Influence of post-COVID-19 deconfinement on psychiatric visits to the emergency department.

Objective: During the deconfinement period after the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the number and characteristics of psychiatric visits changed in our emergency department (ED). We aimed to assess changes in the number of visits and characterize the profiles of these patients.

Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we examined the number of psychiatric ED visits and their proportion among the total number of ED visits.

Severe influenza/respiratory syncytial virus infections and hospital antimicrobial stewardship opportunities: impact of a 4-year surveillance including molecular diagnosis.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults hospitalized for a respiratory infection in the winter months and to evaluate the impact of a viral diagnosis on empirical antimicrobial management (antibiotics and antivirals).

Design: Observational cohort study.

Setting: Acute-care university hospital.

A determination of the current causes of hyperkalaemia and whether they have changed over the past 25 years.

Objective: Hyperkalaemia is a potentially lethal electrolyte disorder. The objective of this study was to determine if the causes of hyperkalaemia-related visits to the emergency department (ED) have changed since 25 years.

Methods: All patients presenting to the ED with hyperkalaemia between January 2009 and August 2011 were included in this retrospective, single-centre study.

Does offering pricing information to resident physicians in the emergency department potentially reduce laboratory and radiology costs?

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish whether price list information could reduce laboratory and radiological examination costs in emergency departments (EDs).

Materials And Methods: A prospective survey of adult (>16 years old) admissions was conducted at the ED of a university hospital in Belgium. Nine resident emergency physicians were followed for a span of 6 months, which was divided into 2-month periods: control (October and November 2011), intervention (December 2011 to January 2012), and washout (February and March 2012).

A systematic review of the predictive value of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography on survival in locally advanced rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

Aim: Treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) includes preoperative radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy followed by radical surgery, but the clinical outcome is uncertain. A systemic review was carried out to determine the predictive value of (18)F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)FDG-PET) for assessing disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in LARC.

Method: A literature search (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane) up to January 2012 to identify full papers with sequential (18)FDG-PET and survival data, using indexing terms and free text words.

Duodenal ulcer hemorrhage treated by embolization: results in 28 patients.

Background: To assess the effectiveness and prospects of transcatheter gastroduodenal artery embolization in the control of massive duodenal bleeding and to relate our experience.

Methods Of Study: The study is based on the retrospective analysis of 165 patients with endoscopically detected bleeding duodenal ulcer who presented between 1991-1998. 28 patients were considered eligible for endovascular treatment either at initial presentation or following hemorrhage recurrence after endoscopic therapy.

Asymptomatic adrenal tumours: criteria for endoscopic removal.

Objective: Assessment of criteria for videoscopic removal of adrenal lesions discovered incidentally.

Design: Open prospective study.

Subjects: 63 patients operated on for 65 adrenal tumours.

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy for phaeochromocytoma: endocrinological and surgical aspects of a new therapeutic approach.

Objectives: To evaluate the results of laparoscopic resection of phaeochromocytoma with a focus on pre- and intra-operative endocrinological and pharmacological aspects.

Design: Retrospective study based on review of case notes and intraoperative anaesthetic records.

Patients: Eight patients (four men, four women) aged 13 to 70 (median: 45) years with symptomatic phaeochromocytoma (two patients with MEN IIa syndrome) diagnosed 6-36 months before adrenalectomy in four patients and just before operation in the four remaining patients.

Heart failure induced by pheochromocytoma: laparoscopic treatment and intraoperative changes of several new cardiovascular hormones.

Since 1992, adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma has been recognized as a safe and efficient technique when performed by a laparoscopic approach. Most of the cases of pheochromocytomas treated as such and published in the literature were not associated with malignant hypertension and acute heart failure. We report the case of a 23-year-old woman who presented with this clinical picture and show that laparoscopic adrenalectomy may be as safe and efficient as conventional adrenalectomy when performed in this situation.

Multicentric experience of the Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery (BGES) with endoscopic adrenalectomy.

Background: Adrenalectomy is not a frequent operation. Therefore the newly developed laparoscopic approach is sporadically performed by surgeons dealing with endocrine disorders.

Methods: Some 54 videoendoscopic adrenalectomies performed on 52 patients by five surgical teams between October 1993 and December 1996 were prospectively evaluated.

Adrenal and renal surgery by the laparoscopic and/or retroperitoneoscopic approach.

Since its introduction 6 years ago, almost all abdominal procedures have been attempted laparoscopically. Despite their retroperitoneal location, kidneys and adrenals have also been reached by the blitz of endoscopic surgery since 1992. We present here the techniques, indications, advantages or disadvantages of the videoscopic approach-either laparoscopic or retroperitoneoscopic- of those solid retroperitoneal organs.

