A prospective observational study of the utility of early diagnostic laparoscopy for right lower abdominal pain: a safe and effective diagnostic and therapeutic tool.

Background And Aims: Diagnostic laparoscopy is commonly performed for diagnosis of right lower abdominal pain and its use is increasing in the emergency setting. Some studies have reported that diagnostic laparoscopy and laparoscopic appendicectomy have advantages over conventional surgery. Many emergency surgeons now perform diagnostic laparoscopy for both clinically diagnosed appendicitis and when the diagnosis is in doubt.

Safety and feasibility of retrieval of intragastric balloon followed by antiobesity surgery on the same day.

Intragastric balloon insertion can achieve reasonable weight loss before antiobesity surgery. Removal needs to be followed by surgery to prevent subsequent weight gain. This study aims to establish the feasibility and safety of retrieval of the intragastric balloon and sleeve gastrectomy in the same sitting.

Occlusion of a neo-esophageal-bronchial fistula using the Amplatzer Vascular Plug 2.

The appearance of a benign fistula between the airway and the gastrointestinal tract is a rare complication of esophagectomy. We report a patient with neo-esophago-bronchial fistula that developed 13 months after two-stage esophagectomy. Repeat thoracotomy was not deemed appropriate given the patient's chronic sepsis and malnutrition.

Splenic parenchymal complications in pancreatitis.

Context: The close proximity of splenic hilum to the tail of pancreas makes it vulnerable to complications in both acute and chronic pancreatitis. In this article, we examine the clinical course of these potentially fatal complications.

Case Reports: Citing three clinical cases, we present the spectrum of splenic complications in pancreatitis and explore the anatomical causal relationships and pathological basis of such complications.

The value of procalcitonin at predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis and development of infected pancreatic necrosis: systematic review.

Background: Many studies have evaluated serum levels of procalcitonin (PCT) as a predictor in the development of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN). This study assesses the value of PCT as a marker of development of SAP and IPN.

Methods: Medline, Web of Science, the Cochrane clinical trials register, and international conference proceedings were searched systematically for prospective studies, which evaluated the usefulness of PCT as a marker of SAP and IPN.