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BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease-19 pandemic has changed the course of diseases that require emergency surgery. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer disease stage. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective analysis in the city of Rize, Turkey. METHODS: This was a comparative analysis on two groups of patients with various symptoms who underwent surgical colorectal cancer treatment. Group 1 comprised patients operated between March 11, 2019, and December 31, 2019; while group 2 comprised patients at the same time of the year during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Groups 1 and 2 included 56 and 48 patients, respectively. The rate of presentation to the emergency service was higher in Group 2 (P < 0.02). The stage of the pathological lymph nodes and the rate of liver metastasis was higher in Group 2 (P < 0.004 and P < 0.041, respectively). The disease stage was found to be more advanced in Group 2 (P < 0.005). The rate of postoperative complications was higher in Group 2 (P < 0.014). CONCLUSION: The presentation of patients with suspicious findings to the hospital was delayed, due both to the fear of catching COVID-19 and to the pandemic precautions that were proposed and implemented by healthcare authorities worldwide. Among the patients who presented to the hospital with emergency complaints and in whom colorectal cancer was detected, their disease was at a more advanced stage and thus a higher number of emergency oncological surgical procedures were performed on those patients.

BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common emergency surgical condition during pregnancy after obstetric and gynecological pathologies. Urgent and accurate diagnosis of AA in pregnant patients reduces maternal and fetal morbidity/mortality rates. This study evaluated the significance of hemogram to diagnose AA during pregnancy.METHODS: Forty-seven pregnant patients operated for AA in the Ordu or Ondokuz Mayis University Medical School Hospitals between January 2007 and December 2017 were compared with 47 healthy pregnant women in terms of hemogram parameters, including the white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) values. The operated group was evaluated based on post-operative pathologic results and subclassified into appendicitis positive (Group A) and appendicitis negative (Group B) groups. The subgroups were compared to the control group. RESULTS:The WBC and neutrophil count and mean NLR and PLR values were significantly higher in Group A compared to Group B and the control group (p<0.001). The mean lymphocyte count was significantly lower in Group A compared to other groups (p<0.001). The MPV and RDW values and mean platelet count showed no significant difference between groups (p>0.05). When cutoff values for WBC,

PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate long-term outcome of the intraoperative and perioperative albendazole (ALB) treatment on the recurrence and/or secondary hydatidosis.MethodsOne hundred and one patients with hepatic hydatidosis were treated intraoperatively and perioperatively with ALB, in addition to surgery. Perioperative ALB treatment was given in a dose of 12-15 mg/kg/day. The ALB treatment was started 13.27 ± 14.34 days before the surgery, and it was continued for 4.39 ± 3.11 months postoperatively. A total of 1.7 µg/mL of ALB solution was used as a protoscolidal agent. The follow-up period was 134.55 ± 51.56 months.ResultsFour patients died, with only one death was secondary to hydatid disease (cerebral eccinococcus). There was only one recurrence (1%) of hepatic hydatidosis. Early and late morbidity rates were 8.91% and 7.92%, respectively.ConclusionOur results suggest that intraoperative and perioperative ALB is effective for the prevention of hepatic hydatidosis recurrence and/or secondary hydatidosis.

BackgroundLaparoscopic cholecystectomy is the standard treatment for gallbladder diseases. In recent times, single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy(SILC) has developed as a less invasive alternative technique to conventional laparoscopy. In the literature, many studies have compared SILC and conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC) procedures but a limited number of studies have compared the two techniques with regard to quality of life (QOL). The choice of surgical procedure was effected by QOL of the patients. The effects of SILC on QOL remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC) and single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) procedures on the clinical outcomes and quality of life of patients by short-term follow-up evaluation.Material and methodsIn this study, 142 patients who underwent cholecystectomy operations with either technique underwent SILC and CLC were evaluated. The quality of life index in the patients was measured with short form 36 (SF 36) test.ResultsThe results of mean operative time, length of stay and complication rate for SILC and CLC were similar. The postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores were not significantly different between the SILC and CLC patients but only physical functioning score were higher in SILC patients.ConclusionsSILC is a safe and effective alternative to CLC. To detect the effects of SILC on HRQOL, we need long-term prospective comparative studies.