Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas: A systematic review of clinical, surgical and oncological characteristics of 1384 patients underwent pancreatic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic solid pseudopapillary tumors (SPTs) are rare clinical entity, with low malignancy and still unclear pathogenesis. They account for less than 2% of exocrine pancreatic neoplasms. This study aimed to perform a systematic review of the main clinical, surgical and oncological characteristics of pancreatic SPTs. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were systematically searched for the main clinical, surgical and oncological characteristics of pancreatic SPTs up to April 2021, in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) standards. Primary endpoints were to analyze treatments and oncological outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 823 studies were recorded, 86 studies underwent full-text reviews and 28 met inclusion criteria. Overall, 1384 patients underwent pancreatic surgery. Mean age was 30 years and 1181 patients (85.3%) were female. The most common clinical presentation was non-specific abdominal pain (52.6% of cases). Mean overall survival was 98.1%. Mean recurrence rate was 2.8%. Mean follow-up was 4.2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Pancreatic SPTs are rare, and predominantly affect young women with unclear pathogenesis. Radical resection is the gold standard of treatment achieving good oncological impact and a favorable prognosis in a yearly life-long follow-up.

Treatment strategies for neuroendocrine liver metastases: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are often diagnosed when metastatic. The liver is the main site of metastases. Unfortunately, optimal management of neuroendocrine liver metastases remains a topic of debate. The aim of this study was to make a systematic review of the current literature about the results of the different treatments of neuroendocrine liver metastases. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted for English language publications from 1995 to 2021. Outcomes were analyzed according to survival, disease-free survival, and in the case of systemic therapies, progression-free survival. RESULTS: 5509 patients were analyzed in the review. 67% of patients underwent surgery achieving 5 years overall survival despite only 30% percent without a recurrence. 60% of patients that had received a transplant reached 5 years survival with a low disease-free survival rate (20%). Five-year survival rate was 36.2% for patients undergoing loco-regional therapies. CONCLUSION: Surgical resection is the best treatment when metastases are resectable, with the highest rate of survival, although liver transplantation shows good results for patients not eligible for surgery. Loco-regional therapies may be useful when surgical resection is contraindicated, or selectively used as a bridge to surgery or transplantation. Systemic therapies are indicated in patients for whom curative treatment cannot be obtained.

Complete mesocolic excision and D3 lymphadenectomy with central vascular ligation in right-sided colon cancer: a systematic review of postoperative outcomes, tumor recurrence and overall survival.

BACKGROUND: In right-sided colon cancer surgery, currently there is a great deal of discussion and debate regarding complete mesocolic excision (CME) versus conventional right hemicolectomy (CRH) on postoperative outcomes and oncological results. Our aim was to perform a systematic review of the short- and long-term outcomes of CME to standardize surgical approach in patients with right-sided colon cancer. METHODS: A systematic review was performed examining available data on randomized and non-randomized studies evaluating the role of CME and D3 lymphadenectomy in the treatment of right-sided colon cancer, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) standards. RESULTS: After literature search, 919 studies have been recorded, 110 studies underwent full-text reviews and 30 studies met inclusion criteria. The total number of CME procedures was 5931. Postoperative complications was reported in 28 studies with pooled overall complications of 1.88% for CME surgery. Six studies reported 0% of overall postoperative complications and they demonstrated a low incidence of complications following CME procedure. Anastomotic leak was reported in 27 studies with pooled proportion of 0.92% after CME resections. There were 16 papers reporting overall survival following CME procedure, with a mean of 85% of patients survived at 5 years. Mean 5-year overall survival was 93.05% in stage I patients, 89.76% in stage II patients and 79.65% in stage III patients. Local and distant recurrence were included in 21 studies, reporting tumor recurrence rate of 12.25% following CME. 5-year tumor recurrence was 5.8% in stage I patients, 7.68% in stage II patients and 15.69% in stage III patients. CONCLUSIONS: CME does not increase the risk of postoperative complications and significantly improves the long-term oncological impact. Prospective multicentre studies results are needed to verify if CME could be considered standard surgery for right colon cancer.

Current status on the adoption of high energy devices in Italy: An Italian Society for Endoscopic Surgery and New Technologies (SICE) national survey.

BACKGROUND: In the past three decades, different High Energy Devices (HED) have been introduced in surgical practice to improve the efficiency of surgical procedures. HED allow vessel sealing, coagulation and transection as well as an efficient tissue dissection. This survey was designed to verify the current status on the adoption of HED in Italy. METHODS: A survey was conducted across Italian general surgery units. The questionnaire was composed of three sections (general information, elective surgery, emergency surgery) including 44 questions. Only one member per each surgery unit was allowed to complete the questionnaire. For elective procedures, the survey included questions on thyroid surgery, lower and upper GI surgery, proctologic surgery, adrenal gland surgery, pancreatic and hepatobiliary surgery, cholecystectomy, abdominal wall surgery and breast surgery. Appendectomy, cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis and bowel obstruction due to adhesions were considered for emergency surgery. The list of alternatives for every single question included a percentage category as follows: " < 25%, 25-50%, 51-75% or > 75%", both for open and minimally-invasive surgery. RESULTS: A total of 113 surgical units completed the questionnaire. The reported use of HED was high both in open and minimally-invasive upper and lower GI surgery. Similarly, HED were widely used in minimally-invasive pancreatic and adrenal surgery. The use of HED was wider in minimally-invasive hepatic and biliary tree surgery compared to open surgery, whereas the majority of the respondents reported the use of any type of HED in less than 25% of elective cholecystectomies. HED were only rarely employed also in the majority of emergency open and laparoscopic procedures, including cholecystectomy, appendectomy, and adhesiolysis. Similarly, very few respondents declared to use HED in abdominal wall surgery and proctology. The distribution of the most used type of HED varied among the different surgical interventions. US HED were mostly used in thyroid, upper GI, and adrenal surgery. A relevant use of H-US/RF devices was reported in lower GI, pancreatic, hepatobiliary and breast surgery. RF HED were the preferred choice in proctology. CONCLUSION: HED are extensively used in minimally-invasive elective surgery involving the upper and lower GI tract, liver, pancreas and adrenal gland. Nowadays, reasons for choosing a specific HED in clinical practice rely on several aspects, including surgeon's preference, economic features, and specific drawbacks of the energy employed.

