Therapeutic experience of 289 elderly patients with biliary diseases

AIM To present clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment strategies in elderly patients with biliary diseases.METHODS A total of 289 elderly patients with biliary diseases were enrolled in this study. The clinical data relating to these patients were collected in our hospital from June 2013 to May 2016. Patient age, disease type, coexisting diseases, laboratory examinations, surgical methods, postoperative complications and therapeutic outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS The average age of the 289 patients with biliary diseases was 73.9 ± 8.5 years(range, 60-102 years). One hundred and thirty-one patients(45.3%) had one of 10 different biliary diseases, such as gallbladder stones, common bile duct stones, and cholangiocarcinoma. The remaining patients(54.7%) had two types of biliary diseases. One hundred and seventy-nine patients underwent 9 different surgical treatments, including pancreaticoduodenectomy, radical resection of hilar cholangiocarcinoma and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Ten postoperative complications occurred with an incidence of 39.3%(68/173), and hypopotassemia showed the highest incidence(33.8%, 23/68). One hundred and sixteen patients underwent non-surgical treatments, including anti-infection, symptomatic and supportive treatments. The cure rate was 97.1%(168/173) in the surgical group and 87.1%(101/116) in the non-surgical group. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant(χ2 = 17.227, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Active treatment of coexisting diseases, management of indications and surgical opportunities, appropriate selection of surgical procedures, improvements in perioperative therapy, and timely management of postoperative complications are key factors in enhancing therapeutic efficacy in elderly patients with biliary diseases.

Ischemic or toxic injury: A challenging diagnosis and treatment of drug-induced stenosis of the sigmoid colon

A 48-year-old woman was admitted with 15-mo history of abdominal pain, diarrhea and hematochezia, and 5-mo history of defecation difficulty. She had been successively admitted to nine hospitals, with an initial diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease with stenotic sigmoid colon. Findings from computed tomography virtual colonoscopy, radiography with meglumine diatrizoate, endoscopic balloon dilatation, metallic stent implantation and later overall colonoscopy, coupled with the newfound knowledge of compound Qingdai pill-taking, led to a subsequent diagnosis of ischemic or toxic bowel disease with sigmoid colon stenosis. The patient was successfully treated by laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy, and postoperative pathological examination revealed ischemic or toxic injury of the sigmoid colon, providing a final diagnosis of druginduced sigmoid colon stenosis. This case highlights that adequate awareness of drug-induced colon stenosis has a decisive role in avoiding misdiagnosis and mistreatment. The diagnostic and therapeutic experiences learnt from this case suggest that endoscopic balloon expansion and colonic metallic stent implantation as bridge treatments were demonstrated as crucial for the differential diagnosis of benign colonic stenosis. Skillful surgical technique and appropriate perioperative management helped to ensure the safety of our patient in subsequent surgery after long-term use of glucocorticoids.

Therapeutic experience of an 89-year-old high-risk patient with incarcerated cholecystolithiasis:A case report and literature review

BACKGROUND The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia poses a particular challenge to the emergency surgical treatment of elderly patients with high-risk acute abdominal diseases.Elderly patients are a high-risk group for surgical treatment.If the incarceration of gallstones cannot be relieved,emergency surgery is unavoidable.CASE SUMMARY We report an 89-year-old male patient with acute gangrenous cholecystitis and septic shock induced by incarcerated cholecystolithiasis.He had several coexisting,high-risk underlying diseases,had a history of radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer,and was taking aspirin before the operation.Nevertheless,he underwent emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy,with maintenance of postoperative heart and lung function,successfully recovered,and was discharged on day 8 after the operation.CONCLUSION Emergency surgery for elderly patients with acute abdominal disease is safe and feasible during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic,the key is to abide strictly by the hospital's epidemic prevention regulations,fully implement the epidemic prevention procedure for emergency surgery,fully prepare before the operation,accurately perform the operation,and carefully manage the patient postoperatively.

Critical values of monitoring indexes for perioperative major adverse cardiac events in elderly patients with biliary diseases

BACKGROUND Major adverse cardiac events(MACE) in elderly patients with biliary diseases are the main cause of perioperative accidental death, but no widely recognized quantitative monitoring index of perioperative cardiac function so far.AIM To investigate the critical values of monitoring indexes for perioperative MACE in elderly patients with biliary diseases.METHODS The clinical data of 208 elderly patients with biliary diseases in our hospital from May 2016 to April 2021 were retrospectively analysed. According to whether MACE occurred during the perioperative period, they were divided into the MACE group and the non-MACE group.RESULTS In the MACE compared with the non-MACE group, postoperative complications, mortality, hospital stay, high sensitivity troponin-Ⅰ(Hs-TnI), creatine kinase isoenzyme(CK-MB), myoglobin(MYO), B-type natriuretic peptide(BNP), and Ddimer(D-D) levels were significantly increased(P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression showed that postoperative BNP and D-D were independent risk factors for perioperative MACE, and their cut-off values in the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve were 382.65 pg/mL and 0.965 mg/L, respectively.CONCLUSION The postoperative BNP and D-D were independent risk factors for perioperative MACE, with the critical values of 382.65 pg/mL and 0.965 mg/L respectively. Consequently, timely monitoring and effective maintenance of perioperative cardiac function stability are of great clinical significance to further improve the perioperative safety of elderly patients with biliary diseases.

Current Status of Surgical Treatment of Biliary Diseases in Elderly Patients in China

To the Editor： According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics in October 1999, the population aged ≥60 years reached 10% of the total population, indicating that China was entering into an aging society, By the end of 2017, the population aged ≥60 years was 240,900,000, accounting for 17.3% of the total population. With the rapidly aging population, binary diseases in elderly patients have become frequent in China, with a morbidity rate of 8-11%. Due to lowered stress response, defense ability, and immunity, biliary diseases in elderly patients are characterized by an increase in coexisting diseases, rapid progression, poor surgical tolerance, high surgical risk, frequent postoperative complications, and high mortality. Thus, it is important to explore effective treatment methods in elderly patients with biliary diseases. Based on our clinical experience in the treatment of elderly patients with biliary diseases,[1] along with previous studies, this report presented the current status of surgical treatment of elderly patients with biliary diseases in China.[2]