Incidence and Impact of Variant Celiacomesenteric Vascularization and Vascular Stenosis on Pancreatic Surgery Outcomes: Personal Experience

: Ischemic complications after pancreatic surgery can raise postoperative mortality from 4 to 83 per cent. Variants in vascular anatomy play a major role in determining such complications, but they have been only occasionally reported in the literature. We retrospectively analyzed 100 records of patients consecutively treated between January 2011 and December 2013 for resectable malignant diseases who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or total pancreatectomy to state the statistical impact of anatomical vascular variations in surgical outcomes (mean surgical timing, mean blood loss during surgery, and postoperative major complications onset) and to state whether preoperatively undetected vascular anomalies (VA) can raise the risk of postoperative ischemic complications. PD was performed in 89 patients, requiring multiorgan resections in three cases and total pancreatectomy was performed in 11 cases, which was associated to splenectomy in four patients. Incidence of VA was 25/100 (25%), whereas in 18/25 cases (72%) they were detected by preoperative radiologic setting. Their presence in patients undergoing PD significantly raised mean surgical timing (P = 0.003) and increased mean blood loss (P < 0.0001). Preoperatively undetected VA resulted in a major risk of postoperative acute liver ischemia (P = 0.008). Celiacomesenteric aberrant anatomy was proven to be related to an increased risk of intraoperative complications. If undetected preoperatively, they can be associated with anastomotic complications and liver failure. Maximal efforts must be done to detect and to preserve vascular anatomy of celiacomesenteric district

Open versus minimally invasive surgery for rectal cancer: a single-center cohort study on 237 consecutive patients

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is gaining popularity in rectal tumor treatment. However, contrasting data are available regarding its safety and efficacy. Our aim is to compare the open and MIS approaches for rectal cancer treatment. Two-hundred-thirty-seven patients were included: 113 open and 124 MIS rectal resections. After the propensity score matching analysis (PS), the cases were matched into 42 open and 42 MIS. Short- and long-term outcomes, and pathological findings were analyzed before and after PS. A further comparison of the same outcomes and costs was conducted between the laparoscopic and the robotic approaches. As a whole, a sphincter-preserving procedure was more frequently performed in the MIS group (110 vs 75 cases; p < 0.0001). The estimated blood loss during MIS was significantly lower than during open surgery [127 (\ub1 92) vs 242 (\ub1 122) mL; p < 0.0001], with clear advantages for the robotic approach over laparoscopy [113 (\ub1 87) vs 147 (\ub1 93) mL; p 0.01]. Complication rate was comparable between the two groups. A higher rate of CRM positivity was evidenced after open surgery (12.4% vs 1.7%; p 0.004). A higher number of lymph nodes was harvested in the MIS group [12.5 (\ub1 6.4) vs 11 (\ub1 5.6); p 0.04]. After PS, no difference in terms of perioperative outcomes was noted, with the only exception of a higher blood loss in the open approach [242 (\ub1 122) vs 127 (\ub1 92) mL; p < 0.0001]. For the matched cases, no difference in 5-year overall and disease-free survival was evidenced (p 0.50 and 0.88, respectively). Mean costs were higher for robotics as compared to laparoscopy [9812 (\ub11974)\u20ac vs 9045 (\ub1 1893)\u20ac; p 0.02]. MIS could be considered as a treatment option for rectal cancer. The PS study evidenced clear advantages in terms of estimated blood loss over the open surgery. Costs still remain the main limit for robotics

Intra-operative radiotherapy (IORT) in pancreatic cancer: Joint analysis of the ISIORT-Europe experience

Purpose: A joint analysis of data from five contributing centers within the ISIORT-Europe program was performed to investigate the main contributions of intra-operative radiotherapy (IORT) to the multidisciplinary treatment of pancreatic cancer. Materials and methods: Patients with a histologic diagnosis of carcinoma of the pancreas, with an absence of distant metastases, undergoing surgery with radical intent and IORT were considered eligible for participation in this study. Results: From 1985 to 2006, a total of 270 patients were enrolled in the study from five European Institutions. Surgery was performed in 91.5% of cases and complicated by adverse events in 59 cases. External radiotherapy (ERT) preceded surgery in 23.9% of cases. One-hundred and six patients received further ERT. After surgery + IORT, median follow-up was 96 months (range 3-180). Median local control was 15 months, 5-year local control was 23.3%. Median overall survival was 19 months, while 5-year survival was 17.7%. A significantly greater local control and survival were observed in patients undergoing preoperative radiotherapy (LC: median not reached; OS: median 30 months) compared to patients treated with postoperative ERT alone (LC: median 28 months; OS: median 22 months), and to patients submitted to IORT exclusively (LC: median 8 months; OS: median 13 months) (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: From this joint analysis emerges the fact that preoperative radiotherapy increases the effects of IORT in terms of local control and overall survival. The 5-year local control of 23.3% confirms the beneficial "sterilizing" effect of IORT on the tumor bed. \ua9 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The Cholegas Study: safety of prophylactic cholecystectomy during gastrectomy for cancer: preliminary results of a multicentric randomized clinical trial

Abstract BACKGROUND: Cholelithiasis is more frequent in patients after gastrectomy, due to dissection of vagal branches and gastrointestinal reconstruction. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from November 2008 to March 2012. Patients were randomized into two groups: prophylactic cholecystectomy (PC) and standard gastric surgery only (SS) for curable cancers. We planned three end points: evaluation of the number of patients who developed symptoms and needed further surgery for cholelithiasis after standard gastric cancer surgery, evaluation of the incidence of cholelithiasis overall after standard gastric cancer surgery and perioperative complications or costs of prophylactic cholecystectomy. The present study answers to the last end point only. RESULTS: After 40 months from the beginning of study, 172 patients were eligible from 9 Centers. Ten patients refused consent and 32 were excluded due to flawing of inclusion criteria (not confirmed adenocarcinomas and no R0 surgery). Therefore, final analysis included 130 patients: 65 in PC group and 65 in SS. Among PC group, 12 patients had surgical complications during the perioperative period; only 1 biliary leakage, conservatively treated, might have been caused by prophylactic cholecystectomy. 6 patients had surgical complications in SS group. One postoperative death occurred in PC group due to pulmonary embolism. Differences were not statistically significant. Similarly, no differences were significant in duration of surgery, blood loss, hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Concomitant cholecystectomy during standard surgery for gastric malignancies seemed to add no extra perioperative morbidity, mortality and costs to the sample included in the study