Introduction. Appropriate prevention of infection is a key area of research in natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), as identified by the Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research (NOSCAR). Methods. A review of the literature was conducted evaluating the evidence base for access orifice preparation/treatment in NOTES procedures in the context of infectiou...

BACKGROUND The aim of this report was to describe duodenal obstruction caused by a rubber foreign body in a cow. CASE PRESENTATION The clinical, biochemical and ultrasonographic findings in a five-year-old Swiss Braunvieh cow with duodenal ileus caused by a calf feeding nipple are described. The main clinical signs were anorexia, ruminal tympany, decreased faecal output and abomasal reflux sy...

DESCRIPTION A 92-year-old lady presented to the emergency department with a 2-day history of generalised colicky abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting. Her medical history included gallstones and a right hemicolectomy for a benign caecal neoplasm in 2008. Abdominal palpation revealed suprapubic tenderness with no peritonism. Initial investigations included a white cell count of 12.5×10/l, C-re...

The patient presented in this study was a 54-year-old woman complaining of nausea and vomiting, onset preceding four days, with no significant past medical history and an unremarkable surgical history. The patient was afebrile and hypertensive. Physical examination revealed a non-tender abdomen, and initial laboratory evaluation revealed elevated blood glucose level, ketonuria, leukocytosis, el...

BACKGROUND Enterolithiasis of the small bowel is a rare phenomenon in humans although it has been frequently described in equines. Primary enteroliths have been described including those occurring secondary to conditions like Crohn's disease, small bowel diverticula, tuberculous or postoperative strictures, and blind loops but those occurring in an otherwise normal gut are exceedingly rare. Of ...

The proper function of peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheters can be compromised by catheter malposition, fibrin clot, or omental wrapping. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of laparoscopy in the treatment of malfunctioning PD catheters. All patients undergoing laparoscopy for catheter dysfunction at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1991 to 1995, were review...

BACKGROUND Bezoars usually present as a mass in the stomach. The patient often has a preceding history of some psychiatric predisposition. Presentation could be in the form of trichophagy followed by trichobezoar (swallowing of hair leading to formation of bezoar), orphytobezoar (swallowing of vegetable fibres). Rapunzel syndrome is a condition where the parent bezoar is in the stomach and a ta...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to observe the clinical features of a bezoar-induced small bowel obstruction and to investigate the role of abdominal computed tomography (CT) in establishing the diagnosis. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 20 cases of bezoar-induced small bowel obstruction in our hospital from 1996 to 2010. RESULTS Thirteen patients (65%) had a history of abdominal surg...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The effects of short-bowel syndrome on liver function and liver morphology independent of parenteral nutrition have not been thoroughly investigated. Our aim was to investigate the effects of massive bowel resection on hepatocyte apoptosis and liver function in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 37 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to five groups: Control (...

INTRODUCTION Rapunzel Syndrome is an uncommon presentation of trichobezoar, involving strands of swallowed hair extending as a tail through the small intestine, beyond the stomach. This was first described in 1968 and until 2003 only thirteen cases have been reported. CASE PRESENTATION A 55-year old man of East Indian descent presented to the surgical team via the emergency department in Trin...