Pneumothorax associated with a pneumoperitonium in laparoscopic surgery is rare but can cause life-threatening complications. A 62-year-old man was scheduled for a laparoscopy-assisted Billroth-I gastrectomy under general anesthesia. Approximately 70 minutes after insufflating carbon dioxide into the intraabdominal cavity at a pressure of 12 mmHg, the peak inspiratory pressure increased, while ...

The hypothalamus uses hormones and the autonomic nervous system to balance energy fluxes in the body. Here we show that the autonomic nervous system has a distinct organization in different body compartments. The same neurons control intraabdominal organs (intraabdominal fat, liver, and pancreas), whereas sc adipose tissue located outside the abdominal compartment receives input from another se...

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical results of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) for the treatment of uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis. A retrospective analysis was performed who had undergone laparoscopic appendectomy for complicated appendicitis between January 2010 to October 2013. The diagnosis of acute appendic...

Two immunomodulating polysaccharides, poly-(1-6)-beta-glucotriosyl-(1-3)-beta-glucopyranose (PGG)-glucan and Bacteroides fragilis polysaccharide A (PS A), were evaluated for the prevention of mortality and abscess formation associated with experimental intraabdominal sepsis. Prophylactic treatment with a combination of these compounds significantly reduced mortality (8% vs. 44% in the saline-tr...

Cloacogenic carcinoma (CC, basaloid carcinoma) generally occurs around the dentate line, rarely it can arise from the other sides of the colon. There are only 5 cases of CC located outside the anal canal in the literature. The first occurrence of a CC presents as intraabdominal abscess. We describe a 23-year-old male patient who was admitted with fever and severe abdominal pain. Computed tomogr...

BACKGROUND Nidation of floating tumour cells initiates peritoneal carcinosis and limits prognosis of gastro-intestinal tumours. Adhesion of tumour cells to extracellular matrix components is a pivotal step in developing peritoneal dissemination of intraabdominal malignancies. Since phospholipids efficaciously prevented peritoneal adhesion formation in numerous animal studies we investigated the...

For the surgeon, laparoscopic lysis of bowel adhesions is fraught with danger to his/her reputation as bad results often are accompanied by poor reimbursement and lawsuits. This surgery is not for every surgeon! But if you take up the challenge, be prepared. Fatal sequelae of intraabdominal adhesions were reported as early as 1872 after removal of an ovarian tumor resulted in intestinal obstruc...

platelet activation and adhesion to the site of vascular injury is a dynamic process comprising reversible and irreversible phases. platelet adhesion typically occurs in a multi-step process similar to the selectin/integrin-mediated adhesion of neutrophils. this phenomenon is highly regulated and influenced by the cross-talk between platelets and injured endothelium. this cross-talk involves a ...

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures by the general surgeon. This situation allows determining a defined surgical strategy in most patients. However, some factors may induce modification by the surgical team. Our objectives were to describe and analyze the variation of the surgical technique used during laparoscopic cholecystectomy ...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES A rare, but life-threatening complication in pancreatitis is a spontaneous bleeding from intestinal vessels with or without previous formation of (pseudo-) aneurysms. And yet, the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic strategies remain unclear. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with pancreatitis and intraabdominal bleeding at a German tertiary re...