Assessment of clinical outcome of cholecystectomy according to age in preparation for the "Silver Tsunami".

BACKGROUND: Recent rapid increases in the aging population have created an impending "Silver Tsunami" in advanced countries. The overall prevalence of gallstone disease and its related complications will soon increase, and there will be a larger demand for gallbladder surgery. METHODS: We examined the outcomes of cholecystectomy according to age among patients with cholelithiasis to determine how a patient's age influences the outcome of cholecystectomy. All patients with gallstone disease who presented for cholecystectomy at our institute from January 2006 to December 2018 were analyzed. RESULTS: All perioperative outcomes (operation length, length of hospital stay, rate of open surgery, urgent surgery, postoperative complications, incidental gallbladder cancer, postoperative hospital death, concomitant bile duct stones, and total medical costs per patient) increased as patients aged. CONCLUSIONS: To prevent the progression of biliary disease, elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy is recommended before patients with cholelithiasis advance in age.

Comparison of surgical outcomes of three different stump closure techniques during distal pancreatectomy.

BACKGROUND: To find the appropriate method of pancreatic transection during distal pancreatectomy (DP), we retrospectively compared post-operative complications including postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) according to the different types of pancreatic transection. METHODS: This study included 169 patients who underwent pancreatic transection using an ultrasonic activated device (USAD) with transfixion of the pancreatic duct (DP-TF group, n = 89), USAD followed by pancreaticogastrostomy (DP-PG group, n = 44), and a reinforced linear tristapler (DP-ST, n = 36). RESULTS: Overall and POPF-related complications in DP-PG group, and delayed gastric emptying (DGE) in DP-ST group were significantly lower than DP-TF group. There were no significant difference in overall complication, length of hospitalization and operative costs between DP-PG and DP-ST groups. Operative time was significantly longer in DP-PG group than others. CONCLUSION: Both DP-PG and DP-ST are associated with better surgical outcomes. Regarding ease of surgical technique, shorter operative times, and similar medical costs, DP with a reinforced linear tristapler is a good choice during DP.

Antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Recent meta-analyses concluded that antibiotic prophylaxis is not warranted in low-risk laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However, most trials in the meta-analyses had a relatively small sample size and were statistically underpowered. In addition, many of the trials mentioned potential cost savings owing to the elimination of prophylactic antibiotics. However, no trial has statistically estimated the cost effectiveness. To evaluate the results of meta-analyses, we conducted a randomized controlled trial on the role of prophylactic antibiotics in low-risk laparoscopic cholecystectomy with an adequate sample size. METHODS: From March 2007 to May 2013, at the Department of Surgery, Kansai Medical University, patients who were scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly assigned to one of two arms: those who were and were not administered prophylactic antibiotics. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of postoperative infections and secondary endpoints were postoperative hospital stay and medical costs. FINDINGS: During the study period, 518 patients were assigned to the Antibiotics group and 519 to the No antibiotics group. Occurrences of surgical site infections, distant infections and overall infections were significantly lower in the Antibiotics group than in the No antibiotics group (0.8 vs. 3.7%, p = 0.001, OR: 0.205 (95%CI: 0.069 to 0.606); 0.4 vs. 3.1%, p = 0.0004, OR: 0.122 (95%CI: 0.028 to 0.533); 1.2 vs. 6.7%; p<0.0001, OR: 0.162 (95%CI: 0.068 to 0.389), respectively). The postoperative hospital stay was significantly shorter in the Antibiotics group (mean, SD: 3.69±1.56 vs. 4.07±3.00; p = 0.01) and the postoperative medical costs were significantly lower in the Antibiotics group (mean, SD: $766±341 vs. 832±670; p = 0.047). Multivariable analysis showed that independent risk factors for postoperative infectious complications were no prophylactic antibiotics (p<0.0001) and age 65 or older (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative administration of prophylactic antibiotics should be recommended in laparoscopic cholecystectomy to prevent postoperative infectious complications and to reduce medical costs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000003749.

Ultrasonic scalpel for gastric cancer surgery: a prospective randomized study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential advantages of the ultrasonic scalpel compared with the conventional technique in gastric cancer surgery. METHODS: Patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the stomach were randomly assigned to ultrasonic scalpel or conventional technique. We used the HARMONIC FOCUS (Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.) as ultrasonic scalpel. RESULTS: Between February 2010 and December 2010, 60 patients with resectable gastric cancer were enrolled into the study. Operative time was significantly shorter with the ultrasonic arm than with the conventional arm (median 238.5 vs. 300.5 min; P = 0.0004). Blood loss was also significantly lower in the ultrasonic arm than in the conventional arm (median 351.0 vs. 569.5 ml; P = 0.016). Clavien-Dindo grades of postoperative complications were similar in the two groups. From a questionnaire survey of operators, the ultrasonic scalpel significantly reduced the stress of lymph node dissection (3.67 vs. 2.87; P = 0.0006). However, in assisting surgeons, the contributions to surgery, study, and technical improvement of the ultrasonic group were lower than in the conventional group. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the ultrasonic scalpel is a reliable and safe tool for open gastric cancer surgery.