LRH and ORHT for right-sided colon cancer resulted in the same short-term surgical outcomes including postoperative bowel function, narcotics consumption and length of hospital stay. However, LRH required a significantly longer operating time.

Pain is the most undesirable and threatening experience for surgical patients. This study aims to determine the efficacy of pre-incisional analgesic bupivacaine infiltration (preemptive analgesia) on postoperative pain relief after appendectomy. A prospective randomized double-blinded study was conducted on 123 patients aged 13-45 years with a preoperative and-postoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis admitted to Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, from January to May 2002. They were randomly set into two groups: the control (61 patients) and the preemptive (62 patients). In the preemptive group, bupivacaine (Marcaine) was infiltrated into the skin and subcutaneous tissue along the proposed wound line before gridiron incision, and also into the muscle layer after incision. The control group received no injection. Routine appendectomy was done. Pain score was assessed by the patients in the first 48 hr while they were lying supine and as they moved to a sitting position at 24 and 48 hr after operation. Morphine injection was given on patients' request with pain score = 5 every 4 hr in the first 48 hr or until analgesic paracetamol could be taken orally. The pain score during the first 6, 12, 24, and 48 hr, including the score while sitting up, were all significantly lower ( p < 0.001) in the preemptive group. So were the total number of morphine injections and the amount of morphine used postoperatively. The pain reduction could be due to interruption of inflammatory or pain mediator cascades that normally occur during an operation. This study showed that pre-incisional bupivacaine infiltration is an effective and simple method of reducing postoperative pain for patients undergoing appendectomy.

AIM:To determine the incidence of colonoscopic perforation (CP), and evaluate clinical findings, management and outcomes of patients with CP from the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) Endoscopy Training Center in Thailand. METHODS: All colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies performed between 1999 and 2007 in the Endoscopic unit, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok were reviewed. Incidence of CP, patients' characteristics, endoscopic information, intraoperative findings, management and outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 17 357 endoscopic procedures of the colon (13 699 colonoscopies and 3658 flexible sigmoidoscopies) were performed in Siriraj hospital over a 9-year period. Fifteen patients (0.09%) had CP: 14 from colonoscopy and 1 from sigmoidoscopy. The most common site of perforation was in the sigmoid colon (80%), followed by the transverse colon (13%). Perforations were caused by direct trauma from either the shaft or the tip of the endoscope (n = 12, 80%) and endoscopic polypectomy (n = 3, 20%). All patients with CP underwent surgical management: primary repair (27%) and bowel resection (73%). The mortality rate was 13% and postoperative complication rate was 53%. CONCLUSION: CP is a rare but serious complication following colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy, with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Incidence of CP was 0.09%. Surgery is still the mainstay of CP management.