Rectal foreign bodies present the modern surgeon with a difficult management dilemma. Reluctance to seek medical help and to provide details about the incident often makes diagnosis difficult. Management of these patients may be challenging, as presentation is usually delayed after multiple attempts at removal by the patient themselves. Here we present a case of 35 year old male who presented i...

A phytobezoar is a conglomerate of improperly digested fruit and vegetable debris, its development associated, amongst other factors, with previous gastric surgery. Most phytobezoars remain asymptomatic are incidentally found during imaging or interventional procedures. However, in some patients, they can cause small bowel obstruction, which subsequently lead to severe complications. Although t...

Bezoar-induced small bowel obstruction is a rare entity. It should be highly suspected in patients with gastric hypomotility disorders, psychiatric conditions, prior abdominal or bariatric surgery, or improper intake of medication. Their diagnosis is quite challenging and surgical exploration remains the best treatment of choice to ensure the viability of the small bowel tissue and relieve the ...

We investigated the significance and risk factors of bowel obstruction caused by the consumption of wild bananas (BOWB) in Laos. Of six patients with BOWB in Luang Namtha, North Laos, five required enterotomy for phytobezoars. All had eaten wild banana (WB) seeds. Of 227 other patients/relatives: 91.2% had eaten WB; 46.3% had also eaten the seeds and 45.4% knew of complications resulting from e...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to analyse the surgical techniques, perioperative complications, and recurrence rate of laparoscopic ventral hernia repair (LVHR), in comparison with the open ventral hernia repair (OVHR), based on the international literature. METHODS A Medline search of the English literature was performed using the term "laparoscopic ventral hernia repair." Further ...

We report the case of a 54-year-old male patient diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The patient consulted with a 12-hour history of asthenia and rectorrhagia. He had pale skin and mucosa, was haemodynamically unstable and showed progressive anaemia. An emergency upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed, showing several acute lesions in the gastric antrum mucosa with no signs o...

OBJECTIVE To compare the laparotomy and laparoscopy techniques for correction of ventral hernia when related to perioperative complications, length of hospitalization, surgical time, and recurrence of hernia. METHODS This was a systematic review of randomized controlled trials, which included studies retrieved from four databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane and LILACS), using a combination of ...

Background: Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a common general surgical emergency usually caused by adhesions, bands or hernias. Food bolus impaction bezoars remain an uncommon cause, albeit well reported in literature. The objective was to outline the frequency, demographic features, etiopathogenesis and management patterns of acute SBO due ingested food bolus.Methods: An observational retrospe...