Familial component of early-onset colorectal cancer: opportunity for prevention.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with a non-syndromic family history of colorectal cancer are known to have an increased risk. There is an opportunity to prevent early-onset colorectal cancer (age less than 50 years) (EOCRC) in this population. The aim was to explore the proportion of EOCRC that is preventable due to family history of colorectal cancer. METHODS: This was a retrospective multicentre European study of patients with non-hereditary EOCRC. The impact of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), U.S. Multi-Society Task Force (USMSTF), and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines on prevention and early diagnosis was compared. Colorectal cancer was defined as potentially preventable if surveillance colonoscopy would have been performed at least 5 years before the age of diagnosis of colorectal cancer, and diagnosed early if colonoscopy was undertaken between 1 and 4 years before the diagnosis. RESULTS: Some 903 patients with EOCRC were included. Criteria for familial colorectal cancer risk in ESGE, USMSTF, and NCCN guidelines were met in 6.3, 9.4, and 30.4 per cent of patients respectively. Based on ESGE, USMSTF, and NCCN guidelines, colorectal cancer could potentially have been prevented in 41, 55, and 30.3 per cent of patients, and diagnosed earlier in 11, 14, and 21.1 per cent respectively. In ESGE guidelines, if surveillance had started 10 years before the youngest relative, there would be a significant increase in prevention (41 versus 55 per cent; P = 0.010). CONCLUSION: ESGE, USMSTF, and NCCN criteria for familial colorectal cancer were met in 6.3, 9.4, and 30.4 per cent of patients with EOCRC respectively. In these patients, early detection and/or prevention could be achieved in 52, 70, and 51.4 per cent respectively. Early and accurate identification of familial colorectal cancer risk and increase in the uptake of early colonoscopy are key to decreasing familial EOCRC.

Minimally Invasive Adrenalectomy: Technical Aspects of the Laparoscopic and the Robotic Approach.

Adrenalectomy is nowadays a procedure routinely performed by minimally invasive surgery. In this article we aim to describe in depth our technique for laparoscopic and robotic left and right adrenalectomies, by using four cases and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.

Rare anatomic variation of the hepatic arterial blood supply: case report and literature review.

PURPOSE: Our aim is to present a rare case of anatomic variation of the arterial blood supply to the liver because preoperative knowledge of hepatic vascular variations is mandatory in hepatic surgery and liver transplantation. METHODS: We present a case of unusual arterial blood supply to the liver, a right hepatic artery coming from the splenic artery, associated to a classical common hepatic artery and a left hepatic artery from the left gastric artery. Preoperative diagnosis was made using CT-scan and 3D reconstruction. RESULTS: The right hepatic artery was found behind the portal vein and its diameter showed its importance in the vascularisation of the liver. To our knowledge this type of variation has only twice been described before. The accuracy of the 3D reconstruction allowed us to adopt the best surgical strategy to avoid lesions of the two accessory arteries which proved important sources of blood supply. CONCLUSIONS: Precise preoperative evaluation of liver blood supply has great importance on surgical, transplantation strategy and outcome and rare anatomic variations have to be known to avoid lesions of potentially important arteries. New techniques of 3D reconstruction can ease the preoperative recognition of such difficult anatomic variations.

Totally laparoscopic 95% gastrectomy for cancer: technical considerations.

INTRODUCTION: Total gastrectomy is the standard treatment for tumours arising in the proximal stomach and for diffuse cancer according to the Lauren classification. Laparoscopic approach is progressively accepted and provides encouraging results. In order to reduce complications associated to the esophago-jejunal anastomosis, the concept of the 95 % open gastrectomy was developed in Japan, in the early 1980s. This procedure provides the spearing of a small remnant gastric stump of 2 cm and allows performing a gastro-jejunal anastomosis. Unlike the 7/8 gastrectomy, the 95 % gastrectomy allows the complete resection of the gastric fundus and an optimized pericardial lymph node dissection (group 1 and 2). We herein describe, step-by-step, our technique of full laparoscopic 95 % gastrectomy (G95 %), with D2 lymphadenectomy, including complete lymphadenectomy of the cardial nodes. DISCUSSION: When it is possible to respect the oncologic criteria regarding proximal resection margin, 95 % gastrectomy would offer best short-term results, such as lower anastomotic leak rate and a better quality of life, limiting the effect of disruption of the eso-gastric junction. CONCLUSION: In selected patients, laparoscopic G95 % is feasible and safe; it could be performed without any additional technical difficulties. Controlled clinical trials are necessary to confirm the encouraging results of the cases series, recently reported in literature.

Lymph node status assessed through the log odds ratio - a better tool in the prognosis of colorectal cancer relapse.

The current literature related to colorectal cancer shows there is a great inhomogeneity in patient outcome, even between patients in the same stage, which means that the TNM staging does not seem enough anymore to make a therapeutic decision. This is why many of the recent studies focus on the study of prognostic and predictive factors that would make the therapeutic decision-making process more accurate. In the current study, we focused on the study of two lymph node based scores - the lymph node ratio and the log odds ratio and the morphological characteristics of the tumor to try to see if any of them can predict a more aggressive tumor behavior in order to approach the patient in an appropriate way. The study included 25 patients presenting over a period of two years (2009-2011) for a local relapse or a metastasis after curative surgery for colorectal cancer. From the morphological characteristics of the tumor, only the protruding character of the tumor positively correlated at a statistically significant level with the recurrence-free time. We also proved that between the two lymph node scores and the pN stage, the log odds ratio was the one that best correlated with both the number of invaded lymph nodes and the number of resected nodes. The log odds ratio also proved to correlate well with the risk of developing a distant metastasis. Our study also shows for the first time that the log odds ratio is able to stratify patients according to their risk of a fast relapse.