Background: Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (SEP) is a rare cause of acute abdomen and can be easily misdiagnosed. Preoperative diagnosis of the SEP can be performed with preoperative imaging studies. We aimed to evaluate the clinical features of ileus cases who were diagnosed with primary or secondary SEP in the last five years. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the patients who were admitted with ileus or acute abdomen symptoms to the Emergency Department of Elazığ Training and Research Hospital and underwent surgery by the same surgical team of General Surgery Department between January 2014 and January 2019. Patients who were diagnosed with primary or secondary SEP were included. The demographic data, clinical presentation, whether the disease was primary or secondary, the treatment options performed and mortality rates were evaluated. Results: SEP was observed in 11 of the patients. Ten patients underwent surgery (90.9%), and one patient (9.1%) was treated conservatively. Of the patients, six had secondary SEP (54.5%) and five had primary SEP (45.5%). In total, five patients were female (45.5%) and six were male (54.5%). The median age of the patients was 35 years (24–69). The median age of the patients with primary disease was 48 (29–69) years, while the median age of patients with secondary disease was 34.5 (24–64) years. One patient expired in the postoperative 8th hour. Conclusion: SEP should be considered in the case of recurrent abdominal pain attacks, especially in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis, and it should be known that the mortality rate is high when misdiagnosed.

Although appendectomy is still a curative therapy for acute appendicitis, medical treatment has come to the fore in uncomplicated cases. This study aimed to determine the importance of immature granulocyte (IG) count and percentage for the role of medical treatment success in uncomplicated acute appendicitis. Acute appendicitis cases were prospectively registered between July 2019 and April 2020. Using ball drawing, patients were divided into two groups as medical treatment (Group M) and undergo appendectomy (Group A). Group M was divided into two subgroups as those who responded to medical treatment medically responded (MR) and failed medical treatment (MF) within 24 h of follow-up. Changes in IG count and percentage, C-reactive protein levels, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, and white blood cell count between initial administration and 24th h of follow-up were examined. Sixty-four patients who met the inclusion criteria were followed as 31 patients in Group A and 33 in Group M. At Sub-group MF 11 patients and Subgroup MR 22 patients were followed up. At the 24th h of the follow-up, the IG count and percentage were higher in the Group MF (for IG count: Between Group A and MF, p=0.002; between Group A and Group MR, p=0.111; and between Group MR and MF, p<0.001) (for IG percentage: Between Group A and MF, p=0.001; between Group A and MR, p=0.809; and between Group MF and MR, p=0.001). This decrease in the IG count and percentage suggests that the response to medical treatment was effective [for IG count: F (148.862) = 61, p≤0.001, η2=0.707] [for IG percentage: F (10.157) = 0.252, p≤0.001, η2=0.504]. IG count and percentage are effective for evaluating the success of medical treatment of uncomplicated acute ap-pendicitis and they guide in the decision to continue medical treatment of uncomplicated acute appendicitis.

Background: Morbid obesity surgery and related complications have increased with time. Aim: To evaluate the relationship between perioperative complications before discharge and preoperative body mass index and obesity surgery mortality score in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Method: 1617 patients who met the inclusion criteria were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were examined in terms of demographic data, presence of comorbidities, whether there were complications or not, type of complications and obesity surgery mortality score. Results: Complications were seen in 40 patients (2.5%) and mortality wasn’t seen in the early postoperative period before discharge. The mean age of patients with complications was 36.3±10.02 years (19-57) and without complications 34.12±9.54 (15-64) years. The preoperative mean BMI values of patients with and without complications were 45.05±3.93 (40-57) kg/m2 and 44.8±3.49 (35-67) kg/m2 respectively. According to BMI groups 40-45 kg/m2, 45-50 kg/m2 and 50 and over, there was not any statistical significance seen in three groups in terms of complication positivity and major-minor complication rates. There was not any statistical significance seen between the patients with and without major-minor complications and obesity surgery mortality score. Conclusion: There was not any relation between perioperative laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy complication rates before discharge and BMI and obesity surgery mortality scores.

AIM: Immature granulocytes show bone marrow activation before neutrophil response and there are studies in the literature showing that the number of immature granulocytes is an auxiliary marker in the diagnosis and treatment of different diseases. The Delta Neutrophil Index (DNI), Immature Granulocyte Count (IGC) have previously been studied as markers in thyroid and breast cancers. The aim of this study was to determine whether immature granulocyte IGC and DNI values measured in preoperative blood parameters have a diagnostic benefit for the detection of advanced colon cancer. METHODS: A study was conducted on patients who had undergone selective operation for colon cancer in our clinic from February 2015 to February 2020. The patients were divided into two groups: early stage (stage I–III) and advanced stage (stage IV) colon cancer. The IGC and DNI values as well as other hematological parameters, demographic parameters (sex, age) in these two groups were compared. RESULTS: A total of 43 patients with mean age 67.47 (35–96) years were included in the study. Eighteen of the patients were male and 25 were female. When the early stage and advanced stage colon cancer groups were compared, no statistically significant difference was found between age, sex, white blood cell count, lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio, eosinophil count, basophil count, mean platelet volume and: systemic immune-inflammation index score. It was observed that platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, IGC and DNI or Immature Granulocyte Percentage (IGP) values were statistically significantly higher in the metastatic colon cancer group compared to the non-metastatic group. When the specificity and sensitivity of laboratory markers in metastatic colon cancer were examined, it was observed that the specificity and sensitivity of DNI or IGP and IGC were statistically higher than other values. CONCLUSIONS: DNI, IGC and PLR values, which are the parameters measured in the preoperative period are easily measurable laboratory parameters and do not involve additional costs in differentiating metastatic from non-metastatic colon cancer in the preoperative period.

Background/aim: Caudal epidural steroid injection (CESI) has been increasingly used for treating lower back pain. However, there is still significant controversy about the efficacy and safety of different imaging techniques used to guide CESI. In this context, the objective of this study is to compare the efficacies of fluoroscopy- and ultrasonography-guided CESI in patients with chronic lower back pain. Materials and methods: The population of this retrospective, observational study consisted of all consecutive patients who underwent CESI for lower back pain between 2018 and 2020. Of the 371 patients included in the study sample, 192 had undergone fluoroscopy- guided CESI (Group F) and 179 ultrasonography-guided CESI (Group U). Patients' pain and functional statuses were evaluated using the visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) immediately before (baseline) and after the procedure (postintervention day 0-D0), during the second week (D15), the first month (D30), and the third month (D90) after the procedure. Results: The mean age of Group F was significantly higher than that of Group U (p < 0.001). The number of patients with lumbar disc hernia was significantly higher in Group U, whereas the number of patients with spinal stenosis and lumbar disc hernia + spinal/lumbar stenosis was significantly higher in Group F (p = 0.001). The baseline and D0 ODI scores were significantly lower in Group U than in Group F (p = 0.006 and p = 0.017, respectively). There was no significant difference between the groups in other VAS and ODI scores (p > 0.05). Intragroup analyses revealed significant reductions in VAS and ODI scores over the follow-up period till D30 compared to the baseline scores in each group (p < 0.001). The decrease recorded in the ODI score between the D15 and baseline measurements was significantly higher in Group F than in Group U (p = 0.006). Conclusion: The CESI was as effective as fluoroscopy-guided CESI in treating chronic lower back pain.