Bmc Surg
-
Case Reports
Management of unusual genital lymphedema complication after Fournier's gangrene: a case report.
Fournier's gangrene is a bacterial infection characterized by necrotizing fasciitis, skin and soft tissue involvement, and eventually myositis of the perineal region. Aggressive debridement of devitalized tissue and overlying skin is of paramount importance, but often leaves large defects to be reconstructed. The present case reports successful extensive perineal defects coverage following Fournier's gangrene and management of subsequent penile lymphoedema impairing sexual function in a young patient. ⋯ Fournier's gangrene can be complicated by a chronic lymphedema of the penis. Conservative treatment is likely to fail in severe cases and can be treated surgically by "penile lift".
-
Clinical Trial
Electrochemotherapy of cutaneous metastastes from breast cancer in elderly patients: a preliminary report.
The management of cutaneous metastases often represents a challenge because they may be widespread and may recur after radiotherapy or chemotherapy; breast cancer accounts for 51% of the total cases of cutaneous metastases. When surgical excision of chest wall recurrences is not possible and other local treatments such as radiotherapy or radiotherapy with hyperthermia fail, topical chemotherapy and electrochemotherapy (ECT) might be taken into account.ECT is a new local treatment of solid tumors which can be defined as the local potentiation, by means of permeabilizing electric pulses, of the antitumor activity of a non permeating anticancer drug with high intrinsic cytotoxicity. ⋯ ECT could be suggested as a primary local therapy in patients not suitable for surgical removal of the primary tumor, and clinicians should not hesitate to use it even in the elderly.
-
Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has gained acceptance among surgeons, for the treatment of open abdomen, since very high closure rates have been reported with this method, compared to other kinds of wound management for the open abdomen. However, the method has occasionally been associated with increased development of fistulae. We have previously shown that NPWT induces ischemia in the underlying small intestines close to the vacuum source, and that a protective disc placed between the intestines and the vacuum source prevents the induction of ischemia. In this study we compare pressure transduction and fluid evacuation of the open abdomen with conventional NPWT and NPWT with a protective disc. ⋯ The drainage of the open abdomen was significantly more effective when using NWPT with the protective disc than with conventional NWPT. This is believed to be due to the more even and effective pressure transduction in the open abdomen using a protective disc in combination with NPWT.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Preventing hypothermia in elective arthroscopic shoulder surgery patients: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Patients having arthroscopic shoulder surgery frequently experience periods of inadvertent hypothermia. This common perioperative problem has been linked to adverse patient outcomes such as myocardial ischaemia, surgical site infection and coagulopathy. International perioperative guidelines recommend patient warming, using a forced air warming device, and the use of warmed intraoperative irrigation solutions for the prevention of hypothermia in at-risk patient groups. This trial will investigate the effect of these interventions on patients' temperature, thermal comfort, and total recovery time. ⋯ This trial is designed to confirm the effectiveness of these interventions at maintaining perioperative normothermia and to evaluate if this translates into improved patient outcomes. AUSTRALIAN NEW ZEALAND CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRY NUMBER: ACTRN12610000591055.
-
The sitting position during neurosurgical operations predisposes to air penetration through veins and the movement of the air through the pulmonary circulation. Contact of an air bubble with the endothelium can lead to acute lung injury. The presence of specific pulmonary proteins in the plasma such as surfactant protein D (SP-D) and Clara cell protein (CC16) is a biomarker of damaging processes at the air-blood barrier. The aim of our study was to examine the hypothesis that the level of investigated pulmonary biomarkers in plasma is higher in patients operated on in the sitting position. ⋯ The sitting position and intraoperative VAE during neurosurgical procedures do not affect the concentration of plasma biomarkers of pulmonary parenchymal injury such as SP-D and CC16.