An Unusual Cause of Rectal Bleeding -Report of Three Cases and Literature Review

Haemangioma of the rectum and colon is very rare malformation with only around 100 cases have been reported so far. Most commonly young adult is affected. Common site is recto sigmoid junction. Here we present three cases of rectal haemangioma affecting two males and one female patient. All were having cavernous type of haemangioma at rectum and recto sigmoid junction with one involving additional caecum and ascending colon. All the cases were misdiagnosed previously. Colonoscopy is the cornerstone for evaluation of these patients showing bluish discoloration with engorged mucosa. Rectum and sigmoid colon are commonly affected. Abdominoperineal resection was the favored procedure in the past. At present, definitive treatment of diffuse cavernous haemangioma (DCH) of rectum and sigmoid colon is excision of the involved bowel with sphincter saving procedure with either stapling or hand sewn anastomosis of colon and anal canal. Key words: Rectal haemangioma; sphincter saving surgery.DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i1.3709 BSMMU J 2009; 2(1): 36-3

An Unusual Cause of Rectal Bleeding -Report of Three Cases and Literature Review

Haemangioma of the rectum and colon is very rare malformation with only around 100 cases have been reported so far. Most commonly young adult is affected. Common site is recto sigmoid junction. Here we present three cases of rectal haemangioma affecting two males and one female patient. All were having cavernous type of haemangioma at rectum and recto sigmoid junction with one involving additional caecum and ascending colon. All the cases were misdiagnosed previously. Colonoscopy is the cornerstone for evaluation of these patients showing bluish discoloration with engorged mucosa. Rectum and sigmoid colon are commonly affected. Abdominoperineal resection was the favored procedure in the past. At present, definitive treatment of diffuse cavernous haemangioma (DCH) of rectum and sigmoid colon is excision of the involved bowel with sphincter saving procedure with either stapling or hand sewn anastomosis of colon and anal canal. Key words: Rectal haemangioma; sphincter saving surgery.DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i1.3709 BSMMU J 2009; 2(1): 36-3

Aggressive discectomy for single level lumbar disk herniation

Aggressive open lumbar discectomy is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for patients with persistent low back and leg pain. In this retrospective study,  1,380 patients were evaluated for long-term results of aggressive discectomy for the single level lumbar disk herniation. Demographic data, surgical data, complications and reherniation rate were collected and clinical outcomes were assessed using visual analogue score (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified Mcnab criteria. The mean follow-up period was 28.8 months. According to the modified Mcnab criteria, the long-term results were excellent in 640 cases, good in 445 cases, fair in 255 cases, and poor in 40 cases. The mean VAS scores for back and radicular pains and ODI at the end of 2 years were 1.1 ± 1.0, 1.5 ± 0.5 and 6.6 ± 3.1% respectively. The complications were foot drop (n=7), dural tear (n=14), superficial wound infection (n=17), discitis (n=37) and reherniation (n=64). The dural tear and superficial wound infections resolved after treatment but 28 discitis patients were treated by conservatively and the remaining 9 underwent surgery. Among reherniation patients, 58 underwent revision discectomy and 4 underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and stabilization. Aggressive discectomy is an effective treatment of lumbar disk herniation and maintains a lower incidence of reherniation but leads to a collapse of disc height and in long run gives rise to intervertebral instability and accelerates spondylosis

An Unusual Cause of Rectal Bleeding- Report of Three Cases and Literature Review

Haemangioma of the rectum and colon is very rare malformation with only around 100 cases have been reported so far. Most commonly young adult is affected. Common site is recto sigmoid junction. Here we present three cases of rectal haemangioma affecting two males and one female patient. All were having cavernous type of haemangioma at rectum and recto sigmoid junction with one involving additional caecum and ascending colon. All the cases were misdiagnosed previously. Colonoscopy is the cornerstone for evaluation of these patients showing bluish discoloration with engorged mucosa. Rectum and sigmoid colon are commonly affected. Abdominoperineal resection was the favored procedure in the past. At present, definitive treatment of diffuse cavernous haemangioma (DCH) of rectum and sigmoid colon is excision of the involved bowel with sphincter saving procedure with either stapling or hand sewn anastomosis of colon and anal canal

