INTRODUCTION: Gall bladder cancer (GBC) accounts for 80%-95% of biliary tract malignancies in the world. There is however striking variability in the global incidence of gallbladder cancer, reaching epidemic levels for some regions and ethnicities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic and clinicopathological profile of the gallbladder cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients of carcinoma gall bladder presenting to department of surgery in hepatopancreaticobiliary unit from July 2017 to November 2020 were included in this study. A proforma containing all the relevant details including history, examination, blood, radiology, and pathological investigations was filled. RESULTS: A total of 326 patients of GBC were analyzed. The majority (75%) were found to be females with a mean age of 55 years. Pain abdomen was the most common presenting symptom in 81% of patients. The most common stage of presentation was stage IV and only 6 were in stage I. Two hundred and thirty three (71.4%) patients had metastatic disease at presentation. Liver infiltration at the time of diagnosis was present in 89% of patients. The most common site of metastasis was found in the liver (23.3%). GBC was more common in patients with A blood group. Baseline serum albumin levels were found to be significantly associated with the staging of GBC. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the non specific symptoms patients of GBC present at very advanced stages, high index of suspicion and health education seems to play an important role in early detection and improvement of survival.

INTRODUCTION: Gall bladder cancer (GBC) tends to present in advanced stages, therefore, early diagnosis of GBC is necessary. There is no ideal single tumor marker available presently for the diagnosis and prognosis of GBC. Platelet distribution width (PDW) is an early marker for activated platelets and has been used in a variety of tumors to assess prognosis. This study was designed to evaluate the utility of PDW in identifying GBC patients and its association with tumor markers, staging and resectability of GBC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross sectional study was done on 100 patients of GBC and 100 age- and sex- matched healthy controls. PDW was evaluated and compared between GBC and healthy controls. Receiver-operating characteristics was plotted to determine optimal cut-off for identifying GBC patients and to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of PDW. Correlation between serum tumor markers (carbohydrate antigen 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen, and carbohydrate antigen 125) and PDW were evaluated. Association of PDW with hyperbilirubinemia, staging and resectability of GBC was also studied. RESULTS: A significantly higher PDW with a median of 18.1 was observed in GBC as compared to healthy controls with median value of 13. PDW was found to have a very high sensitivity (90%), specificity (95%), PPV (94%) and NPV (90%) in identifying GBC at cut-off of 16 with area under the curve (AUC) of 0.97. An increase of PDW was observed with increasing stage and unresectable GBC. However, it was not statistically significant. Significant positive correlation was observed between PDW and all three serum tumor markers and good positive correlation with r = 0.61 was observed with CA 19-9. CONCLUSION: PDW was associated with GBC and may be considered as a cost- effective marker in adjunct to other investigations for the diagnosis of GBC.

INTRODUCTION: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) have been reported in previous studies to assess the prognosis of gall bladder cancer (GBC) individually and in combination. However, the evidence of utility of preoperative CA 19-9, CEA and carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA 125) in determining the resectability and prognosis of GBC is still lacking. In the present study we correlated the serum levels of tumor markers CA 19-9, CEA and CA 125 individually and combined to determine the resectability and prognosis of the GBC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy one diagnosed patients of GBC between January 2018 and September 2019 were included in the present study. Serum CA 19-9, CEA and CA 125 were determined by chemiluminescence. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the role of tumor markers in determining the resectability of GBC. The Kaplan Meier survival curves were made and log rank analysis was performed to assess the prognostic role of tumor markers in terms of overall median survival. RESULTS: All the three tumor markers CA19-9, CEA and CA 125 showed high discriminatory power in determining the resectability with respective area under curve of 0.76, 0.68 and 0.78 as determined by ROC. Median survival in patients with high serum CA 19-9, CA 125 was significantly lower than patients with normal serum CA 19-9, CA 125 whereas no significant difference was observed in case of CEA. CONCLUSION: The present study suggested that CA 19-9, CEA and CA 125 can predict resectability in GBC and raised levels of CA 19-9 and CA 125 can predict poor prognosis in patients with elevated levels.

Retained surgical foreign bodies are unanticipated events culminating from inadvertent operating room errors and may cause severe medical and legal problems between the patient and the doctor. Here, we report detecting a surgical instrument fragment 13 years after an open abdominal hysterectomy in a quadragenarian during her evaluation of a month-old complaint of lower abdominal and right thigh pain. A computed tomography scan of the abdomen demonstrated a radio-opaque linear foreign body traversing the right obturator foramen with extension into the pelvis cranially and the adductor compartment of the right thigh caudally. The metallic foreign body, identified as a fragmented handle of a uterine tenaculum forceps with a slender sharp-tip hook, could be removed laparoscopically from the pelvis after a diagnostic laparoscopy, preventing significant complications. The minimally invasive approach enabled a smooth recovery, and the patient could go home on the second postoperative day.

Intussusception, although quite common in children with the classic triad of cramping abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and palpable masses, is a rare cause of acute abdomen with myriad presentations in adults. It is defined as the telescoping of a proximal segment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, called the intussusceptum, into the lumen of the adjacent distal segment of the GI tract, called intussuscipiens. Due to its different manifestations and time course, adult colonic intussusception often poses a diagnostic challenge for emergency doctors. The treatment of colonic intussusception in adults typically involves surgery, often with bowel resection and anastomosis followed by a defunctioning loop ileostomy. We report a case of left-sided colocolic intussusception secondary to a tubular adenoma as the lead point, which was successfully treated by resection and primary anastomosis. The pathological diagnosis of the lesion was reported as adenocarcinoma and resected bowel margins were found free of the tumor.