Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background: Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods: The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results: A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion: Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

Gallbladder

Malignant hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB) tumors attack more often the sixth to eighth decades of life. The aging of the world population is the reason that the number of elderly patients considered for resection of malignant HPB tumors has highly increased. Since elderly patients are more likely to have more co-morbidities, cognitive impairment, and decreased life expectancy, the benefit and appropriateness of these procedures must be scrutinized for geriatric patients. However, many surgeons have compared the perioperative and long-term outcome of hepatic and pancreatic resections for elderly and younger patients. In most cases the elderly population was above 70 years of age. The results demonstrate that hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal liver metastases can be safely performed in well-selected elderly patients with long-term outcome comparable to younger patients. Similar findings are also reported for pancreatic resection in elderly patients with either ampullary or pancreatic cancer. Even though the survival benefit of pancreatico-duodenectomy is limited in all age groups, the absence of competitive therapy justifies this procedure as the sole curative option in younger as well as older patients. Data on resection of gallbladder cancer and hilar bile duct cancer in the elderly are sparse, but there is proof from large series on resection of these types of tumors that advanced age per se is not a risk factor for reduced outcome. Therefore, surgical options should not be denied to elderly patients with a malignant HPB tumor, and the evaluation should include surgeons expert in HPB surgery. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Determination of Factors Related to the Reversal and Perioperative Outcomes of Defunctioning Ileostomies in Patients Undergoing Rectal Cancer Surgery: A Regression Analysis Model

Purpose: Defunctioning ileostomies are often performed during rectal cancer surgery. However, stomas are sometimes associated with complications, while 20–30% of them are never reversed. Additionally, ileostomy closure can have associated morbidity, with rates as high as 45%, with the respective literature evidence being scarce and conflicting. Thus, we evaluated the stoma reversal outcomes and the risk factors for non-closure after rectal cancer surgery. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database of all patients who had a defunctioning ileostomy at the time of resection for rectal cancer. All operations were performed by the same surgical team. A multivariable regression model was implemented. Results: In this study, 129 patients (male: 68.2%, female: 31.8%) were included. Ileostomy formation was associated with a total of 31% complication rate. Eventually 73.6% of the stomas were reversed at a mean time to closure of 26.6 weeks, with a morbidity of 13.7%. Non-reversal of ileostomy was correlated with neoadjuvant CRT (OR: 0.093, 95% CI: 0.012–0.735), anastomotic leakage (OR: 0.107, 95% CI: 0.019–0.610), and lymph node yield (OR: 0.946, 95% CI: 0.897–0.998). Time to reversal was affected by the N status, the LNR, the need for adjuvant chemotherapy, and the histologic grade. Conclusion: In patients with rectal cancer resections, defunctioning stoma closure rate and time to closure were associated with several perioperative and pathological outcomes. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Laparoscopic Versus Open Right Colectomy for Cancer in the Era of Complete Mesocolic Excision with Central Vascular Ligation: Pathology and Short-Term Outcomes

Background: Colectomies performed according to complete mesocolic excision with central vascular ligation (CME-CVL) principles have been associated with enhanced oncologic outcomes. Nonetheless, laparoscopic CME-CVL right hemicolectomy has not been widely adopted. We aimed to compare the perioperative and pathology outcomes of laparoscopic and open CME-CVL right hemicolectomy. Materials and Methods: We compared data from a prospectively collected database regarding patients who underwent either laparoscopic or open CME-CVL right hemicolectomy for nonmetastatic right colon cancer in a University Hospital, between January 2012 and December 2018. Results: A total of 130 consecutive patients were included in the study. Of them, 73 patients underwent laparoscopic and 57 patients open right colectomy, following the CME-CVL principles. The laparoscopic approach was associated with less hospital stay (6.6 versus 9.1 days; P .05), rate of vascular (P = .501), and perineural infiltration (P = .956). Furthermore, no difference was found regarding the rate of intact mesocolic plane (P = .799), along with the tumor diameter (P = .154) and the length of specimen (P = .163). Conclusion: Laparoscopic CME-CVL right hemicolectomy appears to offer certain advantages in short-term outcomes compared to open procedure. Pathology outcomes did not differ between the two approaches. Future studies should further evaluate their long-term outcomes. © Copyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2021

Perioperative radiotherapy versus surgery alone for retroperitoneal sarcomas: A systematic review and meta-analysis

There is no clear evidence on whether radiotherapy (RT) improves treatment result in patients with retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS). A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus and CENTRAL databases. Data were retrieved from published comparatives studies in patients with RPS undergoing surgery alone or RT plus surgery. The primary endpoints were the 5-year OS and the median OS. The secondary endpoints were the recurrence-free survival (RFS) and the R0-resection rate. Continuous outcomes were calculated by means of weighted mean difference (WMD). Ten out of 374 articles were analyzed. The median OS and the 5-year survival were significantly increased in patients treated with RT and surgery, compared to patients treated with surgery alone (p < 0.00001, p < 0.001). Median RFS was significantly increased in patients treated with either preoperative (p < 0.001) or postoperative (p = 0.001) RT compared to patients that underwent surgery alone. Finally, median R0-resection rate was similar between the two groups (p = 0.56). RT along with radical surgery could be the standard of care in at least a subgroup of patients with RPS. © 2020 2020 Alexandros Diamantis, Ioannis Baloyiannis, Dimitrios E. Magouliotis, Maria Tolia, Dimitrios Symeonidis, Effrosyni Bompou, Georgios Polymeneas, Konstantinos Tepetes, published by Sciendo

Perioperative radiotherapy versus surgery alone for retroperitoneal sarcomas: A systematic review and meta-analysis

There is no clear evidence on whether radiotherapy (RT) improves treatment result in patients with retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS). A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus and CENTRAL databases. Data were retrieved from published comparatives studies in patients with RPS undergoing surgery alone or RT plus surgery. The primary endpoints were the 5-year OS and the median OS. The secondary endpoints were the recurrence-free survival (RFS) and the R0-resection rate. Continuous outcomes were calculated by means of weighted mean difference (WMD). Ten out of 374 articles were analyzed. The median OS and the 5-year survival were significantly increased in patients treated with RT and surgery, compared to patients treated with surgery alone (p &lt; 0.00001, p &lt; 0.001). Median RFS was significantly increased in patients treated with either preoperative (p &lt; 0.001) or postoperative (p = 0.001) RT compared to patients that underwent surgery alone. Finally, median R0-resection rate was similar between the two groups (p = 0.56). RT along with radical surgery could be the standard of care in at least a subgroup of patients with RPS. © 2020 2020 Alexandros Diamantis, Ioannis Baloyiannis, Dimitrios E. Magouliotis, Maria Tolia, Dimitrios Symeonidis, Effrosyni Bompou, Georgios Polymeneas, Konstantinos Tepetes, published by Sciendo