Rectus sheath haematoma is increasingly being seen in patients with anticoagulation therapy. Abdominal compartment syndrome is a rare complication of rectus sheath haematoma with only two cases reported in literature. The authors report a case of a young male who developed abdominal compartment syndrome from a rectus sheath haematoma secondary to anticoagulation therapy. The case highlights the need for a surgical intervention in such exceptional cases.

INTRODUCTION: Long term survivors of breast cancer are at risk of developing distant metastasis years after the initial treatment. We report a case of breast adenocarcinoma with colonic polyp metastases, as well as synchronous primary colonic adenocarcinoma and a gastric GIST. PRESENTATION OF CASE: An 83 year old female underwent colonoscopy for rectal bleeding. This showed a primary colonic adenocarcinoma, a pedunculated polyp in the ascending colon and two polyps in the sigmoid colon. A staging CT scan did not show distant metastasis, but revealed a small gastric GIST which was managed conservatively. A right hemicolectomy showed a T3N0 colonic adenocarcinoma and a polyp contained metastatic adenocarcinoma from a breast primary. The patient had undergone surgery 30 years ago for an invasive lobular carcinoma. Further clinical assessment demonstrated an impalpable grade II Invasive ductal carcinoma in the contralateral breast. She was started on hormonal treatment and at 18 months follow-up, she was well with stable disease. DISCUSSION: Invasive lobular cancer is the most common histological type of breast cancer that metastasizes to the colon. There is no consensus on the management of breast cancer metastasis to the gastrointestinal tract. Co-existence of a GIST and an adenocarcinoma at two separate locations is uncommon. These are two different cancer entities and it is unclear whether these two are related by as causal relationship. CONCLUSION: This is a rare case of three distinct tumours; association between them is unlikely. However, the case highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment.

Emergency laparotomy is a commonly performed high-mortality surgical procedure. The National Emergency Laparotomy Network (NELA) published an average mortality rate of 11.1% and a median length of stay equivalent to 16.3 days in patients undergoing emergency laparotomy. This study presents a completed audit loop after implementing the change of increasing the number of on-call surgeons in the general surgery rota of a university hospital. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of emergency laparotomy in a single UK tertiary centre after addition of one more consultant in the daily on-call rota. This is a retrospective study involving patients who underwent emergency laparotomy between March to May 2013 (first audit) and June to August 2015 (second audit). The study parameters stayed the same. The adult patients undergoing emergency laparotomy under the general surgical take were included. Appendicectomy, cholecystectomy and simple inguinal hernia repair patients were excluded. Data was collected on patient demographics, ASA, morbidity, 30-day mortality and length of hospital stay. Statistical analysis including logistic regression was performed using SPSS. During the second 3-month period, 123 patients underwent laparotomy compared to 84 in the first audit. Median age was 65(23-93) years. 56.01% cases were ASA III or above in the re-audit compared to 41.9% in the initial audit. 38% patients had bowel anastomosis compared to 35.7% in the re-audit with 4.2% leak rate in the re-audit compared to 16.6% in the first audit. 30-day mortality was 10.50% in the re-audit compared to 21% and median length of hospital stay 11 days in the re-audit compared to 16 days. The lower ASA grade was significantly associated with increased likelihood of being alive, as was being female, younger age and not requiring ITU admission post-operatively. However, having a second on-call consultant was 2.231 times more likely to increase the chances of patients not dying (p = 0.031). Our audit-loop suggests that adding a second consultant to the daily on-call rota significantly reduces postoperative mortality and morbidity. Age, ASA and ITU admission are other independent factors affecting patient outcomes. We suggest this change be applied to other high volume centres across the country to improve the outcomes after emergency laparotomy.

Endoscopically deployed biliary stents are a well established method for dealing with biliary diseases. Perforation of the gut secondary to migrated biliary stent is reported in less than 1% cases. The authors present the first case of a colonic perforation from migrated biliary stent which was managed endoscopically. An 82-year-old female had a biliary stent for a postcholecystectomy bile leak and presented 6 months later with left iliac fossa pain. Barium enema showed a stent perforating the sigmoid colon. In view of the patient’s frailty and absence of peritonitis, an endoscopic retrieval of stent was attempted. Flexible sigmoidoscopy showed a stent partially embedded within the sigmoid diverticulum which was successfully removed and the defect was closed endoscopically using three titanium clips. She had an uncomplicated recovery following the procedure and was discharged home on the second day following the procedure.

A 47-year-old man presented with sudden onset of severe, generalised abdominal pain and collapse. He also had a 4-month history of lethargy and weight loss. On examination he was shocked with a distended tender abdomen. He had haemoglobin of 3.8 g/dl and a white cell count count of 280.3×10⁹/l with predominance of neutrophils. Arterial gases showed mixed metabolic-respiratory acidosis. A CT scan of abdomen showed active extravasation in splenic bed. In view of probable hyperviscosity syndrome, it was decided to attempt an angiographic embolisation. This was successfully carried out but 4 h later, he developed abdominal compartment syndrome and underwent a laparotomy and splenectomy. Subsequently, bone marrow aspirates were taken which showed granulocytic hyperplasia. Cytogenetic studies confirmed the presence of Philadelphia Chromosome and he was started on Imatinib. It is now 5 months since diagnosis and he has achieved complete haematological and cytogenetic response.