Esophageal perforation is a dreaded complication of anterior cervical spinal surgery. A 52-year-old diabetic man had undergone a surgery for a C6-C7 disc prolapse and developed spiking fever with chills and rigor on the 7th postoperative day. No cause could be found out but a CT scan of thorax done in the course of investigations revealed pneumomediastimum. The patient succumbed on the 10th day after surgery. Autopsy revealed the cause of death to be mediastinitis following iatrogenic esophageal perforation. A second patient, 53 years of age, following surgery for C5-C6 disc prolapse and developed intractable dysphagia. Later, fever and purulent discharge from the wound prompted an MRI showing prevertebral collection extending to the superior mediastinum. Presuming only wound infection, debridement and implant removal was done. However persistent serous discharge from the wound revealed an esophageal injury. Late diagnosis precluded primary repair. With conservative treatment, the fistula finally closed after 42 days. Postoperative dysphagia, a common complaint following surgery, may not always be present in cases of esophageal injury. A high index of suspicion is required for diagnosing and initiating treatment for esophageal perforation before complications set in.
Cranial fixation with pins is a routine adjunct in neurosurgery and is usually considered safe. A rarely reported complication is skull fracture at the pin site and consequent epidural hematoma. Usually, these are picked up only postoperatively and rarely, intraoperatively if there is unexplained “brain bulge” in which case the operation should be terminated and urgent imaging has to be done. We describe such a complication that occurred while operating on a 12-year-old child with a posterior fossa tumor and review the available literature dealing with such events.
Background: Liver is a common site for Space occupying lesions. It is difficult to distinguish these entities with imaging criteria alone. Development in liver surgery and liver pathology have led to many new types of primary hepatic space-occupying lesions (PHSOLS) being surgically resected and pathologically diagnosed, which has greatly increased the surgicopathological spectrum of PHSOLS.Methods: A 2-year tertiary care teaching hospital based longitudinal study with 77 participants was done. Selection criteria was defined and a prestructured proforma was made to assess and note the findings.Results: The mean age of occurrence of space occupying lesions of liver was 45.49±13.45 years with a range of 24 to 70 years. Space occupying lesions of liver was commonly observed in 4th Decade of life. 64.93% pathology of Space Occupying Lesions of Liver occur in males. 76.62% patients of space occupying lesions of liver present with pain in right upper quadrant.Conclusions: Majority of space occupying lesions were surgically managed with a short-term follow-up of 1 month in which no complications were noted.
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