibility of recurrence and oncological reasons, colectomy seems to be the best treatment. The creation of a protecting colostomy depends on other operative findings.

INTRODUCTION It has been known for centuries that maggots are potent debriding agents capable of removing necrotic tissue and slough. In January 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration decided to regulate maggot debridement therapy (MDT). As it is still not clear which wounds are likely or unlikely to benefit from MDT, we performed a prospective study to gain more insight in patient and wound characteristics influencing outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS In the period between August 2002 and December 2005, patients with infected wounds with signs of gangrenous or necrotic tissue who seemed suited for MDT were enrolled in the present study. In total, 101 patients with 117 ulcers were treated. Most wounds were worst-case scenarios, in which maggot therapy was a treatment of last resort. RESULTS In total, 72 patients (71%) were classified as ASA III or IV. In total, 78 of 116 wounds (67%) had a successful outcome. These wounds healed completely (n = 60), healed almost completely (n = 12) or were clean at least (n = 6) at last follow-up. These results seem to be in line with those in the literature. All wounds with a traumatic origin (n = 24) healed completely. All wounds with septic arthritis (n = 13), however, failed to heal and led in half of these cases to a major amputation. According to a multivariate analysis, chronic limb ischaemia (odds ratio [OR], 7.5), the depth of the wound (OR, 14.0), and older age (≥ 60 years; OR, 7.3) negatively influenced outcome. Outcome was not influenced by gender, obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking, ASAclassification, location of the wound, wound size or wound duration. CONCLUSIONS Some patient characteristics (i.e. gender, obesity, smoking behaviour, presence of diabetes mellitus and ASA-classification at presentation) and some wound characteristics (i.e. location of the wound, wound duration and size) do not seem to contra-indicate eligibility for MDT. However, older patients and patients with chronic limb ischaemia or deep wounds are less likely to benefit from MDT. Septic arthritis does not seem to be a good indication for MDT.

Maggots were used as adjunct treatment for infected wounds that showed no response to the classical approach of wound debridement and antibiotic therapy. We summarize findings for 11 patients with necrotic wounds who received treatment with "surgical" maggots (100-2900 applied in 3-10 changes of dressing) for 11-34 days, which apparently aided in tissue remodeling and cure, and describe 2 typical patients in detail.

Obesity is an enduring chronic disease, with multifactorial etiology. Many procedures and solutions have been proposed in the last 25 years. If patients do not meet the criteria for bariatric surgery, intragastric balloons may be used to achieve weight reduction. Contraindications to balloon therapy are a large hiatal hernia, severe esophagitis, peptic ulceration and previous gastric surgery. Although intragastric balloons are advocated as safe devices, major complications such as intestinal obstruction, gastric perforation and gastric ulceration have been described. We report a case of esophageal rupture due to insertion of an intragastric balloon for the treatment of morbid obesity, for which no contraindication existed. When abnormal pain or discomfort arises, or esophageal damage is noted after insertion of an intragastric balloon, patients must be closely monitored to diagnose a possible esophageal rupture early and thereby prevent severe complications.

Maggot debridement therapy is generally a safe therapy that is typically used as a last resort treatment for debriding wounds in patients with multiple comorbidities. We describe a case of serious bleeding in an 87-year-old woman treated in our wound care center for a mixed arterial-venous ulcer of the right leg. Daily home visits were completed by a wound care nurse, resulting in prompt recognition and management of the bleeding. The patient was transported to hospital via an ambulance, and rapidly stabilized with intravenous fluids and a blood transfusion. She subsequently returned to the home care setting for additional management of her lower extremity wound.

Gastrointestinal intussusception is an uncommon condition caused by a pendunculated, gastric tumor being forced through the pyloric sphincter and into the duodenum. An extremely rare case of gastrojejunal intussusception caused by a giant gastric lipoma is described in this article. The patient presented with anemia and weight loss. Initial gastroduodenal endoscopy failed to establish the diagnosis but abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography revealed signs of intussusception possibly associated with a lipoma of the small bowel. At laparotomy a pendunculated, submucosal, gastric lipoma, measuring 10 × 5 cm was found to have been intussuscepted into the jejunum. It was reduced and removed through a gastrotomy. Recovery was uneventful.