Intravenous cyclosporine therapy is rapidly effective for patients with severe corticosteroid-resistant ulcerative colitis.

The overall bowel obstruction rate was unchanged; however, adhesive small-bowel obstruction requiring reoperation was significantly reduced by the use of Seprafilm, which was the only factor that predicted this outcome.

In patients undergoing major abdominal surgery, alvimopan accelerated gastrointestinal recovery and time to the hospital discharge order written compared with placebo and was well tolerated.

Objective:The aim of the study was to evaluate biosynthetic absorbable mesh in single-staged contaminated (Centers for Disease Control class II and III) ventral hernia (CVH) repair over 24 months.Background:CVH has an increased risk of postoperative infection. CVH repair with synthetic or biologic meshes has reported chronic biomaterial infections and high hernia recurrence rates.Methods:Patients with a contaminated or clean-contaminated operative field and a hernia defect at least 9 cm2 had a biosynthetic mesh (open, sublay, retrorectus, or intraperitoneal) repair with fascial closure (n = 104). Endpoints included overall Kaplan-Meier estimates for hernia recurrence and postoperative wound infection rates at 24 months, and the EQ-5D and Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12). Analyses were conducted on the intent-to-treat population, and health outcome measures evaluated using paired t tests.Results:Patients had a mean age of 58 years, body mass index of 28 kg/m2, 77% had contaminated wounds, and 84% completed 24-months follow-up. Concomitant procedures included fistula takedown (n = 24) or removal of infected previously placed mesh (n = 29). Hernia recurrence rate was 17% (n = 16). At the time of CVH repair, intraperitoneal placement of the biosynthetic mesh significantly increased the risk of recurrences (P ≤ 0.04). Surgical site infections (19/104) led to higher risk of recurrence (P < 0.01). Mean 24-month EQ-5D (index and visual analogue) and SF-12 physical component and mental scores improved from baseline (P < 0.05).Conclusions:In this prospective longitudinal study, biosynthetic absorbable mesh showed efficacy in terms of long-term recurrence and quality of life for CVH repair patients and offers an alternative to biologic and permanent synthetic meshes in these complex situations.