Aggressive discectomy for single level lumbar disk herniation

Aggressive open lumbar discectomy is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for patients with persistent low back and leg pain. In this retrospective study,  1,380 patients were evaluated for long-term results of aggressive discectomy for the single level lumbar disk herniation. Demographic data, surgical data, complications and reherniation rate were collected and clinical outcomes were assessed using visual analogue score (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified Mcnab criteria. The mean follow-up period was 28.8 months. According to the modified Mcnab criteria, the long-term results were excellent in 640 cases, good in 445 cases, fair in 255 cases, and poor in 40 cases. The mean VAS scores for back and radicular pains and ODI at the end of 2 years were 1.1 ± 1.0, 1.5 ± 0.5 and 6.6 ± 3.1% respectively. The complications were foot drop (n=7), dural tear (n=14), superficial wound infection (n=17), discitis (n=37) and reherniation (n=64). The dural tear and superficial wound infections resolved after treatment but 28 discitis patients were treated by conservatively and the remaining 9 underwent surgery. Among reherniation patients, 58 underwent revision discectomy and 4 underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and stabilization. Aggressive discectomy is an effective treatment of lumbar disk herniation and maintains a lower incidence of reherniation but leads to a collapse of disc height and in long run gives rise to intervertebral instability and accelerates spondylosis

Aggressive discectomy for single level lumbar disk herniation

Aggressive open lumbar discectomy is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for patients with persistent low back and leg pain. In this retrospective study,  1,380 patients were evaluated for long-term results of aggressive discectomy for the single level lumbar disk herniation. Demographic data, surgical data, complications and reherniation rate were collected and clinical outcomes were assessed using visual analogue score (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and modified Mcnab criteria. The mean follow-up period was 28.8 months. According to the modified Mcnab criteria, the long-term results were excellent in 640 cases, good in 445 cases, fair in 255 cases, and poor in 40 cases. The mean VAS scores for back and radicular pains and ODI at the end of 2 years were 1.1 ± 1.0, 1.5 ± 0.5 and 6.6 ± 3.1% respectively. The complications were foot drop (n=7), dural tear (n=14), superficial wound infection (n=17), discitis (n=37) and reherniation (n=64). The dural tear and superficial wound infections resolved after treatment but 28 discitis patients were treated by conservatively and the remaining 9 underwent surgery. Among reherniation patients, 58 underwent revision discectomy and 4 underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and stabilization. Aggressive discectomy is an effective treatment of lumbar disk herniation and maintains a lower incidence of reherniation but leads to a collapse of disc height and in long run gives rise to intervertebral instability and accelerates spondylosis

TUBERCULOSIS AT AN UNUSUAL SITE

Tuberculosis involving the anorectal region is a rare extrapulmonary form of the disease. We report two cases of isolated rectal tuberculosis with different presentations. On both instances, diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination and treated with anti-tuberculous drugs with successful outcome

Relative Telomere Length Change in Colorectal Carcinoma and Its Association with Tumor Characteristics, Gene Expression and Microsatellite Instability

We compared tumor and adjacent normal tissue samples from 165 colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients to study change in relative telomere length (RTL) and its association with different histological and molecular features. To measure RTL, we used a Luminex-based assay. We observed shorter RTL in the CRC tissue compared to paired normal tissue (RTL 0.722 ± SD 0.277 vs. 0.809 ± SD 0.242, p = 0.00012). This magnitude of RTL shortening (by ~0.08) in tumor tissue is equivalent to RTL shortening seen in human leukocytes over 10 years of aging measured by the same assay. RTL was shorter in cancer tissue, irrespective of age group, gender, tumor pathology, location and microsatellite instability (MSI) status. RTL shortening was more prominent in low-grade CRC and in the presence of microsatellite instability (MSI). In a subset of patients, we also examined differential gene expression of (a) telomere-related genes, (b) genes in selected cancer-related pathways and (c) genes at the genome-wide level in CRC tissues to determine the association between gene expression and RTL changes. RTL shortening in CRC was associated with (a) upregulation of DNA replication genes, cyclin dependent-kinase genes (anti-tumor suppressor) and (b) downregulation of “caspase executor”, reducing apoptosis