A rare cause of proximal intestinal obstruction in adults - annular pancreas: a case report

Annular pancreas is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by the presence of ectopic pancreatic tissue surrounding the descending part of the duodenum. It is one of the few congenital anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract which can produce symptoms late in life. In adults, the factors initiating symptoms are recurrent pancreatitis, duodenal stenosis at the site of the annulus, or duodenal or gastric ulceration. We report a new case involving a 24-year-old woman hospitalised for epigastric pain, nausea and vomiting. Radiological examination was consisted with an annular pancreas. At operation a complete obstruction of the second part of the duodenum was found, caused by an annular pancreas, no other congenital anomaly of the intra-abdominal organs was noted. A gastroenterostomy was performed

Huge desmoid tumor of the anterior abdominal wall mimicking an intraabdominal mass in a postpartum woman: a case report

Desmoid tumors are benign neoplasms that most often arise from muscle aponeurosis and have been associated with both trauma and pregnancy. The etiology of desmoids has not been determined. We report the case of anterior abdominal wall desmoid tumor in a female patient with previous history of cesarean section. Preoperative ultrasound and computed tomography demonstrated a large mass mimicking a large hematoma or an intraabdominal mass. The tumor was removed by wide excision with safe margins. The abdominal wall defect was reconstructed with polypropylene mesh. Subsequent histology revealed a desmoid tumor. Desmoid tumors in females are often associated with pregnancy or occur post-partum. The reasons behind this association are unclear. The most common sites are in the abdominal muscles.Pan African Medical Journal 2013; 14:5

A wandering spleen presenting as a hypogastric mass: case report

Wandering spleen is a rare condition characterized by the absence or underdevelopment of one or all of the ligaments that hold the spleen in its normal position in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It is an uncommon clinical entity that mainly affects children. Among adults it most frequently affects women of reproductive age, in whom acquired laxity of the splenic ligaments is usually the cause. Patients with a wandering spleen may be asymptomatic, present with a movable mass in the abdomen, or have chronic or intermittent abdominal pain because of partial torsion and spontaneous detorsion of the spleen. A 26-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with vomiting and abdominal pain. Abdominal examination revealed a large ovoid hypogastric mass. A CT scan showed a wandering spleen in the hypogastric region. Exploratory laparotomy revealed an ischemic spleen. A total splenectomy was performed

Intussusception caused by an inverted Meckel's diverticulum: a rare cause of small bowel obstruction in adults

Adult intussusception due to Meckel's diverticulum is an uncommon cause of intestinal obstruction. However, the surgeon should still be suspicious of this condition since the non specific symptoms and the rarity of it make a preoperative diagnosis uncertain. Considering the secondary nature of adult intussusception and the necessity of early surgical intervention to avoid morbidity and mortality, we report one case of intussusception due to Meckel's diverticulum in an adult. A 22-year-old patient was admitted to our hospital with vomiting and abdominal pain. The abdomen was hard with tenderness. We diagnosed an acute small bowel obstruction and performed emergency surgery. The intra operative findings were distention of the small bowel and intussusception of ileus due to an inverted Meckel's diverticulum located 70 cm from the ileocecal valve. 30 cm ischemic loop was identified. A segmental small bowel resection and hand-sewn anastomosis was performed. Histopathology distinguished Meckel's diverticulum measuring 5 cm x 3.5 cm x 1 cm and no signs of malignancy

Histopathologic characteristics and short-term outcomes of colorectal cancer in young Tunisian patients: one center’s experience

Introduction: Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is generally a disease of persons older than 40 years. Concerning younger patients, controversies still exist regarding features and prognosis of CRC. We performed this study to characterise CRC in young patients (≤40 years) as well as to evaluate short-term outcome in comparison with older patients (>40 years) with CRC. Methods: Clinical and histopathological parameters of 40 patients aged 40 years or less were compared with 240 patients aged more than 40 years. Results: In young patients, the minority suffered from hereditary cancer syndromes (0.4%). Furthermore, up to 87% of young patients denied any cancers in their families. Compared with older patients, young patients had more mucinous adenocarcinomas (32.5% vs. 11.5%; p=0.02), more venous invasion (p=0.021), more perineural invasion (p=0.028). For grading (p=0.42), lymphatic invasion (p=0.17) and tumor sites (p=0.46), no significant differences between young and older patients were found. Young patients had less post operative morbidity (p=0.039), less post operative mortality (0.029). Young and older patients had the same overall 1-year survival rates (p=0.24), and the same cancer-related 1-year survival rates (p=0.1). Conclusion: Tunisian patients present with colorectal cancer at a more advanced stage of the disease at younger ages compared to developed countries. The early detection of CRC followed by a sufficient oncologic treatment is crucial regardless of age. It is mandatory for all patients with suspicious symptoms to undergo early adequate diagnoses. Pan African Medical Journal 2012; 12:1

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

A rare cause of proximal intestinal obstruction in adults: annular pancreas: a case report

Annular pancreas is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by the presence of ectopic pancreatic tissue surrounding the descending part of the duodenum. It is one of the few congenital anomalies of the gastrointestinal tract which can produce symptoms late in life. In adults, the factors initiating symptoms are recurrent pancreatitis, duodenal stenosis at the site of the annulus, or duodenal or gastric ulceration. We report a new case involving a 24-year-old woman hospitalised for epigastric pain, nausea and vomiting. Radiological examination was consisted with an annular pancreas. At operation a complete obstruction of the second part of the duodenum was found, caused by an annular pancreas, no other congenital anomaly of the intra-abdominal organs was noted. A gastroenterostomy was performed