Acta Chirurgica Belgica最新文献

Objectives: Belgium is not only prone to inland terrorism but also attracts terrorist factions aiming at various political, diplomatic, military, and/or religious targets. This study aimed to identify and characterize all documented terrorist attacks in Belgium reported to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) over a period of 50 years.

Methods: The GTD was searched for all terrorist attacks in Belgium between 1970 and 2019. Analyses were performed on temporal factors, location, target type, attack and weapon type, attacker type, and number of casualties or hostages.

Results: In 50 years, 121 incidents accounted for 80 confirmed fatalities and 498 injured people. Bombings and explosions were the most frequently identified attack type (46.3%), followed by assassination (16.5%), infrastructure damage (15.7%) and armed or unarmed assaults (14.0%). Governmental and diplomatic institutions were the most frequent target (24.0%). For those perpetrators the GTD did have enough information we saw a timely change from far left and separatist dominating the early decades to Jihadi groups in the last decade, while anti-semitic factions were active in every decade.

Conclusion: In contrast to other studies, this study did not show an increase over time. Left-wing perpetrators dominated the eighties. In 50 years of terrorist activity in Belgium, the health care system was spared. Devastating mass casualty attacks challenging the health care system are rare in Belgium.

An 18-year-old male patient presented with abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea. Subsequent laboratory investigations involving the patient's blood samples revealed an inflammatory syndrome. Subsequent radiographic investigations (CT scan, MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound with biopsies) led to the discovery of a heterogenic cystic lesion in the tail of the pancreas. Although the investigations orientated the diagnosis towards a pseudopapillary tumor, no certain pathological diagnosis could be obtained. After a multidisciplinary meeting, surgery was chosen as the designated therapeutic option. The patient underwent left pancreatectomy and no complications were encountered. The pathological examination revealed isolated pancreatic tuberculosis. Currently, the patient is under treatment and no longer presents any digestive symptoms.

Background: The best place for specimen extraction is a relevant question since either after robotic or video-thoracoscopic lobectomy, both intercostal and subcostal routes can be potential extraction routes. In this study, we studied completely portal robotic lobectomies (CPRL-4) for pulmonary neoplasms to investigate the efficacy and feasibility of subcostal specimen removal by comparing the two techniques.

Material and methods: Between January 2014 and July 2021, data from 90 patients who underwent robotic thoracic surgery with a Da Vinci Surgical System SI (Intuitive Surgical Inc., Mountain View, California, USA) were collected and retrospectively analyzed. Out of 90 patients, we analyzed 36 CPRL-4 cases. We removed specimens traditionally via intercostal utility thoracotomy in the first 22 patients (group A) and via subcostal incision in the next consecutive 14 patients (group B). Operative parameters, postoperative parameters, the visual analog scale (VAS) and SF36 life quality scoring were comparatively analyzed.

Results: The mean docking time was significantly higher in group B than in group A (26.2 ± 5.3 vs 17.8 ± 4.1) (p = .001). In terms of early-stage postoperative pain, group B had significantly lower pain scores compared to group A (p < .05). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of SF36 life quality scoring.

Conclusion: We can conclude that performing a subcostal incision is not a sophisticated process, though it significantly prolongs the docking time. Although our study is based on a small group, we noticed that removing the specimen through the subcostal incision after CPRL-4 is potentially useful, has several advantages and it is a practical, feasible, and safe method.

Clinical registration number: 2018/57.

Background A surgical fellowship allows both additional training as well as maintenance of surgical skills while searching for a steady job. As the presence of fellows usually does not results in a measurably higher productivity, fellowshipsmay be considered a form of disguised unemployment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the career flow of a surgical trainee to a staff position and to determine the number of surgeons working on temporary basis within the general surgery workforce in Flanders.Methods All surgeons graduated in Flanders between 2000 and 2022 were invited to fill out a web-based survey concerning their current and past employment. Reminders were sent out after 2 and 4 weeks. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 27.0 (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA.)Results Response rate was 64% (292/457) with 76% of respondents currently working as surgeons, 14% (38) as fellows and 10% working outside the surgical domain. Eighty-two percent of current fellows graduated in 2019 or later. Thirty-one percent of surgeons graduated in 2019 are still working as fellows. For surgeons graduated in 2020, 2021 and 2022 this is 45%, 80% and 90% respectively. Compared to staff surgeons the number of additional training years (2,8 ± 1,0 vs 2,2 ± 1,3; p = 0,009). and the number of applications (6,6 ± 5 vs 3,3 ± 3; p < 0,001) is significantly higher for current fellowsConclusion This study shows that disguised unemployment is present in the general surgical community in Flanders. The status of "fellow" should be incorporated in calculations concerning future needs of the surgical workforce in order to prevent open unemployment.

Background: Intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) has been utilized for a variety of thyroid pathologies, including papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Remnant thyroid tissue following total thyroidectomy (TT) in patients with PTC is associated with increased recurrence. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the use of IONM in PTC surgery has an impact on the completeness of thyroidectomy.

Methods: Retrospectively, patients with preoperative diagnosis of PTC, who underwent TT in a tertiary center were reviewed. They were grouped based on the IONM usage, and 1:1 propensity-score match was performed. Primary outcome was the completeness of thyroidectomy, determined by measuring postoperative stimulated thyroglobulin levels (sTg).

