Lymph Node Involvement in Deep Infiltrating Intestinal Endometriosis: Does It Really Mean Anything?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To review our data for any correlation between the severity of endometriosis and lymph node involvement. DESIGN: Observational study with control (Canadian Task Force classification III). SETTING: Public medical center. PATIENTS: All women who underwent laparoscopic segmental rectal resection for endometriosis at our institution (Sacro Cuore Negrar Hospital) between 2000 and 2010. INTERVENTIONS: We retrospectively included 140 cases of colorectal surgery for intestinal endometriosis performed between 2004 and 2010 in our institution. Based on histopathological analysis of specimens, we divided our population into 2 groups: 70 patients with lymph node involvement and 70 patients without lymph node involvement. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: No statistical correlation was found between the positivity of lymph nodes and the rate of intestinal stenosis, the histopathological specimen infiltration rate and depth and the intestinal recurrence rate. Only a poor correlation was found with preoperative CA-125 serous levels. CONCLUSION: The presence of lymph nodes involvement in intestinal resection specimens does not modify the natural history of the disease. The reason of its presence still has to be determined.

Lymph nodes metastasis and recurrences justify an aggressive treatment of gastrinoma.

In the current study, short- and long-term outcomes after aggressive surgical treatment for gastrinoma were evaluated. From August 1990 to August 2009, 20 patients diagnosed with Zollinger Ellison syndrome were reviewed. Eleven pancreaticoduodenectomies, three total pancreatectomies, four lymph node dissections, four enucleations and two palliative procedures were performed. Four (27.8 %) patients had disease associated with MEN1 syndrome, 13 (72.2 %) had sporadic gastrinomas (SG) and 3 had disease of unknown primary origin. No in-hospital mortality was observed. After radical resection, lymph node metastasis was present in 82 % of the cases. Eight percent of patients who underwent radical resection developed recurrence compared with 100 % of those who underwent enucleoresection (p = 0.03). Average time to recurrence in patients with sporadic gastrinoma was 66.7 months (confidence interval (CI) 62.9-70.5) in those treated with enucloeresection compared to 181.1 months (CI 124.3-237.8) in the radical resection group (p = 0.007). One recurrence was observed in the MEN1 group. Based on post-operative mortality, recurrence and lymph node metastasis, our data suggest that patients with gastrinoma should undergo abdominal exploration with aggressive resection of the primary tumour and regional lymph nodes in place of conservative treatment.

Drain management after pancreatic resection: state of the art.

BACKGROUND: Placement of intraperitoneal drain (ID) after abdominal surgery is a common practice. Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF), incidence of which ranges from 2% to more than 30%, represents the most common major complication after pancreatic resection. The goal of this paper is to review the state of the art in ID management after pancreatic resection. METHODS: Data from randomized controlled trials (RCT) are reported together with data from our institution in the period before and after the start of the two reported RCTs. RESULTS: One thousand five hundred eighty patients underwent surgical resection for pancreatic lesions at our institution from 1990 to 2010. The overall rate of POPF was 23% before and 19.5% after (p = 0.24) the performance of the RCTs. Both postoperative morbidity and average in-hospital stay were higher in the period before the RCTs (13.6 ± 11.4 versus 13.4 ± 10.3 days, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: POPF is a complex and multifactorial complication after pancreatic surgery. On the basis of the present results and review of the RCTs, the value of ID and its management after pancreatic surgery remain unclear.