Aesthetic Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction in Laparoscopic vs. Open Incisional Hernia Repair: Have We Asked the Patients?

Background: Incisional hernias are predominantly treated through open or laparoscopic surgery, with each method influencing recovery and patient-reported outcomes. This underscores the need for reliable assessment tools such as the EuraHS-QoL questionnaire to evaluate quality of life after surgery. Methods: This prospective single-center study was aimed at evaluating aestethic outcomes and patient satisfaction following laparoscopic versus open hernia repair. It involved 222 patients categorized by type of approach. The EuraHS-QoL questionnaire was used preoperatively and at 1- and 3-months post-surgery, with data analysis performed using Origin Pro 2018 and SPSS software version 28.0. Results: Among the participants, 152 were females and 70 males, with 78% undergoing open surgery and 22% laparoscopic. Findings revealed superior patient outcomes with laparoscopic repair in terms of pain management, daily activities, and aesthetic satisfaction. Patients reported significantly lower pain levels and fewer restrictions in daily activities post-laparoscopic surgery. While initial postoperative cosmetic results favored laparoscopic methods, the perceived differences in abdominal shape diminished over time. Conclusions: Laparoscopic repair significantly improves quality of life compared to open surgery, as shown by EuraHS-QoL scores. These results support the use of laparoscopic techniques in appropriate cases due to their benefits in pain reduction and faster functional recovery.

Open and Laparoscopic Surgical Approache in Incisional Hernias: A Descriptive Analysis.

Background: Incisional hernias, occurring in 10-20% of patients post-abdominal surgery, significantly affect patient quality of life and healthcare systems. This study analyses two hernia repair methods: laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) and open on-lay hernioplasty. Key analysis factors include operative time, postoperative pain, complications, length of hospital stay, recovery speed, and recurrence rates, with the goal of identifying the most effective and beneficial approach for patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on 70 patients with postoperative parietal defects at the Dr Carol Davila Clinical Nephrology Hospital, Bucharest, from January 2018 to December 2021. Patients underwent either laparoscopic IPOM (42 patients) or open hernioplasty (28 patients) for uncomplicated incisional hernia repair. We analyzed demographic data, comorbidities, defect size and location, previous surgeries, and surgical outcomes. Results: The laparoscopic group had a slightly shorter operative time and significantly lower postoperative pain levels, as assessed by the Visual Analog Scale. The laparoscopic approach also resulted in shorter hospital stays and quicker return to routine activities. Complications, such as seroma and hematoma, were more common in the open surgery group, but no wound infections or prosthesis rejections were observed in either group. Notably, the open surgery group showed a higher recurrence rate (11 %) compared to none in the laparoscopic group within a one-year follow-up. Conclusion: Laparoscopic IPOM for incisional hernia repair shows benefits over open hernioplasty, with less pain, shorter hospitalization, faster recovery, and lower recurrence. Its growing preference and potential for further research are highlighted.

The Effect of Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy on the Pathological Response in Patients with Rectal Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this retrospective study was to describe the long-term outcomes and the survival rate in patients who underwent neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer. This is a retrospective study undertaken in a surgery department of an oncological clinical hospital. The study evaluated the data of all patients treated for rectal cancer between January 2014 and December 2018. Results: Of 126 patients, thirteen patients with mean age of 58.3 years had a pathological complete response and were treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Ten patients (76.9%) underwent treatment with 45 Gy. One patient was treated with 51 Gy, one with 49.3 Gy, and 12 patients were treated daily with 1.8 Gy. One patient underwent a short course of 5 days with 5 Gy. Patients diagnosed and treated in 2016 had a survival rate of 54 to 57 months, in 2017 42 to 48 months and in 2018 29 to 34 months. For two patients with final pCR, the adjuvant treatment was given and the wait and watch policy was applied. Both patients were females, aged 51 and 66 years (mean age 58.5 years). CONCLUSION: The frequency of pCR was similar to that in other published studies. The survival rate in our cohort was high, death occurring in two cases, one being the oldest patient in the study. We concluded that the long-term oncological control is excellent in patients who receive neoadjuvant treatment leading to improved OS, improved quality of life, and decreasing the recurrence rates.

