Mechanical hepaticojejunostomy: can we use a circular stapler as a viable and safe alternative? -a retrospective study of a single center.

BACKGROUND: Since the first years of the 1980s, some authors described the use of mechanical stapler for the creation of anastomosis in biliary surgery. However, the use of these devices has not spread during the following decades, and nowadays most centers usually craft hand-sewn anastomosis. METHODS: We retrospectively collected data from medical records, surgical registries and computerized databases about the use of mechanical circular staplers for the creation of hepaticojejunostomy at our institution. RESULTS: From 2012 to 2020, 11 stapled hepaticojejunostomy for both neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases were performed at our institution. The mean age of the patient was 74, with a sex distribution of 5 men and 6 women. The mean preoperative common bile duct diameter was 19 mm. Preoperative blood samples showed mean total bilirubin of 6.95 mg/dL. No intraoperative complications were reported. Two patients (18%) had minor postoperative complications (1 wound dehiscence and 1 episode of melena that required blood transfusions), while no major complications occurred. No patients developed biliary fistula or anastomotic dehiscence. No one dies within 30 days from surgery. The mean postoperative length of stay was 13 days. CONCLUSIONS: According to our limited experience, stapled hepaticojejunostomy seems to be a safe and effective technique in selected patients.

Voluminous abdominal gastrointestinal stromal tumor of unknown origin manifested with bleeding in a young man: synchronous management of the emergency and oncological approach-case report.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, which cover about 1-2% of gastrointestinal neoplasms with an unadjusted incidence of around 1/100,000/year. They are also the most common non-epithelial neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract and they are associated with a high rate of malignant transformation. They are more common in the stomach (40-60%) while a minor part repeatedly involves jejunum/ileus (25-30%), duodenum (5%), colorectal (5-15%) and esophagus (<1%). There are also much rarer extragastrointestinal stromal tumor (EGIST): these tumors have immunohistochemical and molecular characteristics similar to GISTs and for this reason, they are called this way, EGIST can involve retroperitoneum, mesentery, and omentum, without affecting the gastrointestinal tract. The clinical presentation depends on the primary localization of the neoplasm, however in 18% it is asymptomatic, and it is accidentally discovered during endoscopies, radiological examinations or surgical operations performed for other reasons, especially if it is small in size. More often, they are associated with non-specific symptoms such as early satiety, nausea or vomiting. Gastrointestinal bleeding is the most dangerous complication, often necessitating emergency surgery. The purpose of this case report is to describe our experience in the management of a young patient with gastrointestinal bleeding caused by an unknown voluminous retroperitoneal GIST with metastatic progression using a combined endovascular embolization and debulking-surgery approach for emergency and imatinib therapy combined with radiofrequency for the oncological approach. GIST requires multidisciplinary management, which improves both prognosis and quality of life.

A rare diaphragmatic hernia with a delayed presentation of intestinal symptoms following spleno-distal pancreatectomy: a case report.

Acquired diaphragmatic hernia, non-related to trauma, is a very rare condition. It can constitute a therapeutic problem and the surgical solution is not always immediately clear. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with a history of spleno-distal pancreatectomy for a neuroendocrine tumour performed in 2009, who came back to Emergency Room 2 years later, complaining of abdominal pain. Chest radiography and computed tomography were performed; they showed a diaphragmatic hernia with visceral migration into the thorax. The diaphragmatic defect was surgically repaired and the patient had an uneventful post-operative recovery.

The expression of the truncated isoform of somatostatin receptor subtype 5 associates with aggressiveness in medullary thyroid carcinoma cells.