Real-Time Intraoperative Ureteral Identification in Minimally Invasive Colorectal Surgery: A Systematic Review.

Background: Although colorectal surgery (CRS) has currently almost entirely standardized surgical procedures, it can still show pitfalls such as the intraoperative ureteral injury. Intraoperative ureteral identification (IUI) could reduce the ureteral injuries rate but evidence is still lacking. We aimed to analyze the utility and the effectiveness of real-time IUI in minimally invasive CRS. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was performed examining available data on randomized and nonrandomized studies evaluating the utility of intraureteral fluorescence dye (IFD) and lighted ureteral stent (LUS) for intraoperative identification of ureters in CRS, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) standards. Primary endpoint was ureteral injuries rate. Secondary endpoints included acute kidney injury, hematuria, urinary tract infections (UTI), and fluorescence assessment. Results: After literature search, 158 studies have been recorded, 36 studies underwent full-text reviews and 12 studies met inclusion criteria. Overall, out of a total of 822 patients who successfully received IUI, 3 (0.33%) patients experienced ureteral injury. Hematuria was reported in 689 (97.6%) of patients following LUS-guided surgery and in 1 (2%) patient following IFD-guided surgery, although transient in all cases. UTI was reported in 15 (3.3%) LUS-guided resections and in 1 (2%) IFD-guided resections. Acute kidney injury occurred in 23 (2.5%) LUS-guided surgery and 1 (1%) IFD-guided surgery. Conclusions: Real-time ureteral identification techniques could represent a valid solution in complex minimally invasive CRS, safely, with no time consuming and always reproducible by surgeons. Prospective studies will be needed to confirm these findings.

Acute cholecystitis during COVID-19 pandemic: a multisocietary position statement.

Following the spread of the infection from the new SARS-CoV2 coronavirus in March 2020, several surgical societies have released their recommendations to manage the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the daily clinical practice. The recommendations on emergency surgery have fueled a debate among surgeons on an international level.We maintain that laparoscopic cholecystectomy remains the treatment of choice for acute cholecystitis, even in the COVID-19 era. Moreover, since laparoscopic cholecystectomy is not more likely to spread the COVID-19 infection than open cholecystectomy, it must be organized in such a way as to be carried out safely even in the present situation, to guarantee the patient with the best outcomes that minimally invasive surgery has shown to have.

[Cervico-mediastinal teratoma. A case report and review of the liberature]. / Sindrome dispnoizzante acuta da teratoma cervico-mediastinico. Descrizione di un caso e revisione della letteratura.

Cervical teratomas are very rare tumors. Actually, most of the times they appear as a cervical extension of a mediastinal teratoma due or to intracystic haemorrhage and/or a higher content of pancreatic tissue. Progressive growth and compression on adjacent organs, as the tracheo-bronchial tract in our case, can be the arising symptoms that determine hospital admission of the patient. Histologically, they are classified as mature, benign in 95% of cases, immature and malignant tranformation. Complete surgical removal is the elective treatment. We report a rare case with significant respiratory symptoms due to extrinsic compression and a review of the literature.

Surgical treatment of severe late radiation injury to the bowel: a retrospective analysis of 83 cases.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study was to determine the best surgical approach for the treatment of late radiation injury to the bowel. METHODOLOGY: Clinical and follow-up charts of 83 patients operated in our institution for late radiation injury to the bowel were retrospectively reviewed. The type of operation (resection-anastomosis or bypass) mortality, postoperative complications and reoperation rate were recorded. Seventy-six underwent resection with immediate anastomosis. A bypass or viscerolysis was performed in only 7 patients. RESULTS: Postoperative mortality was 2.4%, morbidity was 23. Twenty-seven patients underwent further surgery; early reoperation (within 1 month) was necessary in 12 (morbidity 41%). A late reoperation has been performed in 15 patients (no mortality, morbidity 53.5%). CONCLUSIONS: From the results of our study it can be concluded that resection with immediate anastomosis for late radiation injury to the bowel is safe and should be the first option for these patients.

Gastroduodenal major haemorrhages in critical patients: an original surgical technique.

AIM: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding represents today a serious pathology with two important problems: mortality and correct management. Our study is a review of recent and past licterature about causes, diagnosis and treatment of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: The Authors describe an original surgical technique in treating patients with gastroduodenal haemorrhages and critical circulatory-coagulative conditions. Any surgical resective procedure could be absolutely inacceptable for the rates in morbility and mortality in these absolutely instable patients. We approached the problem with a control damage surgery by endoluminal packing of the stomach or the duodenum.