Results: Among 274 clinically node-negative PTC patients who underwent TT and ipsilateral prophylactic central lymph-node dissection, a total of 170 patients (85:85) were matched. Postoperative sTg levels were significantly lower in the IONM group (1 ng/dL vs. 0.4 ng/dL; p < 0.01) with higher percentage of the patients with sTg levels <1 ng/ml (50.6% vs. 69.4%; p = 0.01). More patients in the no-IONM group received RAI ablation with significantly higher doses (mean mci: 120 vs. 102; p = 0.02).

Conclusion: The use of IONM during thyroidectomy provides improvement in the completeness of thyroidectomy and reduction in postoperative sTg levels which can be used as a guide by clinicians to avoid RAI ablation in selected PTC patients and to adjust low ablative doses in patients who are scheduled for remnant ablation.

Objective: Robot-assisted ventral hernia repair (RVHR) has become a feasible alternative for open ventral hernia repair showing fewer postoperative complications and satisfying short-term results. However, long-term results are scarce in current literature.

Methods: All consecutive patients who underwent robot-assisted surgery for ventral hernias from June 2018 until February 2023 were included. Patient records were retrospectively reviewed for indication, need for conversion, length of stay (LOS), postoperative complications, and postoperative pain.In addition, long-term (>24 months) results (recurrence, chronic pain, and esthetic satisfaction) were assessed by phone questionnaire.

Results: In total, 177 patients underwent a robot-assisted ventral hernia repair. Indication for surgery was incisional hernia (N = 109) and primary hernia (N = 68), including 124 cases with abdominal rectus diastasis. A TransAbdominal Retromuscular Umbilical Prosthesis (TARUP) was performed in 138 patients. Robotic Transversus Abdominis Release (TAR) and Extended Totally Extraperitoneal Repair (eTEP) were performed in 20 (11%) and 9 (5%) cases, respectively.Median LOS was 2 days for TARUP and 3.5 days for TAR. Minor complications occurred in 22 patients (16 TARUP, 5 TAR, 1 eTEP). The average pain score on the first postoperative day was 1.8/10. No risk factors for morbidity could be identified by uni- and multivariable analysis.Hernia recurrence developed in four (2%) patients. Chronic pain was reported in two (1%) cases. Seven (4%) patients had esthetic complaints.

Conclusion: Robot-assisted ventral hernia repair is a safe procedure with low postoperative pain and short LOS. Long-term results including recurrence and chronic pain are satisfying.

Introduction: Myxofibrosarcoma usually occurs in the extremities of middle-aged to older adults. Metastatic myxofibrosarcomas generally emerge in the lung. In this case report, we aim to present a case of primary pulmonary myxofibrosarcoma with tumor thrombus extending into the left atrium without pulmonary vein or atrial invasion.

Case presentation: A 55-year-old male who was being followed up due to a pulmonary nodule presented with a mass extending from the left lower lobe to the left atrium. No extrathoracic malignancy was detected in the pre-operative examination. The mass extending into the left atrium without invasion was excised with the lower lobe of the left lung. A post-operative histopathological examination revealed myxofibrosarcoma.

Conclusion: Very few cases of cervical, thoracic wall, mediastinum and cardiac primary myxofibrosarcoma have been documented, and to the best of our knowledge, only one primary pulmonary myxofibrosarcoma case has previously been reported in the English literature. Here, we present a case of primary pulmonary myxofibrosarcoma that extended to the left atrium through the pulmonary vein. In such rare clinical presentations, intracardiac tumor resection should precede pulmonary resection due to the possibility of catastrophic tumor embolisms.

Background: We conducted a systematic review to assess the safety and efficacy of Aluminum potassium sulfate and tannic acid (ALTA) sclerotherapy for the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease.

Methods: Our study was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) 2020. Primary endpoints included overall recurrence and type of recurrence while secondary endpoints included postoperative complications, reintervention, presence of rectal ulcer, rectal stricture, defecation abnormalities and perianal abscess. Α regression analysis, where the percentage of patients with grade II, III and IV hemorrhoidal disease was used as a covariate, was also performed.

Results: Twelve studies with 4249 patients met all the inclusion criteria and were eventually included. The crude and pooled estimates of the overall recurrence and complications by the end of follow-up were 10% (95% CI, 6.52%-14.08%) and 5.20% (95% CI, 2.59%-8.52%), respectively. Regression analysis displayed no correlation between recurrence and the grade of hemorrhoid disease II, β= -0.0012 (95% CI, -0.0074 to 0.0049) (p = .64), grade III β= -0.0006 (95% CI, -0.0056 to 0.0045) (p = .79) and grade IV β = 0.0025 (95% CI, -0.0075 to 0.0124). However, a trend suggestive of increased recurrence was observed in patient populations with a higher proportion of grade IV disease.

Conclusion: ALTA sclerotherapy may be a safe and viable alternative for patients with hemorrhoidal disease. Long-term follow-up and high-quality randomized controlled trials will help define the place of ALTA sclerotherapy in the armamentarium of treatment of hemorrhoids.