Jehovah's witness head and neck free flap reconstruction patient outcomes.

Background: Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a Christian religious denomination that rejects the transfusion of whole blood and component blood products. Given new transfusion-free strategies, Jehovah's Witness patients are undergoing free flap reconstructions with increased regularity. However, outcome data remains limited.

A Potential Role for Robotic Cholecystectomy in Patients with Advanced Liver Disease: Analysis of the NSQIP Database.

Robotic surgery has been widely adopted by many specialties, including hepatobiliary surgery. However, robotic procedures generally require longer operative times and are costlier than their laparoscopic counterparts. The role for robotic cholecystectomy (RC), particularly in patients with advanced liver disease, has not been established.

Contemporary Policies Regarding Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among Liver Transplant Programs in the United States.

Background: Alcoholic liver disease is a common indication for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Although OLT has been shown to confer survival benefit to patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH), historically most programs require a 6-month abstinence period before OLT which excludes patients with AAH. Marijuana has become legal in more than half the states in the United States.

Pediatric liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer and rare liver malignancies: US multicenter and single-center experience (1981-2015).

A tenth of all pediatric liver transplantations (LTs) are performed for unresectable liver malignancies, especially the more common hepatoblastoma (HBL). Less understood are outcomes after LT for the rare hepatocellular carcinoma, nonhepatoblastoma embryonal tumors (EMBs), and slow growing metastatic neuroendocrine tumors of childhood. Pediatric LT is increasingly performed for rare unresectable liver malignancies other than HBL.

Complicated gallstone disease: diagnosis and management of Mirizzi syndrome.

Background: Mirizzi syndrome (MS) is characterized by an obstruction of the proximal bile duct due to extrinsic compression by either an impacted stone in the gallbladder neck or local inflammatory changes. Although this is a rare syndrome in developed countries (0.7-1.

Multidisciplinary Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis-Related Recurrent Pyogenic Cholangitis (CF-RPC).

Background: As the survival of cystic fibrosis patients improves due to better treatment of its pulmonary manifestations, the management of hepatobiliary complications becomes increasingly vital. While focal biliary cirrhosis is common, large duct manifestations are less frequently encountered.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated cases of large bile duct disease in a large adult cystic fibrosis practice at the Keck Hospital of the University of Southern California.

Prospective study of therapeutic spiral enteroscopy in patients with surgically altered anatomy.

Background: Spiral enteroscopy is rapidly emerging, along with double- and single-balloon enteroscopy, as a paramount method to evaluate lesions in the deep small bowel. While the latter two methods have been used to manage patients with surgically altered anatomy, there are few reports on the role of spiral enteroscopy in this group. Our principal aim was to characterize the therapeutic uses of spiral enteroscopy in patients with surgically altered anatomy.

Living related donor nephrectomy in transfusion refusing donors.

Many transplant programs are averse to evaluate potential kidney donors with preferences against accepting human blood products. We examined the donor and graft outcomes between our transfusion-consenting (TC) and transfusion-refusing (TR) live kidney donors to determine whether a functional or survival disadvantage resulted from the disallowance of blood product transfusion during live donor (LD) nephrectomy. From July, 1999 to August, 2005, 82 live donor nephrectomies were performed, eight of who were TR donors (10%).

Pancreaticoduodenectomy in adults with congenital intestinal rotation disorders.

Congenital intestinal malrotation is a developmental anomaly resulting from interruption of the physiological herniation and return to the abdominal cavity of the midgut during the 6th to 10th week of embryological development. Normal vascular and anatomic relationships used as landmarks during pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) are altered in patients with congenital malrotation. We present 3 cases of PD in adults with congenital intestinal rotation disorders.

Unusual cases of jaundice secondary to non-neoplastic bile duct obstruction.

Obstructive jaundice secondary to common bile duct stricture is most commonly attributed to malignancy. Here we present three unusual cases that mimicked carcinoma in presentation but were histologically diagnosed as benign inflammatory processes during operative care. The first case was attributed to obstruction-induced chronic pancreatitis secondary to Crohn's disease of the head of the pancreas, the second was due to sarcoidosis within periportal and extrahepatic biliary lymph nodes and distal common bile duct, and the third case was due to tuberculosis of biliary lymph nodes.

Comparison of outcomes in noncomplicated and in higher-risk donors after standard versus hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy.

Hand-assisted techniques facilitated dissemination of the laparoscopic approach in live kidney donors and addressed concerns regarding potential procedural complications. We report our experience with both standard and hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy in routine, complicated, and higher-risk donors. From July 1999 to September 2002, 47 donors underwent standard laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (SLDN; n = 29) or hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (HALDN; n = 18).

Surgical management of complicated hydatid disease of the liver.

Increased worldwide travel and immigration have led to an increase in the incidence of hepatic hydatid disease outside of endemic areas. In nonendemic areas lack of familiarity with the disease may lead to a delay in diagnosis with increased risk for development of complicated disease. Complicated disease is defined as: infected cysts, cysts with a hyperechoic solid pattern or calcified walls, or cysts with biliary rupture.

Improved prediction of outcome in patients with severe acute pancreatitis by the APACHE II score at 48 hours after hospital admission compared with the APACHE II score at admission. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation.

Hypothesis: The 48-hour APACHE (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) II score is a better predictor of pancreatic necrosis, organ failure, and mortality in patients with severe acute pancreatitis than the score at hospital admission.

Design: A retrospective analysis of 125 patients with acute pancreatitis.

Setting: A tertiary public teaching hospital.