Surg Clin North Am

Posttransplant medical complications.

Year 1998
Rao VK.
Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, USA.
A variety of medical, surgical, social, and psychiatric problems affect the renal allograft rejection, thromboembolic disease, infectious events and gastrointestinal disorders. Hypertension and hyperlipidemia appear around 3 months and may remain throughout the posttransplant period. The late complication are atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, malignancy hepatic failure, chronic rejection, denovo and recurrent renal disease, posttransplant diabetes, musculoskeletal problems, cataracts and skin lesions. Routine follow up of all transplanted patients at specialized centers is critical for early detection and management of these complications. Such practice would reduce the patient morbidity and mortality and lead to an improved long-term outcome.

Endorectal ultrasound.

Year 1998
Saclarides TJ.
Rush Medical College, Chicago, USA.
Endorectal ultrasound is a very useful diagnostic adjunct for benign and malignant anorectal diseases. The only prerequisite in performing this test is that the examiner appreciate the impact that EUS has on the clinical management of patients. For example, the information obtained when scanning rectal cancer dictates whether local excision (i.e., sphincter preservation) or preoperative adjuvant therapy followed by radical resection is chosen. For benign disease, EUS helps direct therapy for patients with fecal incontinence and selects those patients most likely to benefit from reconstructive surgery.

Intraoperative and laparoscopic ultrasound.

Year 1998
Kolecki R. Schirmer B.
Department of Surgery, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, USA.
Intraoperative ultrasound, whether during celiotomy or laparoscopy, plays an important role in assisting the surgeon in directing appropriate therapy for intra-abdominal diseases, particularly primary or metastatic malignancies involving the liver and primary malignancies of the pancreas and upper gastrointestinal tract. It is the most sensitive imaging technique for detecting small intraparenchymal lesions of the liver, pancreas, and other solid organs. Owing to its increased sensitivity over all commonly used preoperative imaging studies, it is responsible for changing the intraoperative treatment plan of these tumors in a significant percentage of cases. This is particularly true with respect to resectability. In the era of laparoscopic surgery, it replaces the surgeon's inability to palpate the liver and other organs during surgery. As surgeons use a laparoscopic approach with increasing frequency to treat intra-abdominal disease, they will have an increasing need to master the use of intraoperative ultrasound in order to render optimal care to their patients.

The surgeons use of ultrasound in the acute setting.

Year 1998
Ballard RB. Rozycki GS. Knudson MM. Pennington SD.
Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
As the role of the general surgeon continues to evolve, the surgeon's use of ultrasound will surely influence practice patterns, particularly for the evaluation of patients in the acute setting. With the use of real-time imaging, the surgeon receives "instantaneous" information to augment the physical examination, narrow the differential diagnosis, or initiate an intervention. With select ultrasound examinations, the surgeon can rapidly evaluate adult and pediatric patients who present with an acute abdomen, especially those in shock. In the hands of the surgeon, this noninvasive bedside tool can more accurately assess the presence, depth, and extent of an abscess, confirm complete aspiration, or diagnose wound dehiscence before it is apparent on physical examination. Ultrasound is so accurate for the diagnosis of pyloric stenosis that it has essentially replaced the upper gastrointestinal series in most institutions. The surgeon's use of ultrasound to detect a pleural effusion has virtually replaced the lateral decubitus film. Furthermore, an ultrasound-guided thoracentesis not only facilitates the procedure but improves its safety. Many ICUs now have protocols in place to perform routine duplex surveillance of those patients who are considered at high risk for the development of thromboembolic complications. As surgeons become more facile with ultrasound, it is anticipated that other uses will develop to further enhance its value for the assessment of patients in the acute setting.