Surgical Features after Neoadjuvant Treatment for Breast Cancer.

Introduction: Patients with breast cancer may receive neoadjuvant cancer treatment in order to benefit from radical surgery or to turn an indication for extensive surgery into a conservatory or oncoplastic operation. AIM: To establish the main implications of therapeutic management of the cases of breast cancer treated initially with chemotherapy followed by surgery. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 35 breast cancer patients operated in 2020 after NACT (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) in Surgery Clinic of Coltea Hospital are analyzed, and the response after treatment is pathologicaly evaluated using the Residual Cancer Burden method Results: The results of the analysis of the group of patients showed that most patients presented downstaging of the disease after neoadjuvant treatment with a proportion of 17,14% with complete pathologic response. DISCUSSIONS: We performed clinical and imagistic evaluation of patients before and after NACT and pathologic evaluation of the surgical specimen using residual tumor burden method, taking into account the age of the patients, clinical and pathological staging and the status of hormone receptors and Her 2. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is currently part of the therapeutic arsenal of breast cancer being followed in most cases by downstaging of tumors and increasing the number of cases that can be operated. 17.1% of cases achieved pathologic complete response, 2 of them being Her 2 positive carcinomas. The use of conservative and oncoplastic surgical techniques is possible after downstaging tumors by NACT.

How to do a laparoscopic high left colectomy with complete mesocolic excision and central vascular ligation for splenic flexure cancer.

Due to a lack of a standardized surgical approach in splenic flexure cancer, we consider useful to present a how to do it material on laparoscopic high left colectomy with complete mesocolic excision and central vascular ligation for this type of tumours.

Mind the Gap Between Scientific Literature Recommendations and Effective Implementation. Is There Still a Role for Surgery in the Treatment of Locally Advanced Cervical Carcinoma?

According to evidence accumulated in the last years, many cancer centers recommend a treatment plan based solely on chemo-radiotherapy and exclude surgery from the treatment options in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). In Romania, surgery was at the forefront of therapeutic options. Nevertheless, current data shows that in fact, a large number of patients are still referred to surgery in various stages of diagnosis and treatment. It was noted that recommendations may differ, in spite of the wide dissemination of the literature data.Works published so far, discussing the role of surgery in LACC treatment shows a lack of consensus. A group of experts in oncology (SURCECAN research group - Surgery of Cervical Cancer) met for a session of the Romanian Surgical Society (Bucharest) on April 18, 2018. They found that LACC therapeutic strategy in Romania may differ somewhat from the European recommendations.On top of that, late enrolement to RT and low acces to specialized centers are the problem. Performing surgery not only allows the evaluation of the pathological response to chemo-radiotherapy, but also achieves a better local control. In conclusion, there is still a place for surgery within locally advanced cervical cancer treatment options. More trials need to be carried out in order to confirm the findings and establish high levels of confidence for each piece of information provided.

Ovarian metastases reported after adjuvant laparoscopic oophorectomies in breast cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Ovarian metastases (OM) of breast cancer (BC) can occur with different rates, ranging from 3-30%, being reported after prophylactic, therapeutic ovariectomies or discovered at necropsy. The aim of the study was to review the histopathological aspects of 59 laparoscopic oophorectomies performed in our Department as part of the oncological treatment of premenopausal women with BC. A number of eight (13.55%) patients were histologically confirmed with OM. The initial tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) stage of BC tumors was advanced with no pelvic symptoms or imaging abnormalities associated. Five (62.5%) patients had unilateral ovarian involvement and three (37.5%) bilateral, two of them being associated with primary bilateral BC. The immunohistochemical markers used to confirm the breast origin of metastasis were estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), gross cystic disease fluid protein 15 (GCDFP15), Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1), cancer antigen-125 (CA-125), cytokeratin 7 (CK7), cytokeratin 20 (CK20). One case showed positive cytoplasmic reaction for thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1). GCDFP15 was positive in all OM and almost all (seven of eight) were noted as non-immunoreactive for WT1. Although six cases of metastatic BC were positive for CK7 and negative for CK20, only four of them retain the same immunoprofile of their primary tumor for the metastatic ovarian lesions. Only one case out of eight showed weak and focal positivity for CA-125. Three cases were positive for mucin 1 (MUC1) and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA). CONCLUSIONS: The differential diagnosis between OM and primary ovarian cancer can be challenging for the pathologist as well and immunostaining is of help. GCFDP15 is the most specific for breast carcinoma. In contrast with the recent papers published in the literature, we detected TTF-1 cytoplasmic expression in invasive breast carcinoma by SPT24 clone.

