Splenic abscess is a rare clinical entity with diagnostic challenges. Though rare, it is potentially a life-threatening clinical condition with high mortality reaching more than 70%. The common signs and symptoms include the triad of fever, left upper quadrant tenderness, and leukocytosis. Early diagnosis, however, can readily be made by the combination of clinical features, abdominal ultrasonography (USG), and computed tomography (CT). The management of splenic abscess includes medical therapy, CT-guided percutaneous aspiration, and splenectomy. We, hereby, present a rare case of splenic abscess with gangrenous gas necrosis, who underwent splenectomy.

Colorectal cancer progresses without any symptoms early on or those clinical symptoms are very discrete and so are undetected for long periods of time. Complicated colorectal carcinoma has several symptoms, the most common being bleeding and obstruction. Occasionally, it will cause perforation, which carries a worse prognosis. It is rare for a carcinoma colon to present as abscess of the anterior abdominal wall that forms as a result of direct invasion and perforation of the colon by cancer. We hereby report an unusual case of perforated colon carcinoma presented as an abscess infiltrating the abdominal wall.

Introduction: There are various international guidelines for the surgical treatment of upper ureteral calculi. For upper ureteral stone of less than 10 mm size, ESWL and URS are regarded as first line treatment. However, there is lack of national guidelines for appropriate surgical options for such stone in our settings. Methods: The study was prospective comparative type involving 100 patients who were divided into ESWL and URS groups comprising 50 patients in each. ESWL and URS were performed after confirmation of stone size with ultrasonography and non-contrast enhanced computed tomography. All patients underwent X-ray KUB at one week and six weeks post procedure for confirmation of stone clearance. Those with residual calculi of size < 5 mm were considered stone free. Statistical analysis was done using Graph pad prism version 6. Results: The mean age of patients in ESWL and URS groups were 41.28 ± 15.3 years and 42.84 ± 16.1 years respectively. The male to female ratio was higher in ESWL group. The mean size of the stone pre ESWL was 8.58 mm and pre URS was 8.44 mm. The percentage of stone clearance at one week and six weeks for ESWL was 56% and 90% respectively whereas for URS, it was more than 90% at both one week and six weeks. The complications were higher with URS (20%) than ESWL (8%). Conclusions: The ESWL and URS are equally effective in stone clearance. The duration is longer with ESWL and the complications were more in URS group.

Introduction: Antimicrobials are used before, during and after surgery to prevent infections to decrease the duration of hospital stay, increase surgical outcomes and reduce health-related costs. There is inadequate evidence to determine the effective group of antimicrobials to be used in surgical prophylaxis in our settings. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive study involving antimicrobial prescriptions pattern among 223 surgical patients was undertaken. Information on patient’s demographic variables, diagnosis, type of surgery and wound, perioperative antimicrobial use, postoperative complications and number of antimicrobials prescribed from the essential medicine list were recorded. The antibiotic prescription patterns were assessed based on a comparison with international and national guidelines. Results: Among 223 patients, males were predominant with an overall mean age of 42.77 years. The total number of diagnoses was 30, the commonest being appendicitis (21.52%), urinary stone disease (15.69%), hernia (13.90%) and cholelithiasis (11.65%). The common surgeries performed were emergency appendectomy, hernioplasty and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Eighteen types of drugs from seven different antimicrobial groups were used perioperatively, out of which 73% and 83% were prescribed based on international and national guidelines respectively. Conclusion: The most common antimicrobial used was third-generation cephalosporin. The postoperative antimicrobial rate was found higher compared to preoperative and intraoperative prescriptions and for a longer duration compared to national and international guidelines.

Complex ventral hernia repair has been a challenging task of difficulty in primary closure of the defects. Transversus abdominis muscle release (TAR) procedure, as a type of posterior component separation, is a new myofascial release technique in complex ventral hernia repair. TAR creates immense retro muscular plane and allows bilaminar ingrowth of the mesh, allowing primary closure of defect. Owing to its favorable outcome, suitability of TAR technique in treatment of complex ventral hernia could be explored further where closure of the primary defect is difficult.