BACKGROUND Chagas disease, caused by the flagellate parasite Trypanosoma cruzi affects 8-10 million people in Latin America. The mechanisms that underlie the development of complications of chronic Chagas disease, characterized primarily by pathology of the heart and digestive system, are not currently understood. To identify possible host genetic factors that may influence the clinical course ...

INTRODUCTION Laparoscopic-assisted colonic resection has been well described for multiple surgical indications and typically requires an abdominal incision for specimen removal that is associated with most of the postoperative pain. We report the total laparoscopic modified Duhamel operation for megacolon in combination with transanal endoscopic microsurgery for transanal specimen retrieval and...

Megacolon is a relatively rare condition appearing in childhood and characterised by obstinate constipation, dilatation of the colon and hypomotility of its wall. It was Yon Ammon who first described megacolon in 1842, fortyfive years before Hirschsprung, though the disease carries the name of the latter. Since then many {etiological factors have been considered, ranging from malnutrition to ne...

A case of toxic megacolon following splenectomy for lymphoma is presented. The aetiology of Clostridial difficile infection is reviewed and the hazards of perioperative prohylactic antibiotics are discussed.

BACKGROUND Children are increasingly recognized as being at risk for C. difficile infection (CDI), even without prior exposure to antibiotics or the healthcare environment. We aimed to distinguish risk factors, clinical course, and outcomes between healthcare facility-associated (HA) and community-associated (CA) CDI. METHODS This was a retrospective, observational cohort study conducted at t...

Background The emergence of ribotype 027 increased the severity of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Fast severity assessing plays an essential role in decreasing the mortality due to CDI; early surgery is the best intervention to decrease the lethality in severe CDI with toxic megacolon. Several severity scores were defined, including the ATLAS score, but the validation studies were perfo...