The use of autologous epidermal grafts for diabetic foot ulcer emergencies: A clinical study.

BACKGROUND: There are various surgical and invasive treatment systems such as conservative skin grafts and autologous epider-mal grafting (AEG) for diabetic foot ulcers. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using a novel epidermal graft harvesting system in diabetic foot ulcer emergencies. METHODS: A retrospective clinical study was conducted with 15 diabetic foot ulcer patients, and after written and signed consent forms were taken, AEG system was applied to all patients. All of the clinical data of the patients such as their American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Status Classification System scores, size of pre-application wound area (cm2), time to complete re-epithelization of the wound, pain scores using the visual analog scale (VAS) for both donor and recipient sites, changes in size of wound, complete dermal response time, and patients' demographics, comorbidities were recorded. The age, gender, pre-post appli-cation wound area (cm2), time of healing, ASA, and VAS variables were compared each other and analyzed statistically. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean of time for complete wound healing was 5.9 (range 4-8) weeks. There was no statistically difference between recipient wound size and patient's age; size of both types of wounds (cm2) and time (weeks) for complete reduction for both types of wounds; and time to complete both types of wound healing and gender (p=0.509, 0.788, and 0.233, respectively). ASA scores did not impact the time required for complete healing of the wound (p=0.749). CONCLUSION: The current study has tried to evaluate the efficacy of the AEG system in a homogenous population with diabetic foot ulcers. An epidermal harvesting system may be used effectively and safely in patients with diabetic foot ulcer emergencies.

Surgical Resection Length and Harvested Lymph Nodes in Colon Cancer.

OBJECTIVE:  To determine the relationship between resected specimen length and tumor location, the number of LN harvested (LNh), and the positive LN ratio (LNR) in colon cancer. STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive study. Place & Duration of Study: Department of General Surgery, University of Health Sciences, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, between January 2009 and December 2019. METHODOLOGY: Colon specimens resected for colon cancer were evaluated retrospectively, in terms of tumor location, type of surgery, resected colon length, LNh and the number of metastatic LN, based on hospital records. Chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis along with Dunn-Bonferroni post hoc tests were applied. The lymph node ratio (LNR) (= ratio of LN+  to LNh), the number of lymph nodes per unit distance (LNh/cm), the ratio of LNR to length of specimen (LNR/cm) were evaluated. RESULTS: The rate of ≥12 LNh in 644 colon cancer patients was 81.4%. The length of colon specimen and the number of harvested lymph nodes (LNh) were higher in patients, who underwent subtotal colectomy (StC), compared to patients who underwent right and left hemicolectomy (RhC and LhC, p<0.001). Inadequate LNh was more common in LhC patients (p<0.001). The ratio of the number of LNh to the length of the resected specimen (LNh/cm) was higher in RhC and LhC patients than StC patients (p<0.001). LNR and LNR/cm were higher in LhC patients, though mean specimen length was shorter in LhC patients (p<0.05). The number of LNh had a direct proportion with the resected specimen length; however, the LNh/cm and LNR/cm ratios decreased in >50 cm length specimen patients (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Central LN dissection and vascular high ligation, according to tumor site are more efficient than the length of the resected specimen for an adequate LN dissection in colon cancers. Key Words: Colon cancer, Harvested lymph node,  Specimen length, Adequate dissection.

Evaluation of the open and laparoscopic appendectomy operations with respect to their effect on serum IL-6 levels.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative serum inflammatory cytokine levels are thought to reflect the magnitude of surgical stress. Cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an early marker of systemic inflammatory response and tissue damage. This study evaluated levels of IL-6 after open and laparoscopic appendectomy to compare the degree of surgical stress associated with these procedures. METHODS: IL-6 levels were measured pre- and postoperatively in the plasma of 200 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of acute appendicitis. After preoperative randomization, 100 patients underwent open appendectomy, and 100 patients underwent laparoscopic appendectomy. RESULTS: Preoperative concentrations of IL-6 were 65.22±4.76 pg/mL in the open appendectomy group and 65.73±6.34 pg/mL in the laparoscopic appendectomy group (p=0.752). Postoperative levels were 105.28±16.14 pg/mL and 76.11±16.18 pg/mL, respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Lower postoperative serum IL-6 levels suggest that laparoscopic surgery is associated with lower degree of surgical stress. Laparoscopic appendectomy has significant advantage over open appendectomy due to more rapid postoperative recovery.