The truncated somatostatin receptor variant sst5TMD4 associates with increased invasiveness and aggressiveness in breast cancer. We previously found that sst5 activation may counteract sst2 selective agonist effects in a medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cell line, the TT cells, and that sst5TMD4 is overexpressed in poorly differentiated thyroid cancers. The purpose of this study is to evaluate sst5TMD4 expression in a series of human MTC and to explore the functional role of sst5TMD4 in TT cells. We evaluated sst5TMD4 and sst5 expression in 36 MTC samples. Moreover, we investigated the role of sst5TMD4 in TT cells evaluating cell number, DNA synthesis, free cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)]i), calcitonin and vascular endothelial growth factor levels, cell morphology, protein expression, and invasion. We found that in MTC the balance between sst5TMD4 and sst5 expression influences disease stage. sst5TMD4 overexpression in TT cells confers a greater growth capacity, blocks sst2 agonist-induced antiproliferative effects, modifies the cell phenotype, decreases E-cadherin and phosphorylated ß-catenin levels, increases vimentin, total ß-catenin and phosphorylated GSK3B levels (in keeping with the development of epithelial to mesenchymal transition), and confers a greater invasion capacity. This is the first evidence indicating that sst5TMD4 is expressed in human MTC cells, where it associates with more aggressive behavior, suggesting that sst5TMD4 might play a functionally relevant role.

Ovarian stimulation and liver dysfunction: Is a clinical relationship possible? A case of hepatic failure after repeated cycles of ovarian stimulation.

Liver damage induced by ovarian stimulation has been demonstrated in some cases reported in the literature. However, there has never been a fruitful debate on this topic. The present manuscript tried to fill this gap. We reported a case of a 35-year-old nulliparous woman admitted to our obstetric emergency room for severe pre-eclampsia. She had been subjected to four cycles of controlled ovarian stimulation for intrauterine insemination. At 32 weeks of gestation, she developed severe pre-eclampsia, which led to HELLP syndrome complicated by fatal liver failure. The etiological link between ovarian stimulation and HELLP syndrome is intriguing. Further investigations are needed to understand whether repeated ovarian stimulation may represent a risk factor in pre-eclamptic patients.

Protein kinase C: a putative new target for the control of human medullary thyroid carcinoma cell proliferation in vitro.

We investigate the role of protein kinase C (PKC) in the control of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cell proliferation by a PKC inhibitor, Enzastaurin, in human MTC primary cultures and in the TT cell line. We found that PKC inhibition reduces cell proliferation by inducing caspase-mediated apoptosis and blocks the stimulatory effect of IGF-I on calcitonin secretion. Enzastaurin reduces PKCßII (Thr500) phosphorylation, indicating a direct involvement of this isoform as well as the phosphorylated levels of Akt (Ser 473) and glycogen synthase kinase (Ser9), PKC pathway downstream targets and pharmacodynamic markers for PKC inhibition. PKCßII and PKCδ enzyme isoforms expression and localization were investigated. These data indicate that in vitro PKC is involved in the control of human MTC proliferation and survival by modulating apoptosis, with a mechanism that implicates PKCßII inhibition and translocation in different subcellular compartments. Targeting PKC may represent a useful therapeutic approach for controlling MTC proliferation.

Targeting protein kinase C by Enzastaurin restrains proliferation and secretion in human pancreatic endocrine tumors.

Dysregulation of the protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathway has been implicated in tumor progression. In this study, we investigate the effects of a PKC inhibitor, Enzastaurin, in human pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNN) primary cultures and in the human pancreatic endocrine cancer cell line, BON1. To this aim six human PNN dispersed in primary cultures and BON1 cells were treated without or with 1-10 µM Enzastaurin and/or 100 nM IGF1 in the presence or absence of serum. Cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated after 48-72 h; Chromogranin A (CgA) and/or insulin secretion was assessed after 6 h of incubation. PKC expression was investigated by immunofluorescence and western blot. We found that Enzastaurin significantly reduced human PNN primary culture cell viability, as well as CgA and insulin secretion. Moreover, in the BON1 cell line Enzastaurin inhibited cell proliferation at 5 and 10 µM by inducing caspase-mediated apoptosis, and reduced phosphorylation of glycogen synthetase kinase 3ß (GSK3ß) and of Akt, both downstream targets of PKC pathway and pharmacodynamic markers for Enzastaurin. In addition, Enzastaurin blocked the stimulatory effect of IGF1 on cell proliferation, and reduced CgA expression and secretion in BON1 cells. Two different PKC isoforms are expressed at different levels and have partially different subcellular localization in BON1 cells. In conclusion, Enzastaurin reduces cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis, with a mechanism likely involving GSK3ß signaling, and inhibits secretory activity in PNN in vitro models, suggesting that Enzastaurin might represent a possible medical treatment of human PNN.

