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Tebessum Cakir

Publications and source records attributed to Tebessum Cakir.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Safe Veress needle insertion.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: For laparoscopic surgery, the creation of pneumoperitoneum still remains a must. The insertion of a Veress needle or a trocar is never perfectly safe, and almost every kind of intraabdominal organ injury due to these insertions has been reported worldwide. Here, we describe a safe technique for creating pneumoperitoneum. METHODS: For the creation of pneumoperitoneum, under direct vision, the linea alba was elevated with two towel clips and then the Veress needle was inserted. We reviewed 368 patients operated on with this technique for complication rates. Ultrasound images were obtained before and during abdominal-wall lifting in 10 patients. RESULTS: There were no injuries due to the insertion of the Veress needle or trocars. In 90% of the patients, pneumoperitoneum was created successfully on the first attempt. Ultrasound examination demonstrated a mean extra safe area of 11.8 mm during abdominal-wall lifting with this technique. CONCLUSIONS: Elevating the linea alba during Veress-needle insertion is safe.

Abdominal Wall↗

Enterostomy site hernias: a clinical and computerized tomographic evaluation.

PURPOSE: Parastomal hernia continues to be an important clinical problem with a reported incidence of up to 50 percent. In studies using computerized tomography in selected cases for detection of parastomal hernia, physical examination alone was underestimating the true incidence. Also after closure of the enterostomy, the ostomy site could still be a potential area of herniation. In this study in addition to physical examination, we used computerized tomography to determine the true incidence of parastomal hernia and ostomy closure site hernias. METHODS: We examined patients with enterostomies and with closed enterostomy sites both with physical examination and computerized tomography for the detection of hernias, hernia content, and relation to rectus muscles. Risk factors for hernia formation, such as age, gender, body mass index, associated medical problems, and surgical site infections, were determined. RESULTS: Evaluation of 23 patients with ostomies resulted in 52 percent incidence of parastomal hernia, whereas the addition of tomography examination gave a corrected incidence of 78 percent. In a second subset of 23 patients with closed ostomies, although 26 percent of the patients were found to have ostomy site hernias with physical examination alone, this incidence increased to 48 percent when combined with computerized tomography. The potential risk factors for hernia formation, such as body mass index, surgical site infection, and ostomy site whether pararectus or transrectus, were not proven to have a significant role in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Parastomal hernia and closed ostomy site incisional hernias have a high incidence, and computerized tomography has been shown to be a valuable diagnostic tool.

Enterostomy↗

Factors related to post-treatment chronic pain in breast cancer survivors: the interference of pain with life functions.

The frequency and the intensity of chronic pain, as well as the related factors, were assessed in a cohort of breast cancer patients. The life functions were also questioned in patients who have post-treatment chronic pain. The scope of this retrospective study was a cohort of surgically-treated breast cancer patients with unilateral early stage disease who were under regular follow-up. Patients were eligible if they completed their treatments at least 6 months before and were free of disease. Patients who had a previous history of chronic pain syndrome, chronic debilitating disease, psychiatric diagnosis, and other cancers were excluded. All data regarding their demographics and treatments were recorded. Chronic pain was defined as the pain at treatment-related regions for a duration of at least three months after completion of treatment. Turkish version of "Brief Pain Inventory (Short Form)" was given to the patients with chronic pain in order to assess their pain intensity and life functions. The factors related to chronic pain were compared between patients with and without chronic pain. Eighty-five eligible female patients were included in the study. Thirty-nine (46%) patients declared that they had chronic pain. The mean VAS scale score was 4.1 +/- 2.4 cm in these patients. The mean age of patients with chronic pain (54.3 +/- 12.6 years) was significantly less than that of the ones without pain (60.4 +/- 13.6 years; p = 0.035). Radiotherapy was found to be significantly related to chronic pain (p=0.049; OR: 2.60; 95% CI 1.07-6.30). The VAS scores were 1.5 +/- 2.7 cm, 1.9 +/- 3.2 cm, 1.3 +/- 2.7 cm, 0.9 +/- 2.5 cm for general activity, mood, relations with other people, and sleep, respectively. Although almost half of the early stage breast cancer patients experienced post-treatment chronic pain, they rated the intensity of their pain as mild to moderate. Younger age and receiving radiotherapy were found to be significant contributing factors. The interference of post-treatment chronic pain with life functions was small. Overall, mood was found to be the most affected life function among all.

Activities of Daily Living↗