Stapled versus hand-sewn anastomoses after bowel resection in patients with crohn disease.

BACKGROUND: Anastomosis configuration is an essential step in treatment to restore continuity of the gastrointestinal tract following bowel resection in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). However, the association between anastomotic type and surgical outcome remains controversial. This retrospective study aimed to compare early postoperative complications and surgical outcome between stapler and handsewn anastomosis after bowel resection in Crohn's disease. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2018, a total of 339 CD patients underwent bowel resection with anastomosis. Patient characteristics, intraoperative data, early postoperative complications, and outcomes were analyzed and compared between two groups of patients. Group 1 consisted of patients with stapler anastomosis and group 2 with handsewn anastomosis. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in the incidence of postoperative surgical complications between the stapler and handsewn anastomosis groups (25% versus 24.4%, p = 1.000). Reoperation for complications and postoperative hospital stay were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our analysis showed that there were no differences in anastomotic leak, nor postoperative complications, mortality, reoperation for operative complications, or postoperative hospital stay between the stapler anastomosis and handsewn anastomosis groups.

Effect of immunosuppressive medication on postoperative complications following abdominal surgery in Crohn's disease patients.

BACKGROUND: Immunosuppressants represent an effective pharmacological treatment for the remission and management of Crohn's disease (CD); however, it has not been well-defined if these medications are associated with an increased incidence of postoperative complications after intestinal surgery. This retrospective study evaluated the association between immunosuppressive treatment and complications following bowel resection in patients with CD. METHODS: A total of 426 patients with CD who underwent abdominal surgery between 2001 and 2018 were included in the study. The participants were divided into two groups. In the first group, patients were under immunosuppressive treatment at the time of surgical resection, while in the second group, patients had never received pharmacological therapy for CD before surgery. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found in the incidence of postoperative complications between the two groups. Double or triple immunosuppressive therapy was not associated with increased complications compared to monotherapy or no pharmacological treatment. Preoperative risk factors such as hypoalbuminemia, abscess, fistula, intestinal perforation, long duration of symptoms, and the intraoperative performance of more than one anastomosis were related to increased rates of postoperative complications. Factors affecting the occurrence of postoperative complications in the univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis using a stepwise logistic regression model, and these factors were also related to increased rates of postoperative surgical complications. CONCLUSION: Immunosuppressive therapy was not associated with increased rates of postoperative complications following bowel resection in patients with CD.

Role of biliary drainage before pancreatoduodenectomy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Utilization of preoperative biliary drainage prior to pancreatoduodenectomy for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and obstructive jaundice remains controversial. METHODS: All patients that underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma at the authors' institution were analyzed retrospectively to evaluate the effect of endoscopic biliary drainage on postoperative outcomes and long-term survival. Age, gender, ASA-Score, operative time, blood loss, intraoperative transfusion rate, and postoperative complications, including postoperative pancreatic fistula, delayed gastric emptying, bleeding, bile fistula, wound infections, sepsis, pulmonary and cardiac complications as well as the need for relaparotomy were analyzed. RESULTS: Two hundred eighty-five patients with similar baseline characteristics underwent pancreatoduodenectomy, 151 patients with biliary drainage (group 1) and 134 without drainage (group 2). More than 60% of patients had one or more postoperative complications, without significant difference between the two groups (P=0.140). The overall incidence of pancreatic fistula was 21.75% in both groups (group 1: 19.87% vs. group 2: 23.88%, P=0.659). Wound healing impairment was the only postoperative complication that differed significantly between the two groups (group 1: 24.50% vs. group 2: 8.96%, P<0.001). In multivariate risk analysis, biliary drainage was the only independent risk factor for wound healing impairment (OR 4.126; 95% CI: 1.295-13.143; P=0.017). The median overall survival was similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative endoscopic biliary drainage is associated with an increased risk for wound healing impairment and wound infections. Therefore, biliary drainage should not be used routinely in patients with obstructive jaundice prior to pancreatoduodenectomy.

Dyspnea due to an uncommon vascular tumor: leiomyosarcoma of the infrahepatic vena cava inferior.

