Postoperative intestinal fistula in primary advanced ovarian cancer surgery

Abstract Background: Advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) requires an aggressive surgery with large visceral resections in order to achieve an optimal or complete cytoreduction and increase the patient's survival. However, the surgical aggressiveness in the treatment of AOC is not exempt from major complications, such as the gastrointestinal fistula (GIF), which stands out among others due to its high morbidity and mortality. Methods: We evaluated the clinicopathological features in patients with AOC and their association with GI. Data for 107 patients with AOC who underwent primary debulking surgery were analyzed retrospectively. Clinicopathological features, including demographic, surgical procedures and follow-up data, were analyzed in relation to GIF. Results: GIF was present in 11% of patients in the study, 5 (4.5%) and 7 (6.4%) of colorectal and small bowel origin, respectively. GIF was significantly associated with peritoneal cancer index (PCI) >20, more than 2 visceral resections, and multiple digestive resections. Overall and disease-free survival were also associated with GIF. Multivariate analysis identified partial bowel obstruction and operative bleeding as independent prognos- tic factors for survival. The presence of GIF is positively associated with poor prognosis in patients with AOC. Conclusion: Given the importance of successful cytoreductive surgery in AOC, the assess- ment of the amount of tumor and the aggressiveness of the surgery to avoid the occurrence of GIF become a priority in patients with AOC

Preliminary considerations of the status of elasmobranchs in the Italian waters

Few stock assessments of elasmobranchs have been conducted in the Mediterranean due to the lack of available detailed and precise information. In recent years, in the Mediterranean Sea a major concern on the status of this group does exist and consequently scientists and managers have paid a major attention on the collection of data of fisheries in which they are involved as by-catch, on the impact of different fishing techniques, and on management issues aiming at reducing undesired removals. Information on landings for the more important species is now available in some Mediterranean countries but time series are still too short. Data on age structure of catches is often partial and does not regard all the fisheries in which the species are involved making difficult the reconstruction of the demographic structure of the commercial catches. So far such difficulties made almost impossible the use of age-based analytical models or surplus production models for stock assessment. Recently, stock assessments using simple approaches suitable for data poor stocks were performed for Raja asterias and Raja clavata, Scyliorhinus canicula and Galeus melastomus in the GFCM-GSA9. R. asterias is caught especially by trawlers fleet segments targeting flat fish (15-100 m of depth). R. clavata and S. canicula are in general part of the by-catch of a fishery operating at deeper waters (about 100-200 m) mainly targeting Parapenaeus longirostris, Eledone cirrhosa and Merluccius merluccius. G. melastomus is mainly found in the depth range 200-1200 m and is exclusively caught with bottom trawlers. It constitutes an important by-catch fraction of the Nephrops norvegicus fishery (250-500 m of depth) and the deep-sea shrimps fishery

La qualita' delle acque marine costiere in Toscana

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7 , Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

MEDLEM database, a data collection on large Elasmobranchs in the Mediterranean and Black seas

The Mediterranean Large Elasmobranchs Monitoring (MEDLEM) database contains over 3000 records (more than 4000 individuals) of large elasmobranch species from 20 different countries around the Mediterranean and Black seas, observed from 1666 to 2017. The main species included in the archive are the devil fish (1 813 individuals), the basking shark (939 individuals), the blue shark (585 individuals) and the great white shark (337 individuals). In the last decades other species such as the shortfin mako (166 individuals), the spiny butterfly ray (138) and the thresher shark (174 individuals) were reported with an increasing frequency. This was possibly due to an increased public awareness on the conservation status of sharks, and a consequent development of new monitoring programmes. MEDLEM does not have a homogeneous reporting coverage throughout the Mediterranean and Black seas and it should be considered as a database of observed species presence. Scientific monitoring efforts in the south-eastern Mediterranean and Black seas are generally lower than in the northern sectors and the absence in our database of some species does not imply their actual absence in these regions. Some considerations are made on the frequency and spatial distribution of records, size structure of the observed individuals for selected species, general area coverage and species involved as by-catch by fishing gear