A long-term evaluation of the quality of life after laparoscopic Nissen-Rossetti anti-reflux surgery.

BACKGROUND: The quality of life (QoL) has been suggested to be the most relevant parameter to assess and monitor the long-term outcome in patients who underwent surgery for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective evaluation was conducted on patients who underwent Laparoscopic Nissen-Rossetti Fundoplication for GERD between January 1998 and December 2010. To evaluate the long-term results a telephone interview was made using the VISICK score and the GERD-health-related QoL (HRQL) questionnaire at 1, 3, 5 years and at the end of the study. If the questionnaires resulted unsatisfactory, a complete diagnostic revaluation was performed. RESULTS: A total of 168 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery for GERD. When evaluated at the end of the study, the number of unsatisfied patients according to the VISICK score was significantly higher than the one obtained with the GERD-HRQL questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS: Many data suggest a possible recurrence of the symptoms after surgery in a long follow-up period. Our data seem to demonstrate a slight but significant trend in symptoms relapse after surgery. Considering the non-specific and specific nature of the two scores, VISICK and GERD HRQL, our result showed a significantly more relevant trend of symptoms relapse only for the non-specific ones. Such QoL scores seem to be important in selecting patients who need to be instrumentally examined. Consequently, our work proves that only a few patients out of the total number of followed up patients, are to be recalled to undergo instrumental examination.

Abdominal paragangliomas: a quantitative prognostic score as predictive factor of the feasibility of the laparoscopic approach.

The gold standard treatment for abdominal paraganglioma is the complete surgical excision. The surgical approach may be either open or laparoscopic. The aim of this study is to identify clinical-pathological predictive factors for the failure of the laparoscopic approach in the treatment of abdominal paragangliomas, with the aim of reducing the rate of conversion to the open technique. A retrospective review was conducted on the medical records of patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for suspected abdominal paraganglioma. To validate parameters which usually act as predictive factors for the laparoscopic outcome in many other interventions, we retrospectively designed a quantitative prognostic score at the beginning of our experience with paragangliomas. The score was based on the clinical and pathological aspects of the disease, as the localization of the tumor in the abdominal cavity, its size, the proximity to major vessels, and the grade of vascularization. At the time of each patient's discharge, we retrospectively verified the score values. A group of 15 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery for abdominal paraganglioma. In two patients, laparoscopic procedures were converted to laparotomic approaches. Patients reporting a score of ≤3 were all successfully operated laparoscopically, while patients with a score between 5 and 6 were laparotomically converted. There are very few studies assessing the effectiveness of the laparoscopic technique in paragangliomas. The conversion rate of our procedures was still low compared to the mean rate reported in the major studies in the literature. Our scoring system, herewith presented, seeks to avoid time-consuming surgery, which may imply a high risk of intra-operative haemodynamic instability in such patients. The choice of the right approach would minimize blood loss and the consequent surgical stress, improving post-operation outcome.

Combination of diagnostic laparoscopy and intraoperative indocyanine green fluorescence angiography for the early detection of intestinal ischemia not detectable at CT scan.

INTRODUCTION: Acute mesenteric ischemia is the most severe gastrointestinal complication of acute aortic dissection. The timing of diagnosis is of major importance, in fact the recognition of acute mesenteric ischemia often occurs too late due to the presence of unspecific symptoms and lack of reliable exams. Recently, indocyanine green fluorescence angiography has been adopted in order to measure blood perfusion and microcirculation. PRESENTATION OF CASE: We decided to perform a diagnostic laparoscopy with the support of intra-operative near-infrared indocyanine green fluorescence angiography, in order to detect an initial intestinal ischemia in a 68-year-old patient previously treated with a TEVAR procedure for a type-B aortic dissection. The fluorescence system demonstrated an hypoperfused area in the ascending colon, therefore an ileocholic resection was thus performed. Opening the operatory specimen, the mucosa of the colon appeared totally ischemic, whilst the serosa was normal. DISCUSSION: When ischemia occurs, the oxygen supply is interrupted, hence the necrosis of the enteral mucosa occurs within 3h, whilst the necrosis of the full thickness of the bowel wall occurs within 6h. A diagnosis during these "golden hours" is of major importance for a successful treatment. CONCLUSION: The combination of laparoscopy and UV light and fluorescein dye should be considered as an invaluable diagnostic procedure for the diagnosis of early stage acute bowel ischemia which is not visible at instrumental examinations nor with diagnostic laparoscopy.

Surgical outcome of pancreaticoduodenectomy: high volume center or multidisciplinary management?

BACKGROUND: More recently mortality and morbidity related to PD has dramatically dropped, due to the new mini-invasive technology as well as to a trend leading towards centralization. Our hospital can be considered a high-volume center for pancreatic surgery; nevertheless, each of its 5 surgical units taken alone has a low/medium-volume activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of PD in a low-medium volume unit with multidisciplinary support in a major high-volume hospital. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted: from January 2002 up to December 2013, 62 Whipple procedures were performed in our surgical unit. RESULTS: As to the operative outcome, the average number of days spent in ICU was of 4.28, the average days ventilated were 1.5 and the mean hospital stay was of 16 days. The in-hospital mortality was 3.2%, the late mortality was 1.6% and the perioperative morbidity was 27.4%. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of the surgeon volume on post-operative mortality is still controversial. As suggested by Gooiker, the centralization initiatives for pancreatic surgery should be based not only on volume quality criteria, but also on services and processes offered by a major hospital. The results of our study are similar to the ones of Italian and international studies performed in high-volume centers. According to our experience, we feel we can confirm that positive results in pancreatic surgery may be obtained also in low-medium volume units if there is a multidisciplinary support and services common to a major high volume hospital.