BACKGROUND: Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is a rare malignancy that originated from the smooth muscle tissue of the vascular wall. Diagnoses, as well as, treatment of the disease are still challenging and to date, a radical surgical resection of the tumor is the only curative approach. CASE REPORT: We report on the case of a 49-year old male patient who presented with suddenly experienced dyspnea. Besides bilateral pulmonary arterial embolism, a lesion close to the head of the pancreas was found using CT scan, infiltrating the infrahepatic IVC. Percutaneous ultrasound-guided biopsy revealed a low-grade LMS. Intraoperatively, a tumor of the IVC was observed without infiltration of surrounding organs or distant metastases. Consequently, the tumor was removed successfully, by en-bloc resection including prosthetic graft placement of the IVC. Histological workup revealed a completely resected (R0) moderately differentiated LMS of the IVC. CONCLUSION: LMS of the infrahepatic IVC is an uncommon tumor, which may present with dyspnea as its first clinical sign. Patients benefit from radical tumor resection. However, due to the poor prognosis of vascular LMS, a careful follow-up is mandatory.

Indocyanine green disappearance rate is the most useful marker for liver resection.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Non-invasive measurement of indocyanine green plasma disappearance rate (PDR(ICG)) is supposed to be an accurate liver function parameter. However, its value compared to conventional markers like bilirubin and prothrombin time (PT) is unclear. The authors therefore prospectively determined PDR(ICG) and bilirubin and PT and recorded the clinical course after liver resection. METHODOLOGY: Ninety-six patients underwent liver resection. Three patients died due to liver failure. Twenty patients (21%) developed signs of liver dysfunction. Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis was performed to assess the value of each parameter to detect postoperative liver failure and dysfunction. RESULTS: PDR(ICG) and PT but not bilirubin preoperatively differentiated between patients with and without cirrhosis. In cirrhosis, PDR(ICG) patients did not recover to preoperative baseline values. ROC analysis revealed that PDR(ICG) [area under the curve (AUC): 0.867] did significantly better indicate postoperative liver dysfunction than bilirubin (AUC: 0.633) and PT (AUC: 0.570). CONCLUSIONS: PDR(ICG) should be measured preoperatively and daily after liver resection in patients at risk (underlying liver disease, resections > 30% standard liver volume).

Indocyanine green elimination but not bilirubin indicates improvement of graft function during MARS therapy.

Measurement of indocyanine green plasma disappearance rate (PDR(ICG)) has been suggested as a meaningful liver function parameter. However, there are only very limited data concerning its value in the monitoring of graft dysfunction (GDF) and primary non-function (PNF) especially during molecular absorbent recirculating system (MARS) therapy. This study was therefore performed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy to detect and monitor GDF with the measurement of the PDR(ICG) in direct comparison with conventional markers like bilirubin and prothrombin time (PT). Of the 19 liver recipients, four patients with GDF and two patients with PNF were treated with 38 MARS cycles. Only PDR(ICG) did reliably indicate liver function between patients with GDF/PNF and patients with sufficient graft function who served as controls. Moreover, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed the highest areas under the curve (AUC) for PDR(ICG) (AUC(PDRICG max): 0.840, AUC(PDRICG max): 0.822), followed by bilirubin (AUC(bilirubin): 0.528) and PT (AUC(PT): 0.546). In contrast to the decrease of the serum bilirubin concentration due to MARS, a noticeable improvement of PDR(ICG) was evident only in patients with GDF. Patients with acute fulminant failure and PNF had significantly lower PDR(ICG) values, which did not improve even during continuous MARS treatments. Conclusively, monitoring of PDR(ICG) is superior to bilirubin and PT measurements to determine the graft function especially in patients with PNF and GDF undergoing MARS therapy.

The standardized surgical approach improves outcome of gallbladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine the extent of surgical procedures, pathological findings, complications and outcome of patients treated in the last 12 years for gallbladder cancer. METHODS: The impact of a standardized more aggressive approach compared with historical controls of our center with an individual approach was examined. Of 53 patients, 21 underwent resection for cure and 32 for palliation. RESULTS: Overall hospital mortality was 9% and procedure related mortality was 4%. The standardized approach in UICC stage IIa, IIb and III led to a significantly improved outcome compared to patients with an individual approach (Median survival: 14 vs. 7 months, mean+/-SEM: 26+/-7 vs. 17+/-5 months, p = 0.014). The main differences between the standardized and the individual approach were anatomical vs. atypical liver resection, performance of systematic lymph dissection of the hepaticoduodenal ligament and the resection of the common bile duct. CONCLUSION: Anatomical liver resection, proof for bile duct infiltration and, in case of tumor invasion, radical resection and lymph dissection of the hepaticoduodenal ligament are essential to improve outcome of locally advanced gallbladder cancer.