New trends in neoadjuvant therapy of locally advanced rectal cancer from a surgeons perspective - a commentary.

BACKGROUND: Rectal cancer treatment advanced rapidly during last decades. The most important factors of this progress are new neoadjuvant therapy options, improvement in imaging (allowing for quality staging and restaging) and routine implementation of the total mesorectal excision technique. For the best outcomes, it is crucial to combine the treatment methods in the best way possible with ideal timing. It is necessary to keep in mind both advantages and complications of the individual kinds of approach. Therefore, interdisciplinary agreement is essential in the treatment of rectal cancer. Considering these new therapeutic possibilities, the debate about timing, indication and radicality of the surgical procedures is reopened. Surgical approaches are currently focused on mini-invasive methods and robotic surgery. New trend with promising potential seems to be clinical complete response achievement with watch and wait follow-up strategy. This approach, in the spirit of the organ sparing philosophy, however asks new questions about indication, timing and conception of this method. Proper answers are essential for sparing, yet radical oncotherapy of this disease.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.

Review summarizes state of the art of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), pinpoints technical basics and also economical comparison with other imaging methods. Most often indications of CEUS in different anatomical regions with differential diagnosis are discussed.

[Splanchnic vein thrombosis]. / Splanchnická zilní trombóza.

Splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) represents an unusual manifestation of venous thromboembolism. The etiological factors for SVT can be divided into local and systemic, frequently found concurrently. SVT can be the first presenting symptom in myeloproliferative neoplasms. SVT puts the patients affected in jeopardy of developing the intestinal infarction, impairing the liver function and portal hypertension development with the risk of potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding. The current guidelines emphasise the role of anticoagulation in acute splanchnic thrombosis. Considering the potentially fatal complications it is necessary to tailor the anticoagulant treatment individually. The duration of anticoagulant therapy is strongly dependent upon the risk evaluation of thrombosis recurrence. The article deals with the causes, diagnostic methods and aspects influencing the therapeutic strategy.Key words: anticoagulation - liver cirrhosis - portal hypertension - prothrombotic state - splanchnic vein thrombosis.

[Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, clinical experience with the disease and one-year prognosis of patients]. / Takotsubo kardiomyopatie, klinické zkusenosti s onemocnením a jednoletá prognóza pacientu.

INTRODUCTION: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a rare cardiac disease. In the acute phase it may imitate acute myocardial infarction of the anterior wall with ST elevations. This can be complicated by ventricular fibrilation or heart failure. The aim of this study is to show the characteristics of patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the one year outcome and the application of magnetic resonance imaging of the heart in the diagnosis of this disease. METHODS: Forty seven patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy were enrolled in this study. Severe stenosis of coronary arteries was excluded by selective coronarography. In twelve patients the magnetic resonance imaging of the myocardium was performed. The patients were observed for at least 12 months. RESULTS: 89.4 % of takotsubo patients were women. Average of age was 62.3 ± 11.1 years. We found obvious stress factors in 18 patients (38.3 %). Many patients suffered from thyroid disorders, psychiatric, lung or allergic diseases. Thirty nine patients (83.0 %) had the apical and eight the midventricular type of takotsubo cardiomyopathy. In 42 patients (89.4 %) developed systolic left ventricular dysfunction and four patients (8.5 %) were in cardiogenic shock. Four patients (8.5 %) manifested ventricle fibrilation. One patient (2.1 %) had recurring takotsubo cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: Left ventricle function is mostly recovered in patients with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, but the acute phase can be complicated by cardiogenic shock or ventricular fibrilation. Magnetic resonance imaging of the heart is indicated in some patients to differentiate this cardiomyopathy from ischemic or inflammatory etiology.

[Liver rupture with hemoperitoneum as rare complication of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in young patient with acute myocardial infarction]. / Ruptura jater s hemoperitoneem jako vzácná komplikace kardiopulmonální resuscitace u mladé pacientky s akutním infarktem myokardu.

Rupture of the liver is a rare but a very serious complication of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The presented case report describes a young patient with acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation treated by primary PCI. Just during admission to the hospital she had ventricular fibrillation with prolonged resuscitation. Subsequently due to a decrease of hemoglobine a liver rupture with hemoperitoneum was diagnosed by ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT). Conservative therapy with repeated ultrasonography and CT examinations was successful even without discontinuation dual antiplatelet therapy. Frequency of this rare complication, diagnostics and therapeutic options are discussed.

[Disseminated infection with Mycobacterium avium in a patient with newly diagnosed HIV infection]. / Diseminovana infekce Mycobacterium avium u pacienta s nove zjistenou HIV infekci.

In the Czech Republic, mycobacteriosis is relatively rare. The low incidence probably reflects high BCG coverage rates in the Czech population. Globally, the importance of BCG vaccine has been increasing, as a result of acquired immunodeficiencies, particularly HIV infection. The presented case report describes the course of disseminated mycobacteriosis in a Vietnamese asylum seeker with newly diagnosed advanced HIV infection. In HIV patients, disseminated mycobacteriosis, most frequently caused by members of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), is mostly manifested in the last stage, AIDS, with extremely severe immunodeficiency, or in immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), shortly after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. From the beginning, the patient's condition was complicated by multiple simultaneous severe opportunistic infections which, together with gradually progressing atypical mycobacteriosis, resulted in overall exhaustion of the organism. The adverse prognosis of these infections is significantly influenced by prolonged diagnosis based on culture detection of slow-growing mycobacteria. In the above patient, the lethal course was contributed to by resistance to commonly used antitubercular drugs which was only detected post mortem due to time-consuming susceptibility tests.

[Kaposi's sarcoma]. / Kaposiho sarkom.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is an unusual form of tumor which in the era of HIV/AIDS pandemic is increasingly observed outside the original endemic areas. It was shown that the development of KS is in directly related to infection with human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8). The pathophysiology of KS is complex and is influenced by HIV co-infection and by global cytokine interactions. Skin, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory organs are typically involved. A good therapeutic effect of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) was documented. We provode a review of the current knowledge of the pathophysiology of and therapeutic options for KS and one clinical case.