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Query: UMLS:C0021843 (bowel obstruction)
 9,927 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Surgical intervention after vascular surgery usually occurs as a result of bleeding or thrombosis, whereas general surgical problems requiring operation after vascular surgery are unusual. The purpose of this study was to review the results of operations for general surgical problems done soon after major vascular surgery. From January 1985 to December 1989, 1,236 major vascular procedures were performed, and 15 patients developed significant postoperative general surgical problems including perforated duodenal ulcer (2), perforated diverticular disease (2), evisceration and dehiscence (2), liver infarct (1), gangrenous cholecystitis (2), clostridial myonecrosis (1), pseudomembranous colitis (1), and small bowel obstruction (4). The overall mortality was very high (47%), and the chance of dying was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) if the initial vascular procedure was an emergency (100% mortality). All the patients who died (n = 7) succumbed to sepsis. There was a long delay in diagnosis in all groups; however, the delay did not correlate with mortality. Although this is a study of a small group of patients with a very heterogenous group of complications, several observations can be made: (1) a general surgical problem after vascular surgery carries a very high mortality; (2) general surgical complications in postoperative vascular patients in whom the initial procedure was an emergency are very poorly tolerated and almost uniformly lethal; and (3) these elderly patients have multiple medical problems and seem unlikely to tolerate any septic insult.
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PMID:General surgical problems requiring operation in postoperative vascular surgery patients. 192 85

The case report is presented of a newborn that developed pseudomembranous colitis and intestinal obstruction after antibiotic therapy with cefoxitin and gentamicin in the first week of life. At laparotomy on the fifth day a complete obliteration of the descending colon by pseudomembranes was encountered. After resection of the diseased segment the recovery was uneventful. We believe this case is the first to be published of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis causing intestinal obstruction.
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PMID:Antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis as cause of intestinal obstruction in a five-day-old newborn. 373 23

By 1996, the median survival of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) in North America had increased to 31 years. With the markedly improved life expectancy, many CF patients are now adults. There is an associated increased risk of certain colonic disorders, and the emergence of other previously unrecognized disorders, in adult CF patients. The distal intestinal obstruction syndrome (DIOS), which is more common in older patients, is a frequent cause of abdominal pain. Intussusception may complicate DIOS; other differential diagnoses include appendiceal disease, volvolus, Crohn's disease, fibrosing colonopathy and colonic carcinoma. The diagnosis of acute appendicitis, although uncommon in patients with CF, is often delayed, and appendiceal abscess is a frequent complication. The prevalence of Crohn's disease in CF has been shown to be 17 times that of the general population. Right-sided microscopic colitis is a recently recognized entity in CF of uncertain clinical significance. Fibrosing colonopathy has been confined mostly to children with CF, attributed to the use of high strength pancreatic enzyme supplements, but it has been reported in three adults. Nine cases of carcinoma of the large intestine have been reported worldwide, associated with an apparent excess risk of digestive tract cancers in CF. Despite high carrier rates of Clostridium difficile in patients with CF, pseudomembranous colitis is distinctly rare, but severe cases complicated by toxic megacolon have been reported. In these patients, watery diarrhea is often absent. Adult CF patients with refractory or unexplained intestinal symptoms merit thorough investigations.
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PMID:Colonic disorders in adult cystic fibrosis. 1157 1

Ultrasonography (US) is often the first imaging study performed in patients with abdominal pain or vague symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract. An awareness of the US appearances of diseases of the intestine is essential to achieve the proper diagnosis and to enable appropriate triage of cases. Pathologic processes that affect the intestine generally result in decreased peristalsis and bowel wall thickening, both of which tend to decrease the luminal gas content. These changes permit evaluation of the intestine and surrounding structures with transabdominal and transvaginal US. US is useful in diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory conditions, such as appendicitis, Crohn disease, diverticulitis, epiploic appendagitis, pseudomembranous colitis, small bowel obstruction, small bowel vasculitis, and celiac disease. US is also helpful in diagnosis of tumors, such as gastric cancer, bowel lymphoma, and colon cancer. Familiarity with the US appearances of diseases that affect the intestine may allow specific diagnosis based on the degree and distribution of bowel wall thickening and associated changes of the perienteric tissues.
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PMID:US of gastrointestinal tract abnormalities with CT correlation. 1253 41

The aim of this report is to describe a rare complication of clostridium difficile (CD) disease, the occurrence of an inflammatory pseudotumor that caused intestinal obstruction in a liver transplant recipient. A 9-month-old girl underwent liver transplantation for biliary atresia. She was given tacrolimus as primary immunosuppressive therapy. Three months after liver transplantation, she presented with febrile protracted bloody diarrhea and failure to thrive. A diagnosis of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection was initially made on histological examination of duodenal biopsies. Tacrolimus was discontinued. Despite treatment with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies the child's condition deteriorated and she presented with intestinal occlusion. A mass at the ascending colon was seen on the computed tomography scan mimicking lymphoma and the child underwent surgical laparotomy. Histological examination of the mass showed typical pathological lesions of inflammatory pseudotumor and CD pseudomembranous colitis. Diagnosis of CD disease was confirmed upon the identification of CD toxin A in stools. She was successfully treated by metronidazole and gamma-globulin perfusions. Delayed diagnosis and anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies therapy (associated with hypogammaglobulinemia) possibly played a major role in the severity of CD pseudomembranous colitis and in the occurrence of an inflammatory pseudotumor.
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PMID:Clostridium difficile colitis associated with inflammatory pseudotumor in a liver transplant recipient. 1258 33