Role of pituitary tumour transforming gene 1 in medullary thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: pituitary tumour transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) is over-expressed in a variety of endocrine-related tumours. We aimed at evaluating PTTG1 expression and function in human neoplastic parafollicular C-cells, represented by medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and C-cell hyperplasia (CCH) samples and by the TT cell line. METHODS: TT cells and tissues derived from human CCH (8 samples) and MTC (12 samples) were analyzed by northern blot, furthermore TT cells were subjected to PTTG gene silencing and cells were analyzed for DNA synthesis. RESULTS: PTTG1 expression was significantly higher (p<0.01) in CCH (3-fold), in papillary thyroid cancer and in MTC (5-fold) than in normal thyroid, and in MTC lymph-node metastases as compared to primary lesions (approximately 2-fold; p<0.05). PTTG1 mRNA and protein correlated with tumour diameter and TNM status (p<0.05). In TT cells, PTTG1 silencing did not completely block DNA synthesis, but significantly reduced [3H]Thymidine incorporation (~50%; p<0.01) for up to 3 days. CONCLUSIONS: PTTG1 levels correlate with tumour aggressiveness. PTTG1 silencing causes reduced MTC cell proliferation, supporting the hypothesis that PTTG1 might have an important role in C-cell neoplastic proliferation.

Differentiated thyroid cancers 11-20 mm in diameter have clinical and histopathologic characteristics suggesting higher aggressiveness than those < or =10 mm.

OBJECTIVE: To compare characteristics and outcomes of differentiated thyroid cancers < or =10 mm with those 11-20 mm in diameter. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review of 426 patients with thyroid carcinoma < or =20 mm diagnosed and treated between 1990 and 2004 in one university clinic. MAIN OUTCOMES: Lymph node metastases were more frequent at diagnosis in 11-20 mm than in < or =10 mm cancers (p < 0.001). The prevalence of distant metastases did not differ between < or =10 mm and 11-20 mm cancers. One hundred and thirty-three patients (73%) with tumors 11-20 mm were disease free 2 years after 131I treatment, and no recurrence has been observed over 2-14 years of follow-up. Forty-one patients (22%) with cancers 11-20 mm (N1 or M1) required 2-4 years to become disease free. Neck lymph node recurrence was observed in nine patients (4.9%) 4 months to 14 years after surgery and (131)I therapy. Four patients (1.6%) with cancers < or =10 mm in diameter had cancer recurrence (p = 0.05 compared to the 11-20 mm cancers). Based on the presence of distant metastases at diagnosis and recurrence of disease during follow-up, cancers 11-20 mm in diameter seemed more aggressive than those < or =10 mm (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Cancers 11-20 mm seem more aggressive than those < or =10 mm.

RET mutation profile and variable clinical manifestations in a family with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A and Hirschsprung's disease.

BACKGROUND: RET proto-oncogene germ line mutations are associated with the inherited multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 syndromes (MEN 2), as well as with familial and sporadic Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR). In this study, we report a family in which the MEN 2A and the HSCR phenotypes are associated with a single point mutation in exon 10 of the RET proto-oncogene. Furthermore, we have investigated polymorphic sequence variants of the RET proto-oncogene. METHODS: Family members were tested for RET proto-oncogene mutations in exons 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16 by double-gradient denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis, nucleotide sequence analysis, and restriction endonuclease digestion of polymerase chain reaction products. The status of exon 2 and 13 polymorphic sites was investigated by EagI and TaqI digestion in 12 selected patients. RESULTS: A heterozygous C618R mutation of RET exon 10 was identified in 12 family members. Five out of 7 children with mildly elevated pentagastrin-stimulated calcitonin levels who carried the mutation underwent prophylactic thyroidectomy before the age of 12. C-cell hyperplasia (CCH) was found in 4 children and a microscopic medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in an 8-year-old female. Neither CCH nor MTC was found in the only family member affected with HSCR, an 8-year-old male. This patient inherited the mutated RET allele from his mother, who had MTC but not HSCR, together with a rare allelic variant at codon 45 of RET exon 2. CONCLUSIONS: This report of a newly-described kindred with the infrequent clinical association between MEN 2A and HSCR confirms the risk of the latter phenotype among carriers of RET exon 10 cysteine codon mutations. Nevertheless, the influence of other genetic or environmental factors cannot be excluded.