Prognostic Factors Analysis for Colon Cancer with Lymph Node Negative.

PURPOSE: The analysis of high risk relapse prognosis factors and their importance regarding recurrence risk for stage I and II colon cancer, according to TNM classification 8th edition, 2017. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We performed a retrospective analysis regarding the impact of prognosis factors for patients with high recurrence risk in stages I and II. We studied 99 patients with T2, T3 and T4 tumors who suffered a curative resection and whom may or may not present indication for adjuvant chemotherapy according to histoprognostic factors and molecular biomarkers. Results: We performed a univariate Cox regression which highlighted that male sex is a risk factor for disease relapse (HR=5.53, p 0.05, IC95% = 1.29 to 23.73). Although with a low statistical significance effect, T4 tumors seems to be associated with a poor prognosis regarding disease relapse (HR = 2.56, p = 0.06, IC95% = 0.94 to 6.99) compared to T2 and T3 tumors. Patients with d'MMR (MSI-H) seem to have a more favorable evolution compared to patients with p'MMR (MSS/MSI-L) - HR (d'MMR vs p'MMR) = 0.19, IC95% = 0.02 to 1.61, p = 0.13. Conclusions: We believe that it would be useful for MSS / MSI to be systematically analyzed, our data suggesting a better response of d`MMR patients to adjuvant chemotherapy. The multivariate Cox regression did not identify independent risk factors of relapse.

Perioperative Patient Blood Management Programme. Multidisciplinary recommendations from the Patient Blood Management Initiative Group.

Patients with untreated anaemia or iron deficiency who undergo surgical procedures have an increased risk for mortality and morbidity. Patient Blood Management programmes address this issue worldwide and try to improve patient outcomes through a complex set of measures targeting anaemia correction, minimisation of bleeding and improvement of anaemia tolerance, in all phases of perioperative care. The Patient Blood Management Initiative Group is a multidisciplinary team of physicians from specialties including anaesthesiology, nephrology, surgery, orthopaedics, haematology, gastroenterology and transfusion medicine. The team has elaborated ten recommendations, divided into five categories, in order to implement a Patient Blood Management programme in Romania, using the most recent and relevant evidence. The document was discussed during three meetings which took place during October 2016 and May 2017 and the result was modified and updated via e-mail.

Single Port Right Colectomy: Surgical Technique.

The single port laparoscopic method was first used in 1999 by Bresadola for cholecystectomy. Nearly a decade later, in 2008, the first single port right hemicolectomy was reported by Bucher and others in a case involving an ascending colon polyp (1,2). The continuous technological evolutional lows the first single port right hemicolectomy 17 years after the first laparoscopic hemicolectomy (1991) which was initially met with reluctance and after has gained a well-established place in the range of colorectal surgery (2). Single port access, as well as NOTES, provides, in comparison with the standard laparoscopic procedure, the aesthetic benefit, the decrease of postoperative pain and a shorter duration of hospitalization, while in terms of disadvantages, we could mention a longer surgery duration due to fewer opportunities of triangulation and vision (3,4). The reduction of postoperative pain plus the good aesthetic results with no significant increase of postoperative complications, already proved by retrospective studies, require confirmation by randomized studies envisaged by trial TRUE in France (5). Single port right hemicolectomy can be achieved with oncologic results similar to standard laparoscopic surgery, having very good postoperative results in terms of aesthetics and reduced postoperative pain (5,6,7).

