[A case of scirrhous gastric cancer in which cancer cells were first identified in the ascites by immunostaining using the cell transfer technique].

This was a case of a woman in her 60s with the chief complaint of an abnormal stomach X-ray at the screening. Although suspected to be scirrhous gastric cancer, gastric biopsy revealed Group 1, and cytology in accumulated ascites and open surgery was initially Class II, but cancer cells in the ascites were confirmed for the first time by subsequent immunostaining using the cell transfer technique. Undifferentiated advanced gastric cancer, peritoneal dissemination, and lymphatic metastasis were pathologically observed. This case suggests the effectiveness of immunostaining when the results of ascites cytology are different from the clinical picture.

Risk factors for difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in grade II acute cholecystitis according to the Tokyo guidelines 2013.

BACKGROUND: The Tokyo Guidelines 2013 classifies acute cholecystitis (AC) into three grades and recommends appropriate therapy for each grade. For grade II AC, either early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) or percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) should be performed. This study aimed to identify the risk factors for difficulty of LC for treating grade II AC. METHODS: Totally, 122 patients who underwent LC for grade II AC were enrolled and divided into difficult LC (DLC) and nondifficult LC (NDLC) groups. The DLC group included patients who experienced one of the following conditions: conversion from LC to open cholecystectomy, operating time ≥ 180 min, or blood loss ≥300 ml. Preoperative characteristics and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, risk factors included male sex, interval between symptom onset and admission, interval between symptom onset and LC, and anticoagulant therapy. The incidence of postoperative complications was higher in the DLC group than in the NDLC group (23.5% vs. 4.6%, p = 0.0016). According to receiver operating characteristic curves, the optimal cutoff value was calculated, and multivariate analysis showed that male sex [odds ratio (OR), 5.76; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.979-19.51; p = 0.0009) and interval between symptom onset and LC of over 96 h (OR, 6.32; 95% CI, 2.126-20.15; p = 0.0009) were independent risk factors for difficulty of LC. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with grade II AC, LC was technically difficult when performed over 96 h after symptom onset. Moreover, male sex was a risk factor. Therefore, PTGBD should be considered in these patients.

Extreme dilatation of the interposed jejunal pouch after proximal gastrectomy associated with portal venous gas: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: The jejunal pouch interposition (JPI) after proximal gastrectomy (PG) was proposed as a reconstructive procedure to provide a gastric reservoir substitute and prevent postgastrectomy syndrome. However, food residue remaining in some of the pouches resulted in the adverse effect of abdominal bloating, thereby body weight loss. Here, we report a rare case with an extreme dilation of the interposed jejunal pouch (JP) 8 years after PG, requiring pouch resection. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 65-year-old-man who had undergone PG with an inverted U-shaped JPI for early gastric cancer 8 years previously, suffered from shock after right hip joint implantation. Abdominal enhanced CT scan revealed an extremely dilated JP accompanied by portal venous gas. After 5 months of conservative therapy, he underwent resection of the JP and gastric remnant with Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy reconstruction. After the operation, the patient has remained in good health for over 3 years. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Long-term operative outcome following pouch operation for gastric cancer still remains controversial. Surgical intervention should be considered when we encounter patients who have refractory pouch dilatation after surgery for gastric cancer.

Optimal timing of cholecystectomy after percutaneous gallbladder drainage for severe cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND: The Tokyo guideline for acute cholecystitis recommended percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage followed by cholecystectomy for severe acute cholecystitis, but the optimal timing for the subsequent cholecystectomy remains controversial. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients who underwent either laparoscopic or open cholecystectomy after percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage for severe acute cholecystitis were enrolled and divided into difficult cholecystectomy (group A) and non-difficult cholecystectomy (group B). Patients who had one of these conditions were placed in group A: 1) conversion from laparoscopic to open cholecystectomy; 2) subtotal cholecystectomy and/or mucoclasis; 3) necrotizing cholecystitis or pericholecystic abscess formation; 4) tight adhesions around the gallbladder neck; and 5) unsuccessfully treated using PTGBD. Preoperative characteristics and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: The interval between percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage and cholecystectomy in Group B was longer than that in Group A (631 h vs. 325 h; p = 0.031). Postoperative complications occurred more frequently when the interval was less than 216 h compared to when it was more than 216 h (35.7 vs. 7.6%; p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Cholecystectomy for severe acute cholecystitis was technically difficult when performed within 216 h after percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage.

Feasibility Assessment of Modified FOLFOX-6 as adjuvant treatment after resection of liver metastases from colorectal cancer: analyses of a multicenter phase II clinical trial (Miyagi-HBPCOG Trial-001).

