Surgical Results of Pancreaticoduodenectomy for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: a Multi-institutional Retrospective Study of 174 patients.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) remains a major complication after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), and the prognosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after PD is poor. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A multi-institutional retrospective study was performed in 174 patients who underwent PD for PDAC from 2007 to 2012. The details of clinical data were examined, and risk factors for POPF and poor prognostic factors after PD were identified. RESULTS: POPF occured in 26 patients (15%), and 18 patients (10%) were diagnosed as Grade B/C POPF. The independent risk factors for Grade B/C POPF were body mass index (BMI) ≥25 (Odds Ratio [OR]=21.1, p=0.006) and absence of post-operative enteral nutrition (EN) (OR=10.2, p=0.04). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survivals of patients with PDAC after PD were 76%, 35%, and 18%, respectively. R1/2 operation was identified as the only independent poor prognostic factor (Hazard Ratio=3.66; p=0.0002). CONCLUSION: Patients with BMI ≥25 should be closely monitored for POPF after PD. Post-operative EN might help prevent POPF. Performing R0 resection is an important goal for ensuring patient survival after PD for PDAC.

An anisakis larva attached to early gastric cancer: report of a case.

Gastrointestinal anisakidosis is a nematode infection caused by the ingestion of larvae-infected raw or undercooked fish. The Japanese like to eat raw or undercooked fish, so gastric anisakiasis is a common disease in Japan. However, reports of anisakiasis with gastrointestinal cancer are rare. A 63-year-old Japanese male was diagnosed with a small early gastric cancerous lesion associated with gastric anisakiasis. From our experience and based on a review of the literature, the attachment of an anisakis larva to early gastric cancer is not considered accidental.

Treatment results of radical surgery and definitive chemoradiotherapy for patients with submucosal esophageal squamous cell cancinomas.

BACKGROUND: A radical esophagectomy with extensive lymph node dissection is the mainstay treatment for submucosal esophageal cancer, though definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has also been applied. However, the treatment outcomes have not yet been extensively investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-nine patients with submucocal esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 24 and 25 of whom had been treated by a radical esophagectomy with extensive lymph node dissection (Surgery group) and definitive CRT using 5-Fluorouracil and CDDP with concurrent radiation of 60 Gy (CRT group), respectively, formed the study cohort. RESULTS: In the Surgery group, the overall and cause-specific 5-year survival rates were 75.4% and 90.0%, respectively. No operative or hospital deaths had occurred. In the CRT group, a complete response (CR) had been achieved in 22 (88%) patients. The 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 79.3% and 36.9%, respectively, while the cause-specific 3- and 5-year survival rates were 75.2% and 55. 7%, respectively. No treatment-related deaths had occurred. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that: (i) a radical esophagectomy with extensive lymph node dissection can be a standard treatment offering excellent survival and (ii) a definitive CRT is a reasonable alternative to surgery, especially for patients with complications.

Hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma existing with liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatocellular carcinoma is usually complicated with liver cirrhosis, which makes its treatment difficult. Also a high rate of recurrence exists after surgical resection. However, how the prognosis after surgical treatment is affected by the severity of coexisting cirrhosis has not been clarified. METHODOLOGY: We compared the postoperative longterm courses of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with cirrhosis according to the liver function. All 112 hepatocellular carcinoma patients in this study underwent curative hepatic resection, and were classified into three groups according to the severity of liver dysfunction. The ICG R15' (indocyanine green retention test) normal: < 10%) was used in this study. Patients whose ICG R15' was less than 20% were classified as group I of 62, patients equal to 20% or between 20% and 30% as group II of 24, and patients equal to and more than 30% as group III of 26. RESULTS: In this series, 76 of 112 patients had recurrence (68%). A second hepatic resection was performed in six cases of group I and one case in group II. Fifty-eight of 76 recurrent cases (76%) were treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. A total of eleven cases had no transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in the three groups: 3 cases in group I, 5 cases in group II, and 3 cases in group III; The three cases of group III had no treatment because of extremely poor liver dysfunction, whilst the 8 patients without transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in groups I and II had hepatocellular carcinoma itself and other diseases. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates after recurrence were 92%, 48%, and 14%, respectively, in group I; 83%, 37%, 12%, respectively, in group II; and 66%, 30%, 0%, respectively, in group III. The prognosis was significantly worse according to the degree of liver dysfunction (p = 0.0206). CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with liver cirrhosis is affected not only by hepatocellular carcinoma itself, but also by the severity of the coexisting cirrhosis. Moreover, the cirrhotic liver can decline due to surgery. Surgical resection of this disease should be performed after careful patient selection and using a less invasive technique.