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) usually manifests as fever and diarrhea in hospitalized patients treated with systemic antibiotics. We described a case of PMC with intestinal obstruction but without diarrhea. A 60-year-old man was hospitalized for chemotherapy for the treatment of Burkitt lymphoma of the stomach. The patient became febrile and complained of crampy abdominal pain during the post-chemotherapy nadir. Plain abdominal radiography showed some intestinal gas and niveau. Because stool cytotoxin assay for clostridium difficile was positive and colon fiberscopic examination showed a pseudomembrane at the left side of the colon, and a diagnosis of PMC was made. Treatment with intracolonic vancomycin administration by colonoscopy and nasoileus tube was successful. Physicians should take into account the possibility of bowel obstruction due to PMC occurring in patients undergoing chemotherapy and perform emergency colonoscopy examination of suspected cases.
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PMID:Pseudomembranous colitis presenting as acute colonic obstruction without diarrhea in a patient with gastric Burkitt lymphoma. 1584 35

Cystic fibrosis is a common inherited fatal disease. As the life expectancy of affected individuals continues to increase with advances in disease management, this disease is no longer limited to the pediatric population. Currently, 40% of patients with cystic fibrosis are adults. In addition, patients may not present until adulthood and frequently have extrapulmonary symptoms. Abdominal manifestations are common and affect multiple organ systems. Hepatobiliary manifestations include fatty infiltration of the liver, gallbladder abnormalities, bile duct abnormalities, focal biliary fibrosis, and multinodular cirrhosis. Manifestations in the pancreas include acute pancreatitis, fatty replacement, calcifications, cysts, duct abnormalities, and carcinoma. Gastrointestinal manifestations include gastroesophageal reflux, peptic ulceration of the gastric and duodenal mucosa, distal intestinal obstruction syndrome, intussusception, appendicitis, fibrosing colonopathy, pneumatosis intestinalis, rectal mucosal prolapse, malignancies, and pseudomembranous colitis. Renal manifestations include nephrolithiasis, as well as secondary renal complications such as interstitial nephritis due to antibiotic therapy and amyloidosis. Awareness of these manifestations is important to successfully guide management of cystic fibrosis in adult patients.
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PMID:Review of the abdominal manifestations of cystic fibrosis in the adult patient. 1670 47

In this paper, abdominal ultrasound examination as a point-of-care examination (POCUS) is discussed. POCUS is very useful in various clinical situations, especially for the diagnosis of critically ill patients with non-specific symptoms. In patients with an unknown fever origin, POCUS can detect unexpected infection foci such as liver abscesses. Pseudomembranous colitis, which is one of the important causes of fever during/after the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and sometimes difficult to diagnose or even suspect as the cause of fever, can also be diagnosed with POCUS. Malignancies such as malignant lymphoma are also frequent causes of fever of unknown origin and, with POCUS, we have diagnosed many cases with malignant tumors presenting only with low-grade fever. Abdominal fullness is another common symptom of critically ill patients. POCUS is very useful for differentiation among several diseases causing abdominal fullness. Ascites is expressed as anechoic fluid in the abdominal cavity, while bowel obstruction as bowel distention presenting the so-called keyboard sign. Urinary retention, often misdiagnosed as bowel obstruction or an abdominal tumor, is also easily diagnosed by POCUS. It is very difficult to detect the occult causes of exacerbation of the general condition and/or markedly abnormal laboratory data in critically ill patients under endotracheal intubation or the influence of sedative agents, which make it difficult for the patients to complain of their symptoms. Attending physicians should make the best of POCUS as a useful diagnostic modality for these patients.
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PMID:[Point-of-Care Abdominal Ultrasound]. 2654 36

The use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) by non-radiologists has dramatically increased. POCUS is completely different from the routine radiological studies. POCUS is a Physiological, On spot, extension of the Clinical examination, that is Unique, and Safe. This review aims to lay the basic principles of using POCUS in diagnosing intestinal pathologies so as to encourage acute care physicians to learn and master this important tool. It will be a useful primer for clinicians who want to introduce POCUS into their clinical practice. It will cover the basic physics, technical aspects, and simple applications including detection of free fluid, free intraperitoneal air, and bowel obstruction followed by specific POCUS findings of the most common intestinal pathologies encountered by acute care physicians including acute appendicitis, epiploic appendagitis, acute diverticulitis, pseudomembranous colitis, intestinal tuberculosis, Crohn's disease, and colonic tumours. Deep understanding of the basic physics of ultrasound and its artefacts is the first step in mastering POCUS. This helps reaching an accurate POCUS diagnosis and avoiding its pitfalls. With increased skills, detailed and accurate POCUS findings of specific intestinal pathologies can be achieved and properly correlated with the clinical picture. We have personally experienced and enjoyed this approach to a stage that an ultrasound machine is always accompanying us in our clinical on calls and rounds.
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PMID:Diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for gastrointestinal pathology: state of the art from basics to advanced. 3035 8