Malcolm S. Branch

Urgent Colonoscopy for Evaluation and Management of Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVES:We hypothesized that early intervention in patients with lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) would improve outcomes and therefore conducted a prospective randomized study comparing urgent colonoscopy to standard care.METHODS:Consecutive patients presenting with LGIB without upper or anorectal bleeding sources were randomized to urgent purge preparation followed immediately by colonoscopy or a standard care algorithm based on angiographic intervention and expectant colonoscopy.RESULTS:A total of 50 patients were randomized to each group. A definite source of bleeding was found more often in urgent colonoscopy patients (diverticula, 13; angioectasia, 4; colitis, 4) than in the standard care group (diverticula, 8; colitis, 3) (the odds ratio for the difference among the groups was 2.6; 95% CI 1.1–6.2). In the urgent colonoscopy group, 17 patients received endoscopic therapy; in the standard care group, 10 patients had angiographic hemostasis. There was no difference in outcomes among the two groups—including: mortality 2% versus 4%, hospital stay 5.8 versus 6.6 days, ICU stay 1.8 versus 2.4 days, transfusion requirements 4.2 versus 5 units, early rebleeding 22% versus 30%, surgery 14%versus 12%, or late rebleeding 16% versus 14% (mean follow-up of 62 and 58 months).CONCLUSION:Although urgent colonoscopy identified a definite source of LGIB more often than a standard care algorithm based on angiography and expectant colonoscopy, the approaches are not significantly different with regard to important outcomes. Thus, decisions concerning care for patients with acute LGIB should be based on individual experience and local expertise.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation for localized adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

AbstractBackground: The use of neoadjuvant preoperative chemoradiotherapy CRT for pancreatic cancer has been advocated for its potential ability to optimize patient selection for surgical resection and to downstage locally advanced tumors. This article reports our experience with neoadjuvant CRT for localized pancreatic cancer. Methods: Since 1995, 111 patients with radiographically localized, pathologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma have received neoadjuvant external beam radiation therapy EBRT; median, 4500 cGy with 5-flourouracil–based chemotherapy. Tumors were defined as potentially resectable PR, n = 53 in the absence of arterial involvement and venous occlusion and locally advanced LA, n = 58 with arterial involvement or venous occlusion by CT. Results: Five patients 4.5% were not restaged due to death n = 3 or intolerance of therapy n = 2. Twenty-one patients 19% manifested distant metastatic disease on restaging CT. Twenty-eight patients with initially PR tumors 53% and 11 patients with initially LA tumors 19% were resected after CRT. Histologic examination revealed significant fibrosis in all resected specimens and two complete responses. Surgical margins were negative in 72%, and lymph nodes were negative in 70% of resected patients. Median survival in resected patients has not been reached at a median follow-up of 16 months. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant CRT provided an opportunity for patients with occult metastatic disease to avoid the morbidity of resection and resulted in tumor downstaging in a minority of patients with LA tumors. Survival after neoadjuvant CRT and resection appears to be at least comparable to survival after resection and adjuvant postoperative CRT.

Staging of pancreatic cancer before and after neoadjuvant chemoradiation.

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy is used at many institutions for treatment of localized adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Accurate staging before neoadjuvant therapy identifies patients with distant metastatic disease, and restaging after neoadjuvant therapy selects patients for laparotomy and attempted resection. The aims of this study were to (1) determine theutilityof staging laparoscopy in candidates for neoadjuvant therapy and (2) evaluate the accuracy of restaging CT following chemoradiation. Staging laparoscopy was performed in 98 patients with radiographically potentially resectable (no evidence of arterial abutment or venous occlusion) or locally advanced (arterial abutment or venous occlusion) adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Unsuspected distant metastasis was identified in 8 (18%) of 45 patients with potentially resectable tumors and 13 (24%) of 55 patients with locally advanced tumors by CT Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy and restaging CT were completed in a total of 103 patients. Thirty-three patients with potentially resectable tumors by restaging CT underwent surgical exploration and resections were performed in 27 (82%). Eleven (22%) of 49 patients with locally advanced tumors by restaging CT were resected, with negative margins in 55%; the tumors in these 11 patients had been considered locally advanced because of arterial involvement on restaging CT Staging laparoscopy is useful for the exclusion of patients with unsuspected metastatic disease from aggressive neoadjuvant chemoradiation protocols. Following neoadjuvant chemoradiation, restaging CT guides the selection of patients for laparotomy but may overestimate unresectability to a greater extent than does prechemoradiation CT.

Extensive investigation of patients with mild elevations of serum amylase and/or lipase is 'low yield'.

BACKGROUND Serum amylase and lipase levels are widely used as markers of pancreatic inflammation. However, it would seem that mild elevations of amylase and lipase rarely predict significant pancreatic pathology. Pancreatic imaging tests are expensive. The gold standard, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, carries risk of morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE To determine whether extensive investigation of patients with mild, nonspecific abdominal symptoms and mild elevations of amylase and/or lipase results in a significant diagnostic yield. METHODS Outpatient evaluations were retrospectively analyzed over 12 months. Inclusion criteria were nonspecific abdominal pain, and mild elevations (less than three times the upper limit of normal) of serum amylase or lipase, or both. Exclusion criteria included a history of chronic pancreatitis, elevation of liver tests and acute pain syndromes. RESULTS Nineteen patients over the study period met the criteria. Of the nineteen patients, 58% had elevation of lipase alone, 21% amylase alone and 21% had elevations of both. In addition, 89.5% of the patients had nonspecific abdominal pain. After imaging with one or more of ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, small bowel follow through or hepatobiliary scanning, 78.9% patients were thought to have a normal pancreas. Of the remaining patients, 15.8% had mild or equivocal changes of chronic pancreatitis, and one patient was found to have a pancreatic tail pseudocyst. The average cost of investigation was US