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This multicenter and single arm phase II clinical trial was performed to examine the safety and efficacy of modified FOLFOX6 (mFOLFOX6) as adjuvant treatment after resection of liver metastases from colorectal cancer. METHODOLOGY: Patients who had undergone R0-1 resection of liver metastases were assigned to 12 cycles of mFOLFOX6. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). RESULTS: We enrolled 49 cases and analyzed adverse events in 48 cases, since in one patient cancer recurred before starting treatment. As to the relative dose intensity, 5-FU was 78.8%, and oxaliplatin was 75.9%. Adverse events of Grade 3 and above includ- ed 18 cases of neutropenia (37.5%), 4 cases of sensory neuropathy (8.3%), 4 cases of thrombocytopenia (8.3%) and 4 cases of allergy (8.3%), and there were no cases of fatality caused by adverse events. The most difference of adverse event compared with MOSAIC trial (Multicenter International Study of Oxaliplatin/5FU-LV in the Adjuvant Treatment of Colon Cancer) was thrombocytopenia. The 2-year DFS was 59.2% (95% CI: 36.7-78.4) in the 49 enrolled cases. CONCLUSION: mFOLFOX6 after hepatectomy was tolerable. And mFOLFOX6 also seemed to improve DFS. mFOLFOX is one of the options for such patients and appears promising as an adjuvant treatment.

E-PASS comprehensive risk score is a good predictor of postsurgical mortality from comorbid disease in elderly gastric cancer patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The long-term prognosis of elderly gastric cancer patients is poor because of the cancer and unrelated comorbidities. We investigated the risk factors for mortality after gastrectomy to aid surgeons in deciding the correct operative procedure for elderly gastric cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 414 gastric cancer patients surgically treated between 2002 and 2012 were divided into two groups A (≥75 years) and B (<75 years). Data were collected retrospectively and analyzed using the Estimation of Physiological Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system as a predictor of postoperative complications. RESULTS: Overall survival (P < 0.001), disease-specific survival (P = 0.029), and survival rate related to comorbid disease (P < 0.001) were significantly reduced in elderly patients compared with younger patients. Surgical treatment for Group A involved lesser extent of nodal resection (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that a comprehensive risk score (CRS) ≥0.5 based on the E-PASS score (P = 0.022) and severe postoperative complication (P = 0.002) were independent risk factors for mortality from comorbid disease. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, E-PASS-based CRS was a good predictor of comorbidity-related mortality. CRS may help surgeons select elderly patients with gastric cancer for surgical or other therapies.

[A case of liver cirrhosis due to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis complicated by myotonic dystrophy].

A female in her 50s with a four-year history of myotonic dystrophy was admitted to our hospital with hematochezia. She was diagnosed with synchronous colonic cancer of the transverse and sigmoid colon, for which she underwent partial transverse and sigmoid colectomy, respectively. Postoperative respiratory failure resulted in prolonged stay in the intensive care unit. Her liver and renal function gradually deteriorated, and she eventually died from these sequelae on postoperative day 26. Intraoperative liver biopsy revealed cirrhosis arising from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Although myotonic dystrophy is believed to be a multisystem disease, its association with cirrhosis has not been reported in Japan. We therefore report this rare case of liver cirrhosis arising from NASH in a patient with myotonic dystrophy.

[A case of huge papillary adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder with marked necrosis].

A 71-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of a right upper abdominal tumor. A contrast-CT scan demonstrated a huge tumor extending from the hepatic hilum to the pelvic space. The rim of tumor was enhanced. The center of the tumor was not enhanced and thus considered to consist of mucus or necrotic tissues. Preoperative diagnosis as gallbladder carcinoma without infiltrating to peripheral organ was made and subsequent cholecystectomy with full-thickness dissection has been performed. The tumor itself was in a swollen gallbladder, 18 cm in diameter, consisting of necrotic tissues in the lumen. Pathologic diagnosis was papillary adenocarcinoma, classified as pHinf1a, revealing fStage II. In many cases with undifferentiated carcinoma of the gallbladder, the neoplasms grow expansively to become large tumors with marked necrosis. We report a rare case of papillary adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder presenting both a clinical course and radiologic findings indistinguishable from undifferentiated carcinoma of the gallbladder.

Long-term bile diversion enhances basal and duodenal oleate-stimulated pancreatic exocrine secretion in dogs.

There have been no previous reports whether long-term bile diversion enhances pancreatic exocrine secretion. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of long-term bile diversion on pancreatic exocrine secretion. Four mongrel dogs were prepared for chronic gastric and pancreatic fistulas and received intraduodenal sodium oleate infusion (controls). These dogs, then underwent diversion of bile from the intestines by ligating the common bile duct and interposing a segment of jejunum between the gallbladder and the urinary bladder (total biliary diversion [TBD]). After three weeks, the dogs received an identical sodium oleate infusion. TBD augmented basal pancreatic exocrine secretion compared with controls (4.4-fold increase in basal flow volume; 9.0-fold increase in bicarbonate output; and 3.3-fold increase in protein output). Likewise, TBD augmented oleate-stimulated exocrine secretion (2.0-fold increase in cumulative flow volume; 2.6-fold increase in bicarbonate output; and 1.4-fold increase in protein output). TBD also augmented basal and oleate-stimulated plasma cholecystokinin levels. Administration of a Cholecystokinin-A receptor antagonist (loxiglumide) after TBD reduced the flow volume and bicarbonate output to the control levels, and the protein output to less than a half of the control level. Long-term bile diversion enhances basal and oleate-stimulated pancreatic exocrine secretion, at least partly via increased cholecystokinin secretion.