Adhesive small bowel obstruction: epidemiology, biology and prevention.

Intraabdominal adhesions develop after abdominal surgery as part of the normal healing processes that occur after damage to the peritoneum. Over the last 2 decades, much research has gone into understanding the biochemical and cellular processes that lead to adhesion formation. The early balance between fibrin deposition and degradation seems to be the critical factor in adhesion formation.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation increases the risk of pelvic sepsis after radical excision of rectal cancer.

Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effect of neoadjuvant chemoradiation on pelvic sepsis after mesorectal excision for rectal cancer.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for all patients who underwent curative mesorectal excision for rectal cancer during an eight-year period. Demographic, preoperative, perioperative data were collected.

Follow-up recommendations for colon cancer.

Recent evidence suggests that intensive follow-up after curative resection of colorectal cancer is associated with a small but significant improvement in survival. Regimens that employ cross-sectional imaging and carcinoembryonic antigen determination appear to have the greatest benefit. A risk-adapted approach to follow-up, intensively following patients at highest risk of recurrence, increases efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

The effects of systemic hypoxia on colon anastomotic healing: an animal model.

Purpose: Acute postoperative systemic hypoxia occurs frequently in the clinical setting following intestinal resection, as a result of complications such as pneumonia, pulmonary edema, or the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Although it is well established that oxygen is essential for metabolism in general and intestinal anastomotic healing, the mechanisms by which systemic hypoxia affect this process are not clear. The purpose of this study was to establish an animal model to simulate acute systemic hypoxia and to examine the effects on anastomotic healing.