Two-Stage Treatment of Enterocutaneous Fistulas

Aim: to determine the most efficient treatment of enterocutaneous fistulas.Materials and methods. Eighty-eight patients with intestinal fistulas underwent a two-stage treatment, including: the first stage — multicomponent therapy, the second stage — reconstructive surgery. Enterocutaneous fistulas were diagnosed in 61 patients, enteroatmospheric fistulas — in 26 patients, and combined fistula (enterocutaneous and enteroatmospheric) — in 1 patient.Results. All 88 patients underwent reconstructive surgery after the multicomponent therapy. Resection of the intestine with a fistula with the formation of an entero-entero anastomosis was performed in 72 (81.8 %) patients; marginal resection of the intestine with a fistula, followed by suturing of the defect — in 7 (8.0 %); resection of the intestine with fistulas in combination with excision and suturing of the fistula — in 5 (5.7 %); an operation aimed at disabling the fistula from the passage of intestinal contents — in 3 (3.4 %); resection of the intestine with a fistula in combination with fistula exclusion — in 1 (1.1 %) patient. Postoperative complications in the group of patients with enteroatmospheric fistulas occurred in 13 cases, in the group with enterocutaneous fistulas — in 25 patients. Three (3.4 %) patients with enterocutaneous fistulas died from complications unrelated to the underlying disease and surgical interventions.Conclusion. Two-stage treatment including multicomponent therapy (nutritional support, infection generalization control, local wound treatment) and reconstructive surgery allowed to reduce mortality rates to 3.4 %, which proves the effectiveness of this method

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

CYSTIC DEGENERATION OF THE DUODENUM ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC PANCREATITIS

Inflammatory cystic lesion of the descending part of the duodenum, mainly in the field of small duodenal papilla in chronic pancreatitis (CP) is described as “duodenal dystrophy” (DD). The pathogenesis of this condition has not been studied and treatment strategy is not defined.Purpose. Investigation of cystic inflammatory transformation of duodenal wall pathogenesis in patients with CP, described as a DD, and evaluate the clinical ef ficiency of surgical treatment.Material and methods. Eighty two patients with DD were retrospectively included over 12 years. The diagnosis of DD was established by transabdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI and endosonography. Initially, all patients were treated conservatively. 74 patients required surgical treatment subsequently after conservative treatment with a median duration of 2 years. 34 patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), 21 patients underwent duodenum resection, 15 – duodenum preserving pancreatic head resection of (DPPHR). 4 patients underwent palliative operations. Diagnosis of CP and DD was verified by histological study of surgical specimens. Not operated patients (8) are under observation. Long-term results of surgical treatment were evaluated in 47 patients with a median follow-up was 49.9 months.Results. Histological examination resulted that in 69.9% of DD was related with groove pancreatitis, with ectopic pancreatic tissue – in 30.1%. DD was associated with CP in 92.6% of cases. Clinical presentation of DD was not related with etiology and showed typical symptoms of CP: abdominal pain occurred in 98.8% of patients, body weight loss – 61.7%, duodenal obstruction – 35.8%, biliary hypertension – 34.1%. The overall morbidity was 35.1%. Overall postoperative mortality was 1.37% (1 patient). 66% of patients had no clinical symptoms postoperatively, a significantimprovement – 32%, no effect – 2%.Conclusion. The most cases of DD is related with groove pancreatitis, less – with ectopic pancreatic tissue in the duodenal wall. Typically DD occurs in patients with CP. Treatment of patients with CP and DD should be started with conservative therapy. Surgery is indicated for persistent abdominal pain and presence of CP complications. Procedures of choice are PD and DPPHR