Care of an acutely ill parturient is particularly difficult when we have to balance the needs of both mother and the fetus to survive. The literature suggests there should be emphasis on stabilising the mother's condition. In dealing with metabolic acidosis, however, we believe delivering the baby early might not only relieve the threat of the acidosis on the mother, it may be the only way to deliver a live baby. We report two parturient women with severe metabolic acidosis which was considerably reduced very soon after the delivery and how our timely delivery resulted in the birth of two neurologically intact babies.
Intrahepatic stones remain a major source of morbidity and mortality. With improving techniques in hepatobiliary surgery, the management and the outcome of intrahepatic calculi is reviewed. Forty-nine cases referred from all over Malaysia between January 1993 to June 1996 were analyzed retrospectively. There were thirty-two females and seventeen males. The median age was 46 years. Biliary diseases encountered in association with intrahepatic calculi included benign strictures (n = 14), ascariasis (n = 3), cholangiocarcinoma (n = 1), Caroli's disease (n = 1), and thalassaemia, (n = 1), fifty-six percent of stones were located in both the intrahepatic ducts while 34% were found in the left intrahepatic duct. Thirty-one patients underwent common bile duct exploration either alone or in combination with liver resection or bilioenteric anastomosis. Despite the various combinations of surgical and non-surgical intervention 28 (57.1%) patients had residual stones. Despite the availability of newer techniques in hepatobiliary surgery, residual stones were common, resulting in higher treatment costs.
Gall stone is responsible for about 1% of total small bowel obstruction, 1.2 and recurrent gall stone ileus is even more unusual. 3 Gall stone ileus is caused by the impaction of the stone in bowel lumen. It was first described in a patient examined at autopsy by Bartholin in 1654. This paper based on unusual recurrent intestinal obstructions by a gall stone. The patient presented with large bowel obstruction and it was due to a large gall stone impacted in the pelvic colon. Four months later the same patient presented with small bowel obstruction due to large gall stone impacted in the terminal part of the ileum at 61 cms from the ileo-caecal valve. Gall stone obstruction of the colon is one of the rare complications. This rare complication usually occurs in elderly females' in whom there is frequently an underlying pathological condition at the site of obstruction in the colon. The calculus usually migrates through a cholecysto-colonic fistula in case of large bowel obstruction. In case of a small bowel obstruction the calculus usually migrates through a cholecysto-duodenal fistula. Diagnosis can be established by plain X-rays of the abdomen where there is gas shadow in the biliary system, sometimes the gall stone can be seen if it is radio opague (10-16% gall stone is radio opaque) at the site of obstruction. Otherwise diagnosis is always
made at laparotomy.
We report three cases of Mirizzi syndrome, two with external compression of the common hepatic duct and another with cystobiliary fistula. All patients presented with jaundice. The diagnosis was suggested by ultrasonography and confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC). All three had the stones removed surgically, one through a choledochotomy, another through an opening in the gall bladder and the third at the time of subtotal cholecystectomy. We would like to propose a simple classification of Mirizzi syndrome, based on surgical procedures necessary for the correction of the pathological anatomy. If it involves the removal of calculi with some form of cholecystectomy, we consider it as Type I, whereas Type II involves the construction of a hepaticojejunostomy apart from the removal of calculi.
There is very little information in literature describing ethnic variations in etiologic and clinical outcome of acute pancreatitis in the Asian population. This study describes the demographic, etiologic and clinical course of acute pancreatitis among the three main races in Malaysia namely, the Malays, Chinese and Indians. One hundred and thirty-three consecutive patients were admitted for acute pancreatitis for the period January 1994 to July 1999 and they consisted of 77 males and 56 females with a mean age of 43.5 years (SD+/- 14.7). The racial breakdown of acute pancreatitis was: Malays 38 (28.6%), Chinese 19 (14.3%), Indians 75 (56.4%) and 1 (0.8%) patient was an orang asli. The incidence of alcohol association with acute pancreatitis was significantly increased in the males, while gallstone pancreatitis was principally a disease of the female. Alcohol was identified as the predominant factor associated with acute pancreatitis among the Indians (73.3%) and in contrast, gallstone was the commonest associated etiologic factor for the Malays and Chinese. No etiologic factor could be identified in a substantial proportion of the Malay patients (60.5%) when compared to the Chinese (36.8%) and Indians (35%). Severe disease developed in 25% of the cases reviewed but there was no difference in of the rate of severe pancreatitis in terms of ethnic groupings or etiologic factors. The overall mortality rate was 7.5% and the commonest cause of death was multi-organ failure. The study recognises that there are differences in the characteristics of acute pancreatitis among the three major races in the country and this divergence is primarily due to sociocultural habits.