Direct carbon dioxide insufflation of the retroperitoneum under laparoscopic control for renal and adrenal surgery.

Objective: Assessment of the videoscopic approach to the retroperitoneal space in the vicinity of the kidney and the adrenal gland.

Design: Open study.

Setting: University hospital, Belgium.

Infected abdominal aortic aneurysm associated with a psoas abscess, aorto-duodenal and sigmoid fistulas. Case report and review of the literature.

A case of atherosclerotic abdominal aortic aneurysm, complicated by aortoenteric fistulizations and infected by Escherichia coli, is presented. Chronic contained rupture resulted in the formation of a huge left psoas abscess which was responsible for the symptoms. No similar case has been reported in the literature.

Laparoscopic treatment of nonparasitic liver cysts: adequate selection of patients and surgical technique.

Results of laparoscopic fenestration in patients with a highly symptomatic solitary liver cyst (17 patients) or polycystic liver disease (PLD) (9 patients) were prospectively evaluated in a multicenter practice of general surgeons. Conversion to laparotomy was required in two patients because of inaccessible deep liver cyst in one and a diffuse form of PLD in the other. There was no mortality or major morbidity.

Unusual hypokalaemia.

A 72-year-old man, presenting with hypernephroma and infraclinic adrenal adenoma, developed severe hypokalaemia in the course of treatment for colonic perforation. Amikacin-induced hyperkaliuric hypokalaemia was suspected, and confirmed by withdrawal of the drug as well as observation of an unnoticed similar episode in the medical record of the patient.

Videoendoscopic adrenalectomy: multicentric study from the Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery (BGES).

This paper reports the experience of five Belgian surgical teams with 18 videoendoscopic adrenalectomies performed on 16 patients between October 1993 and May 1995. The adrenal gland diseases were pheochromocytoma (4 patients), primary hyperaldosteronism (2 cases), Cushing's adenoma (2 cases), Cushing's disease (1 case), nonfunctional adenoma (3 cases), single metastasis from adenocarcinoma (2 cases), functional adenoma with dehydro-epiandrostenedione (DHEAS) and cortisol hypersecretion (1 case), ACTH secreting metastases from a thymoma (1 case) Two patients underwent bilateral adrenalectomies. Eleven left and three right adrenal glands were removed in 14 other patients.

From laparoscopic training on an animal model to retroperitoneoscopic or coelioscopic adrenal and renal surgery in human.

So far, laparoscopic approaches to kidney and adrenal have been limited because of their retroperitoneal location. We here report eight renal and adrenal endoscopic procedures performed in seven patients: two adrenalectomies for hyperaldosteronism, one adrenalectomy for isolated metastasis from an adenocarcinoma of the lung; two nephrectomies for end-stage infected hydronephrosis, two partial nephrectomies for small circumscribed lesions of the kidney, and one endoscopic resection for pain relief of a voluminous cyst at the kidney. The approach was transperitoneal in two cases and retroperitoneal in five cases using the retropneumoperitoneum insufflation technique.

Early diagnosis of adult intestinal intussusception at four different locations.

Four cases of adult intestinal intussusception at four different locations (two ileocolic type, two colocolic type involving the transverse and the rectosigmoid colon) are reported. The most beneficial diagnostic procedures were emergency contrast studies of the colon or computed tomogram of the abdomen. Three cases were associated with primary malignancy.

Noninvasive imaging of the biliary tree before or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: use of three-dimensional spiral CT cholangiography.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of using three-dimensional spiral CT after IV administration of a cholangiographic agent for noninvasive detection of anatomic variations of the bile ducts and common bile duct stones before or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Subjects And Methods: Three-dimensional spiral CT cholangiography was performed before laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 24 patients and after surgery in two patients who had recurrent symptoms. After slow infusion of 250 ml of iodipamide, spiral CT was performed.

Thrombosis of splenic artery pseudoaneurysm complicating pancreatitis.

The natural history of pseudoaneurysms complicating pancreatitis is unknown. A patient with chronic pancreatitis is described in whom thrombosis of a splenic artery pseudoaneurysm occurred. Early diagnosis and radical treatment of a bleeding pseudoaneurysm are mandatory.

Synchronous abdominoperineal resection without transfusion.

Blood loss and hypovolaemic shock affect the immune system significantly, and perioperative blood transfusion has been shown to be associated with a higher rate of tumour recurrence in patients with cancer and increased susceptibility to infectious complications. Data obtained from patients undergoing synchronous abdominoperineal excision of the rectum were analysed to assess whether such surgery is feasible without transfusion. Twenty-two consecutive unselected patients were studied.