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Obturator hernia is a rare pelvic hernia with incidence of 1%. It's a significant cause of intestinal obstruction in emaciated elderly women. Delayed diagnosis and surgical intervention contributed to its relatively high morbidity and mortality. We present a typical case of obturator hernia with positive Howship-Romberg sign and Hannington-Kiff sign. The diagnosis was confirmed by spiral CT preoperatively. During the emergency laparotomy, the incarcerated intestine was reduced and removed. Obturator foramen was repaired by simple suture. The patient recovered uneventfully and no recurrence occurred during the follow-up. The obturator hernia should be included in the differential diagnosis if clinically suspected. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment are essential to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with obturator hernia.

BackgroundA new technique of oncoplastic breast surgery (OBS) using laparoscopically harvested pedicled omental flap has been developed in the past 10 years. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of this technique.MethodsTwenty-five patients underwent OBS using laparoscopically harvested omental flap. Operative time, blood loss, complications, recurrence, and cosmetic outcomes were prospectively analyzed.ResultsBetween June 2010 and March 2014, 25 patients were recruited in our study. The surgery was performed successfully in 24 patients. All these patients recovered uneventfully after the surgery. Mean operative time was 310 min, ranging from 205 to 410 min. Mean blood loss was 70 ml, ranging from 20 to 150 ml. Patients were followed up for 32 months on average, ranging from 6 to 51 months. Four patients complained of mild epigastric discomfort. One patient had local recurrence and distant bone and liver metastasis and died 11 months after the surgery. One patient was diagnosed with metastases in the lung, bone, and liver without local recurrence 2 years after surgery. The cosmetic satisfaction rate was 91.7% and 95.8% by surgeon and patients, respectively.ConclusionOBS with laparoscopically harvested omental flap might be a feasible technique with a good cosmetic outcome.

Background: Although dual blockade HER2-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with excellent outcomes for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, pertuzumab is not available to all patients due to cost. The optimal neoadjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-positive breast cancer in the presence of a single HER2 blockade is unknown. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel/trastuzumab (EC-TH) with docetaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab (TCH) neoadjuvant setting for HER2-positive breast cancer under the single HER2 blockade. Methods: Patients with stage II-IIIC HER2-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned to either eight cycles of EC-TH every 3 weeks during all chemotherapy cycles, or six cycles of TCH every 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) (defined as the absence of invasive tumor cells in breast and axilla, ypT0/is ypN0). Results: From May 2017 to November 2019, 140 patients were randomly assigned, and 135 patients were ultimately found evaluable for the primary endpoint. The pCR was recorded in 25 of 67 patients [37.3%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 25.8–50.0] in the EC-TH group and in 38 of 68 patients (55.9%, 95% CI, 43.3–67.9) in the TCH group ( p = 0.032). The most common adverse events (AEs) were neutropenia in 24 of 67 (35.8%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 27 of 68 (39.7%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.642), anemia in 33 of 67 (49.3%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 34 of 68 (50.0%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.931), and thrombocytopenia in five of 67 (7.5%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 17 of 68 (25.0%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.006). Conclusion: For patients receiving the single HER2 blockade trastuzumab for HER2-positive breast cancer, TCH regimen might be a preferred neoadjuvant therapy. Trial registration: This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03140553) on 2 May 2017.