Acute mesenteric ischemia and duodenal ulcer perforation: a unique double pathology

Background: Acute mesenteric ischaemia and duodenal perforation are surgical emergencies with serious consequences. Patients presenting with acute mesenteric ischaemia alone face a high mortality rate as high as 60% whereas those presenting with peptic ulcer perforation the mortality rates range from 6-14%. There are very few reported cases of patients presenting with this dual pathology. Case presentation: We report a unique case of a 53 year old Italian lady who presented with acute mesenteric ischaemia and duodenal perforation. This is the first report of massive bowel ischaemia and duodenal perforation with no apparent underlying common pathophysiology leading to this presentation. Conclusion: Early management in the intensive care unit and appropriate surgical intervention maximised the patient’s chances of survival despite the poor prognosis associated with her dual pathology. The rare pathology of the patient described can be explained by two possible hypotheses: peptic ulcer disease causing duodenal ulceration, which precipitated ischaemic infarction of the small bowel. The second hypothesis is the patient developed a stress related ulcer following ischaemic bowel infarction secondary to arterial thrombosis

Anamnestic risk factor questionnaire as reliable diagnostic instrument for osteoporosis (reduced bone morphogenic density)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis is a major health problem worldwide, and is included in the WHO list of the top 10 major diseases. However, it is often undiagnosed until the first fracture occurs, due to inadequate patient education and lack of insurance coverage for screening tests. Anamnestic risk factors like positive family anamnesis or early menopause are assumed to correlate with reduced BMD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In our study of 78 patients with metaphyseal long bone fractures, we searched for a correlation between anamnestic risk factors, bone specific laboratory values, and the bone morphogenic density (BMD). Each indicator was examined as a possible diagnostic instrument for osteoporosis. The secondary aim of this study was to demonstrate the high prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with metaphyseal fractures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>76.9% of our fracture patients had decreased bone density and 43.6% showed manifest osteoporosis in DXA (densitometry) measurements. Our questionnaire, identifying anamnestic risk factors, correlated highly significantly (p = 0.01) with reduced BMD, whereas seven bone-specific laboratory values (p = 0.046) correlated significantly.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Anamnestic risk factors correlate with pathological BMD. The medical questionnaire used in this study would therefore function as a cost-effective primary diagnostic instrument for identification of osteoporosis patients.</p

Management of intra-abdominal infections : recommendations by the WSES 2016 consensus conference

This paper reports on the consensus conference on the management of intra-abdominal infections (IAIs) which was held on July 23, 2016, in Dublin, Ireland, as a part of the annual World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) meeting. This document covers all aspects of the management of IAIs. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation recommendation is used, and this document represents the executive summary of the consensus conference findings.Peer reviewe