Endometriosis of the appendix causing small bowel obstruction in a virgin abdomen.

A 29-year-old, otherwise well, nulligravid woman presented to the emergency department with 1-day history of generalised abdominal pain and vomiting. She had similar symptoms 6 months prior following recent menstruations, which resolved conservatively. She had no prior history of abdominal surgery or endometriosis.

Spigelian hernia and pitfalls of postoperative anticoagulation.

Spigelian hernias are a rare lateral ventral abdominal hernia that carry a high risk of strangulation due to their smaller sizes, and require surgical intervention. In more complex cases involving an anticoagulated patient, perioperative management of anticoagulation must be monitored and reviewed to avoid potential pitfalls. We present an 81-year-old woman who presented with right groin pain, and was requiring warfarin anticoagulation due to her cardiac history.

Difficult diagnosis: strangulated obturator hernia in an 88-year-old woman.

The obturator hernia is a rare type of hernia that can present a diagnostic challenge for the clinician. We report a case of an 88-year-old woman who presented with a history of right iliac fossa pain, bilious vomiting and diarrhoea. Non-specific findings on examination and blood tests made the diagnosis difficult, however, a CT scan of her abdomen revealed the site of the obstruction and the patient was taken to theatre for emergency surgery.

Acute appendicitis within an obturator hernia.

We present the case of a 17-year-old girl who presented with the signs and symptoms of acute appendicitis; however, during laparoscopic surgery, it was found that the appendix had herniated through the obturator canal. This pathology has previously been associated with an unfavourable outcome and has been reported, in the literature, in older, emaciated women.

A rare case of ameloblastic carcinoma.

Ameloblastic carcinoma is a rare type of ameloblastoma that has received little mention in the literature. While a number of cases have been published over many years, no institution has been able to produce a substantial case series. Ameloblastic carcinoma originates in the embryonic tooth components.

Oncoplastic breast surgery in Australia and New Zealand-2014 and beyond.

Oncoplastic breast surgery (OBS) is an established field of surgery bringing together oncological and reconstructive principles to the surgical management of breast disease, which is yet to make inroads into some areas of Australia and New Zealand (A&NZ). Both patients and medical fraternity are supportive of these approaches and improved quality of life and aesthetic outcomes resulting from their application. Oncological outcomes have been shown to be no different when these oncoplastic approaches are utilised.

Oncoplastic breast surgery: a regional Australian 2012 fellowship experience.

Introduction: Oncoplastic breast surgery (OBS) is a developing subspecialty, although many countries are struggling with how to incorporate training in OBS as part of the established breast surgery subspecialization pathways. UK and Brazil have surged ahead with established formal training programmes, whereas countries such as Australia still rely on ad hoc training by interested surgeons. Our aim was to review the possibility of including regional training centres with appropriate OBS expertise into a future formal training programme in OBS.