Gastrointestinal stromal tumor in Carney's triad with laparoscopic total gastrectomy: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Carney's triad is a rare syndrome characterized by the co-occurrence of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), pulmonary chondroma, and extra-adrenal paraganglioma. We present a case of a young woman with GISTs associated with this triad. CASE PRESENTATION: A 28-year-old woman was identified with multiple gastric tumors and a right lung nodule during a routine health check-up. CT scans and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a 50 mm mass on the lesser curvature of the stomach, along with two additional gastric lesions and a 20 mm nodule in the right lung. The patient had a history of right middle lobectomy at the age of 19 for pulmonary chondroma. During surgery, enlarged lymph nodes were observed, indicating metastasis, which necessitated a total gastrectomy with radical (D2) lymph node dissection. Pathological examination confirmed seven GISTs, with immunohistochemical staining positive for KIT (+), DOG1 (+), and negative for SDHB (-). The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on the seventh postoperative day. Despite opting out of adjuvant imatinib therapy, she remains disease-free 2 years postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: This case underscores the necessity of total gastrectomy with lymph node dissection due to the high incidence of metastasis in GISTs associated with Carney's triad. Further research is required to determine the optimal extent of lymph node dissection in such cases.

Laparoscopic right gastroepiploic artery-sparing distal gastric tube resection with lymph node dissection for gastric tube cancer after esophagectomy: A novel surgical approach (with video).

INTRODUCTION: Total resection of the gastric tube with lymphadenectomy for advanced gastric tube cancer is highly invasive and associated with severe complications. Other surgical option, partial gastrectomy or wedge resection, is insufficient if lymph node metastasis is suspected. Therefore, a technique balancing invasiveness and curability is required. MATERIALS AND SURGICAL TECHNIQUE: First, we laparoscopically peeled off adhesions of the gastric tube, gastric mesentery (including the right gastroepiploic artery/vein), pericardial membrane, and aorta, up to the planned resection line. Subsequently, we cut the infrapyloric and right gastric arteries at their roots and dissected No. 5 and No. 6 lymph nodes. We taped and spared the right gastroepiploic artery and vein and dissected the tissues including No. 4d lymph nodes. Finally, the gastric tube was cut using a linear stapler, and the remaining gastric tube was anastomosed to the jejunum with a circular stapler. The mean operative time for the three cases treated using this intervention was 729 min. The patients were discharged on postoperative day 8 or 9 without any complications. They all remained alive and recurrence-free. DISCUSSION: This novel approach balances invasiveness and curability by leveraging the advantages of laparoscopy. The procedure was performed safely and reproducibly in three consecutive cases, providing another viable option for the treatment of gastric tube cancer.

Surgeons' involvement in COVID-19 treatment: a practice by a regional core hospital in Japan to avoid physician burnout.

BACKGROUND: To prevent task accumulation on certain divisions, our institution developed a unique system of allocating inpatient treatment of COVID-19 patients to doctors who were not specialized in respiratory infections. The objective of this study was to investigate whether surgeons can be involved in the COVID-19 inpatient treatment without negatively affecting patient outcome, and how such involvement can affect the wellbeing of surgeons. METHODS: There were 300 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalized from January to June 2021, and 160 of them were treated by the redeployed doctors. They were divided into 3 groups based on the affiliation of the treating doctor. Patient characteristics and outcomes were compared between the groups. In addition, the impact of COVID-19 duty on participating surgeons was investigated from multiple perspectives, and a postduty survey was conducted. RESULTS: There were 43 patients assigned to the Department of Surgery. There were no differences in the backgrounds and outcomes of patients compared with other groups. The surgeon's overtime hours were significantly longer during the duty period, despite no change in the number of operations and the complication rate. The questionnaire revealed that there was a certain amount of mental and physical burden from the COVID-19 duty. CONCLUSION: Surgeons can take part in inpatient COVID-19 treatment without affecting patient outcome. However, as such duty could negatively affect the surgeons' physical and mental wellbeing, further effort is needed to maintain the balance of fulfilling individual and institutional needs.

Is Palliative Gastrojejunostomy for Malignant Gastric Outlet Obstruction an Optimal Choice for Very Elderly Patients? A Report from a Long-Lived Country.

BACKGROUND: Gastrojejunostomy (GJ) is a surgical option for malignant gastric outlet obstruction (mGOO). Confronting an aging society, the demand to treat elderly cancer patients with unresectable malignancies is increasing; however, the benefit of GJ to the very elderly (≥ 80 years of age) has never been investigated. METHODS: This multicenter, retrospective review included 108 patients who had undergone GJ for mGOO from two medical centers in Japan, one of the most long-lived countries. Patients were divided into two groups, with 80 years of age as the cut-off. Various factors, including surgical complications and patient survival, were compared. RESULTS: GJ in the very elderly (aged ≥ 80 years) was associated with a higher incidence of surgical complications (p = 0.049), such as delayed gastric emptying (DGE; p < 0.001), aspiration pneumonia (p = 0.029), and consequent mortality (p = 0.016). Age ≥80 years was also identified as an independent predictor of DGE (odds ratio 6.444, p = 0.005) and survival after GJ (hazard ratio 7.767, p = 0.016). In particular, the median survival time after GJ in the population aged ≥80 years with gastric cancer was only < 2 months. About the surgical procedure, antiperistaltic anastomosis with partial stomach partitioning (PSP) yielded the lowest occurrence rate of DGE (3.4%) and aspiration pneumonia (1.7%). CONCLUSIONS: GJ does not seem to be the optimal choice for very elderly patients, particularly those with gastric cancer. If performed, antiperistaltic anastomosis with PSP should be employed to reduce the surgical complications.

Enhanced-view totally extraperitoneal repair in a patient with incisional hernia after robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Although laparoscopic incisional hernia repair, especially laparoscopic intraperitoneal onlay mesh, is a widely used technique, it can cause serious complications, including mesh erosion, adhesive bowel obstruction, and chronic pain. The enhanced-view totally extraperitoneal (eTEP) technique has been reported to prevent such complications by placing the mesh in the retrorectus space. Here, we report the case of a patient with post-robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP) incisional hernia repaired using the eTEP technique. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year-old man, who underwent RARP for prostate cancer 4 years ago developed an incisional hernia. Abdominal computed tomography showed the presence of an epigastric incisional hernia measuring 4 cm long and 3.7 cm wide. We performed an eTEP repair. We closed the hernia defect using a 0 barbed suture and placed a self-gripping mesh measuring 20 cm long and 15 cm wide in the developed retrorectus space with no fixation. There were no postoperative complications, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 2. CONCLUSIONS: eTEP repair is considered an extremely effective surgical treatment option for incisional hernias because of its few resulting postoperative mesh-and-tacker-related complications.