Open cholecystectomy: Exposure and confidence of surgical trainees and new fellows.

Background: The laparoscopic approach to cholecystectomy has overtaken open procedures in terms of frequency, despite open procedures playing an important role in certain clinical situations. This study explored exposure and confidence of Australasian surgical trainees and new fellows in performing an open versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Materials And Methods: An online survey was disseminated via the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to senior general surgery trainees (years 3-5 of surgical training) and new fellows (fellowship within the previous 5 years).

Inflammatory fibroid polyp presenting as intussusception.

The majority of adult intussusceptions have a well-defined pathological abnormality as the lead point. We present the case of a 41-year-old female who presented to the Emergency Department on four different occasions with intermittent epigastric pain, associated with vomiting. On the fourth occasion, she was found to have a bowel obstruction caused by an ileocolic intussusception, diagnosed on CT.

Accessory spleen in pancreatic tail.

Intrapancreatic accessory spleens are common asymptomatic masses that generally cause no problems. Usually, they are incidentally found on imaging as a pancreatic mass and they pose a diagnostic and management dilemma due to equivocal imaging findings. Evolving imaging modalities and increasing use of endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspirate may result in the avoidance of unnecessary operations and surveillance.

Incarcerated adult femoral hernia containing a fallopian tube.

Femoral hernias are not common in the adult population however they are often associated with higher rates of incarceration compared to other hernia subtypes. Subsequently they have an increased need for emergency surgical intervention. It has been well documented in the literature that femoral hernia sacs can contain an array of anatomical structures and rarely this includes fallopian tube.

Stercoral perforation of the rectum.

Stercoral perforation of the rectum is an uncommon complication of chronic constipation and is therefore often not considered as a differential in patients presenting to primary health-care facilities. Unfortunately, until awareness of this rare but potentially life-threatening disorder is raised patients will continue to be misdiagnosed and potentially suffer from poorer outcomes. We review the literature and discuss a case of rectal perforation and its management.