Kok Hoong Chia

Aortoenteric Fistula Treated With Endovascular Aortic Stent-Graft and Bilateral Chimney Stent-Grafts to Renal Arteries

We report a patient with secondary aortoenteric fistula (AEF) presenting with a rectal bleeding. The patient had multiple comorbidities, precluding major open vascular surgery. We opted to perform a two-stage procedure, where an endovascular stent-graft was first deployed to exclude the AEF from the systemic circulation. As the AEF was at the proximal anastomosis of the previous Dacron graft and close to the renal artery ostia, chimney stent-grafts were placed in both renal arteries to maintain their patency. The second stage of the procedure involved a laparotomy to repair the defect in the duodenum to prevent further contamination from bowel contents.

An unusual case of leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava in a patient with a duplicated inferior vena cava.

Leiomyosarcoma of primary vascular origin is a rare primary soft tissue tumour, which arises mainly from the inferior vena cava (IVC). Clinical symptoms depend upon the size and location of the tumour and presents usually with abdominal pain, palpable mass and weight loss. Complete surgical resection with clear surgical margin plays a central therapeutic role. The effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy remains to be evaluated. We report a 64 year old Chinese female who presented with abdominal mass and pain associated with weight loss and was subsequently diagnosed with inferior vena cava leiomyosarcoma. She underwent successful surgical resection but unfortunately developed recurrence of tumour 12 month post-operative. She was also found to have a duplicated inferior vena cave which allowed reconstitution of venous return from the lower limbs after surgical resection of the IVC tumour. We discuss the surgical treatment and results of leiomyosarcoma of the IVC.

Intestinal schistosomiasis manifesting as colonic intussusception arising from a mucocele of the appendix: Report of a case

We report a case of intestinal schistosomiasis manifesting as colonic intussusception resulting from a mucocele of the appendix, caused by the obstruction of appendiceal outflow by schistosome egg-induced fibrosis. An 81-year-old woman from China presented with a tender right iliac fossa mass and computed tomography (CT) showed intussusception in the ascending colon. Exploratory laparotomy confirmed an appendiceal mass causing intussusception of the cecum into the ascending colon, with the appendix as the lead point, and lymphnode enlargement. We performed a right hemicolectomy for the appendiceal tumor. However, histologic examination revealed schistosoma eggs within the mucosa, submucosa, muscularis propria, and subserosal fat of the appendix, cecum, and ascending colon, and lymph nodes. The absence of dysplasia in the appendiceal mucosa indicated that the mucocele had developed from fibrosis induced by schistosome eggs obstructing the luminal outflow of mucin. Postoperatively, the patient was given praziquantel and recovered well.

Management of Blunt Traumatic Thoracic Aorta Injuries With Endovascular Stent-Grafts in a Tertiary Hospital in an Urban Asian City

BACKGROUND Thoracic aortic injury from blunt trauma is a life-threatening condition with significant mortality and morbidity with open surgical repair. Endovascular means of treatment is emerging as an attractive and less invasive option. We report our experience with endovascular stent-graft repair for blunt traumatic thoracic aorta injury. METHODS Between January 2003 and August 2009, six patients underwent endovascular repair of blunt traumatic thoracic aorta injury. Data from the medical records of these patients were analyzed. RESULTS All patients had deceleration injury resulting in thoracic aorta pseudoaneurysm at the aortic isthmus just distal to the left subclavian artery. Four patients were motorcyclists who had been involved in road-traffic accidents and two had fallen from a height. The mean Injury Severity Score was 33.8 (range, 21-43). All procedures were performed within 48 hours of admission and technical success was 100%. Five patients (83.3%) had the left subclavian artery intentionally covered by the stent-graft to achieve adequate proximal landing zone. None of them had any left upper limb ischemic complications or cerebrovascular events after the procedure. One patient had preservation of the left subclavian artery because intraoperative vertebral angiogram showed a hypoplastic right vertebral artery. No other procedural complications, paraplegia, or deaths were reported. Mean follow-up was 18.8 months (range, 1.5-42 months). CONCLUSIONS Our early experience of endovascular stent-grafting for blunt traumatic thoracic aorta injury suggests that this emerging technique is safe for treatment of such pathology in our inherently Asian population. Left subclavian artery may be sacrificed if adequate proximal landing zone is required for the stent-graft; and when vertebral angiogram was performed which did not show a dominant left vertebral artery.