Sphincter-Sparing Surgery in Patients with Mid and Low Rectal Cancer - Risk Factors for Local Recurrence and Anastomotic Leakage.

Background: Rectal cancer is a major health problem. The current treatment of distal rectal cancer involves a multimodality approach aimed at achieving an optimal oncologic control and an increased quality of life. PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to identify the risk factors for local recurrence and anastomotic leakage after sphincter-sparing surgery for low and mid rectal cancer. Material and Methods: We prospectively analyzed a group of 38 patients with low and middle rectal cancer who underwent sphincter-sparing surgery. Low anterior resection was performed in 32 cases (84.2%) and 6 cases (15.8%) benefited of ultralow anterior resection. Clinical stadialization cTNM included 3 patients (7.9%) T1 stage, 11 patients (28.9%) T2 stage and 24 patients (63.2%) T3 stage. Preoperative radiotherapy was performed in 33 cases (86.4%), and chemotherapy was associated in 20 cases (52.6%). Results: The stages I and II cancers were prevalent (63.2%), followed by stage III cancers (23.7%) and stage IV cancers (13.2%). The rate of complications of 52.6% (20 cases) was associated with T3 stage cancers. Anastomotic leakage has occurred in 4 cases (10.5%) and tumor recurrence has developed in 3 cases (7.9%). The rate of local recurrence and anastomotic leakage is associated with the number of positive lymph nodes (more than 4 nodes, 5.3%, p = 0.023). We found no association between chemoradiotherapy and the risk of local recurrence (p 0.05). Other postoperative complications included intestinal obstruction by adhesions or bowel volvulus (5 cases, 13.2%), postradiation colitis (3 cases, 7.7%), coloanal anastomotic stenosis (1 case, 2.6%), rectovaginal fistula (1 case, 2.6%), ileostomy bleeding (1 case, 2.6%), wound infection (2 cases, 5.3%). Conclusions: Risk factors associated with local recurrence and anastomotic leakage are aggressive stage tumor, lymphnodes involvement, neoadjuvant therapy and postoperative anemia. The postoperative outcome was favorable after sphincter preservation surgery and the absence of definitive colostomy had an important impact on the quality of life of the patients with distal rectal cancer.

Bilateral Axillary Accessory Breast Tissue Revealed by Pregnancy.

We illustrate a rare case of a 28 year-old woman with bilateral axillary masses, which were uncovered during her first pregnancy only and grew progresively in size ever since. On local examination, there were two 5/3/5 cm masses with benign clinical characteristics, developed apparently on the axillary extension of the mammary gland. During lactation, a milk-like liquid was evacuated through a brownish, rudimentary, nipple located in the center of each axillary masses. One year after parturition, the MRI showed bilateral axillary breast tissue appearance, separated from the eutopic mammary gland, but having similar signal intensity. Due to aesthetic reasons and the additional risk for subsequent malignant or benign breast disease, the ectopic breast tissues were completely surgically removed. The histology report showed normal glandular breast tissue.

Low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm mimicking an adnexal mass.

We present a rare case of malignant epithelial neoplasm of the appendix, an uncommon disorder encountered in clinical practice, which poses a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a particular case in which the appendix was abnormally located in the pelvis, mimicking an adnexal mass. Therefore, it was difficult to make the preoperative diagnosis on clinical examination, imaging studies and laboratory tests and we discovered the lesion during the diagnostic laparoscopy. No lymphadenopathy or mucinous ascites were found. The case was completely handled via the laparoscopic approach keeping the appendix intact during the operation. The frozen section, the detailed histopathology overview as well as multiple immunostaining with a complex panel of markers report diagnosed a low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasm (LAMN) with no invasion of the wall. No adjuvant therapy was considered needed. At a one-year follow-up oncological assessment, the patient was free of disease. In women with cystic mass in the right iliac fossa an appendiceal mucocele should be considered in the differential diagnosis. Laparoscopic appendectomy can represent an adequate operation for the appendiceal mucinous neoplasm if the histological report is clear and surgical precautionary measures are taken.