A Stone in a Grossly Dilated Cystic Duct Stump: A Rare Cause of Postcholecystectomy Pain

2,255, taking only direct procedural costs into account. No patient was found to have malignancy. CONCLUSIONS The majority of patients with nonspecific abdominal pain and isolated elevations of amylase and/or lipase (less than three times the upper limit of normal) had no identifiable pancreatic pathology. The diagnostic yield in patients with mild elevations of lipase alone was particularly poor. The cost effectiveness and risk-benefit ratio of extensive investigation of this group of patients warrants further study.

The need for caution with topical anesthesia during endoscopic procedures, as liberal use may result in methemoglobinemia.

We describe the unusual case of a patient who developed recurrent right upper quadrant pain 25 yr after cholecystectomy. A cystic lesion containing a calculus was identified on transabdominal ultrasound, initially suggesting the possibility of gallbladder duplication. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography identified this lesion as a massively dilated cystic duct stump. Surgical resection led to complete resolution of symptoms. Recurrent cholelithiasis involving the cystic duct stump may lead to massive dilatation, and must be considered in the differential diagnosis of postcholecystectomy syndrome.

Intravenous synthetic secretin reduces the incidence of pancreatitis induced by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

During upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, topical oropharyngeal anesthesia with lidocaine and/or benzocaine is used routinely by many endodscopists. Although such a practice is usually safe, there have been a number of reports of methemoglobinemia induced by topical anesthesia. Early treatment is extremely important as the development of methemoglobinemia is potentially fatal. Methemoglobinemia should be considered when oxygen desaturation occurs without another explanation. In this case series, we report 4 cases of methemoglobinemia that followed the liberal application of Cetacaine for ERCP. All patients recovered after appropriate treatment but these cases serve to highlight the potential problem, the importance of early recognition and treatment, and the most appropriate treatment options.

A double-blind, randomized, dose response study testing the pharmacological efficacy of synthetic porcine secretin

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate whether synthetic secretin is effective in reducing post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis. Methods: This is a single academic medical center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial using secretin (dose of 16 &mgr;g) administered intravenously immediately before ERCP. Patients were evaluated for the primary outcome of post-ERCP pancreatitis as diagnosed by a single investigator. Results: A total of 1100 patients were screened, of whom 869 were randomly assigned to receive secretin (n = 426) or placebo (n = 443) before ERCP and were evaluated after the procedure for efficacy of secretin. The incidence of pancreatitis in the secretin group compared with the placebo group was 36 (8.7%) of 413 patients versus 65 (15.1%) of 431 patients, respectively, P = 0.004. In the subgroup analysis, secretin was highly protective against post-ERCP pancreatitis for patients undergoing biliary sphincterotomy (6/129 vs 32/142, P < 0.001), patients undergoing cannulation of the common bile duct (26/339 vs 56/342, P < 0.001), and patients not undergoing pancreatic sphincterotomy (26/388 vs 57/403, P = 0.001). Analysis of the interaction between these groups reveals that the primary effect of secretin prophylaxis was prevention of post-ERCP pancreatitis in patients undergoing biliary sphincterotomy. Conclusions: Synthetic secretin reduces the risk of post-ERCP pancreatitis, particularly in patients in undergoing biliary sphincterotomy.

The fate of patients who undergo "preoperative" ERCP to clear known or suspected bile duct stones.

Biologically derived porcine secretin has been used as a diagnostic agent in clinical gastrointestinal practice for many years. Pure synthetic porcine secretin is now available for investigational clinical use.

Pseudo-Mirizzi syndrome in acute cholecystitis.

BackgroundThere is debate as to whether recurrent biliary complications are more common in patients who do not have elective cholecystectomy after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) management of common bile duct (CBD) stones. The aim of this study was to determine the fate of patients with intact gallbladders who have had CBD stones removed at ERCP, and to assess their risk of recurrent biliary symptoms.MethodsWe retrospectively identified all patients in our large tertiary center population with intact gallbladders who had an ERCP for CBD stones from December 1999 to March 2002. We determined which patients had subsequent elective cholecystectomy, and the outcomes of patients who did not have elective surgery.Results309 patients had CBD stones at ERCP during the study period, of which 139 had intact gallbladders at the time of ERCP. Of these 139 patients 59 had subsequent elective cholecystectomy, 11 by open operation and 48 laparoscopically. Of these 139 patients, 27 had cholecystectomy planned; 47 patients were managed with a wait-and-see strategy, 30 of whom were poor surgical candidates. Of these 47 patients in whom a wait-and-see policy was adopted, 9 (19%) developed complications including recurrent pain and/or abnormal liver function tests (LFTs), recurrent biliary colic, and pancreatitis. Eight of these nine patients were from the poor surgical candidate group. Sphincterotomy had been performed at initial ERCP in all patients.ConclusionsOver half of our population of 139 patients with CBD stones at ERCP and intact gallbladders had actual or planned elective cholecystectomy. For those patients in whom a decision to wait-and-see was made, almost 20% developed complications. Elective cholecystectomy after a finding of choledocholithiasis is supported by many and is a common strategy in our experience. Recurrent biliary complications are relatively common in those who do not undergo elective cholecystectomy, especially those patients who represent a high operative risk.