Perioperative Status and Complications in Opium Addicts in Western Rajasthan

Opium addiction is rampant in Western Rajasthan and probably has the highest number of opium addicts in the world. The study envisages upon the presentation, diagnosis and various postoperative complications in surgically ill opium addicts vis-à-vis non addicts. The study is purported to benefit clinicians dealing with opium addict patients. The prospective cohort study was conducted at Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Jodhpur between December 2004 and February 2006 and included cohorts of 71 opium addict and 50 non-addict patients admitted in various surgical wards. The study focused on presentation and the post-surgical complications encountered in these patients vis-à-vis others. The results thus obtained were evaluated statistically (mean±SD, SEM, two tailed t test, chi-square test), p value of <0.05 was considered as significant. A thorough comparative analysis revealed that opium addict patients had a significantly higher incidence of postoperative respiratory, cardiovascular, systemic and local complications. The requirement of analgesics and duration of hospital stay were also significantly higher as compared to control group. The work concludes that opium addicts suffer a much higher degree of postoperative morbidity as compared to non-addicts.     

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction： Managing the patient with chronic biliary pain

Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (SOD) is a syndrome of chronic biliary pain or recurrent pancreatitis due to functional obstruction of pancreaticobiliary flow at the level of the sphincter of Oddi. The Milwaukee classification stratifies patients according to their clinical picture based on elevated liver enzymes, dilated common bile duct and presence of abdominal pain. TypeⅠpatients have pain as well as abnormal liver enzymes and a dilated common bile duct. TypeⅡSOD consists of pain and only one objective finding, and TypeⅢconsists of biliary pain only. This classification is useful to guide diagnosis and management of sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. The current gold standard for diagnosis is manometry to detect elevated sphincter pressure, which correlates with outcome to sphincterotomy. However, manometry is not widely available and is an invasive procedure with a risk of pancreatitis. Non-invasive testing methods, including fatty meal ultrasonography and scintigraphy, have shown limited correlation with manometric findings but may be useful in predicting outcome to sphincterotomy. Endoscopic injection of botulinum toxin appears to predict subsequent outcome to sphincterotomy, and could be useful in selection of patients for therapy, especially in the setting where manometry is unavailable.     

New technologies in gastrointestinal research

This issue presents different new techniques aiming to increase our understanding of the gastrointestinal system and to improve treatment. The technologies cover selected methods to evoke and assess gut pain, new methods for imaging and physiological measurements, histochemistry, pharmacological modelling etc. There is no doubt that the methods will revolutionize the diagnostic approach in near future.     

直肠癌保留肛门括约肌手术适应症选择及预后分析

目的探讨直肠癌保留肛门括约肌手术适应症的选择标准并分析手术方式对患者预后的影响。方法选取2008年1月至2011年12月来我院就诊的直肠癌患者153例作为研究对象,其中行经腹会阴切除术患者52例,保留舡门括约肌手术患者101例,回顾性分析所有研究对象的临床资料,并比较分析直肠癌患者采取不同手术方式对患者生存率的影响。结果手术方式的选择与肿瘤发生部位、环周度、淋巴结转移、组织学类型、侵犯脏器、大体类型、是否为根治性、Dukes分期有关,两组患者的术后并发症发生率、术后局部复发率、排便功能、5年生存率方面差异无显著性。结论严格掌握手术适应症的前提下,直肠癌患者可以行保留肛门括约肌手术,而手术方式的本身并不影响患者的预后。