Early results of laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To study the immediate and early postoperative results obtained in patients subjected to laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHOD: A prospective, observational cohort study was initiated in January 1993, involving 50 patients subjected to laparoscopic resection for colorectal adenocarcinoma (rectal amputation in 10 cases, lower rectal resection in 13, recto-sigmoidectomy in 18, and miscellaneous colectomies in 9 cases). Seventy-percent of the tumors were in IUCC stages II and III. Mean follow-up was 21 months. RESULTS: Conversion to open surgery was required in 18 cases (36%). Intraoperative problems were limited to a single urethral lesion, while postoperative complications were recorded in 11 patients (22%), and were managed conservatively: a urinary fistula secondary to the aforementioned urethral lesion; subclinical dehiscence of the anastomosis (2 cases); phlebitis (1 case); infection of the surgical wound (4 cases), and urinary and pulmonary infection (1 case each). There were no differences between converted surgery (i.e., conventional laparotomy) and those operations completed endoscopically (with a final assisted or combined minilaparotomy) in terms of the length of the surgical resection piece, the length of the distal margin of the specimen or the number of lymph nodes. Global hospital stay ranged from 9-12 days, versus 5-7 in the group without complications. Global survival is 78% at 42 months, with a disease-free interval of 53% at this time. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic colorectal resection presents an incidence of intra- and postoperative complications characteristic of major surgery, with no differences in surgical specimen size with respect to those operations converted to laparotomy. Global survival is similar to that reported in the literature for open surgery.

[Venous reservoirs: the late complications according to the route of implantation. The Interhospital Group of Valencia (GIHV)]. / Reservorios venosos: complicaciones tardías según la vía de implantación. Grupo Interhospitalario Valenciano (GIHV).

UNLABELLED: The aim of the study which we present is to analyze the incidence of late complications, clinical and sub-clinical, of venous reservoirs implanted through two access routes, subclavian (group A), and brachial (group B). It is a multi-centric clinical study, initiated in 1992, in which the general surgery departments of three general hospitals of the Valencian Community were involved. It is made up of 87 patients, 48 men and 39 women, with a mean age (SD) of 57.1 (12.6) years, of whom we made a late review of 41 patients (29 from group A and 12 from group B). They were subjected to a physical examination, bacterial cultures of the entrance, and phlebograms of the upper extremities through the dorsal veins of the hands. RESULTS: The incidence of clinical complications was 39% in group A and 77% in group B (p = 0.0507). The main clinical complications were minimally symptomatic venous thrombosis, catheter thrombosis, infection, and miscellaneous (migration, paresthesias, articular movement alterations, etc.). And the prevalence of phlebographic venous thrombosis was 18% in group A and 40% in group B (p = 0.051). CONCLUSIONS: The subclavian access for the implantation of venous reservoirs has a lower incidence (with a tendency towards clinical significance) of clinical complications and subclinical venous thrombosis (Phlebogram) than the brachial access.

[Surgical trauma from laparoscopic cholecystectomy]. / Traumatismo quirúrgico de la colecistectomía laparoscópica.

UNLABELLED: The authors present a prospective study whose objective is to estimate the degree of injury from laparoscopic cholecystectomy, by means of the determination of the neuroendocrine response to the surgical aggression. By means of a simple randomization, two study groups are established: group A, consisting of 17 patients subjected to laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and group B, consisting of 18 patients subjected to different techniques of open surgery. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: transfusion of blood derivatives or therapy with corticosteroids. The groups are homogeneous with regard to age, sex, Quetelet index, duration of the intervention, and anaesthetic drugs. A postoperative increase of plasma ACTH, growth hormone, insulin, cortisol and T3 was found in both groups (p < 0.05), and a significant postoperative increase of cortisol and catecholamines in 24 hour urine was found especially in group B. It can be concluded that even though there is an increase of the contraregulatory hormones in the postoperative phase of both groups, the neuroendocrine response is lower after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

[Subcutaneous injection chambers for central venous access: a multicenter clinical trial. The Interhospital Group of Valencia (GIHV)]. / Cámaras de inyección subcutánea para acceso venoso central: un ensayo clínico multicéntrico. Grupo Interhospitalario Valenciano (GIHV).

UNLABELLED: A multicentric clinical trial was performed to evaluate two routes of access for implantable subcutaneous central venous devices: by way of the subclavian vein (group A) and peripheral access by way of the veins of the flexion side of the elbow (group B). The indications for implantation were: antineoplastic treatment of solid tumors, myelo- and lymphoproliferative syndromes, antiviral treatment, and parenteral nutrition at home. The study was composed of 87 patients, 48 men and 39 women, with a mean age of 57.1 years (SD = 12.6). Group A was made up of 48 patients, and group B of 39. RESULTS: Implantation failure was 8.3% in group A and 5.1% in group B (p = n.s.). Complications of implantation were 23.4% in group A and 15.4% in group B (p = n.s.). The complications of permanence were diagnosed at 27.6% in group A and at 15.4% in group B (p = n.s.). CONCLUSIONS: We have not been able to find significant differences between the two groups, probably due to the fact that the series is still short. Nevertheless, the manageability, comfort for the nursing staff and for the patients, appears to be greater with the devices implanted in the infraclavicular region, by means of a subclavian vein puncture.

[Antibiotic prevention in gastroduodenal surgery]. / Profilaxis antibiótica en cirugía gastroduodenal.

The authors present a prospective randomized double-blind clinical trial, including 179 patients submitted to elective gastrointestinal surgery, for the purpose of evaluating three philosophic conceps of antibiotic prophylaxis (PA): systematic antibiotic prophylaxis for 48 h with sodium cefuroxim, 1.5 g the first dose and subsequent doses of 750 mg iv; selective antibiotic prophylaxis based on determination of preoperative gastric pH (pH less than 4, no antibiotic prophylaxis, and pH greater than 4, prophylaxis as in group I); and antibiotic therapy beginning postoperatively with cefuroxim 750 mg every 78 h for 4 days. The postoperative infection rate was 2% in the systematic prophylaxis group, 4% in the selective prophylaxis group, 24% in the antibiotic therapy group and 17.2% in the control group (p less than 0.001). The postoperative infection rate between the systematic and elective prophylaxis groups was statistically similar (p = NS). In conclusion, selective antibiotic prophylaxis has an incidence of postoperative infection similar to that of systematic prophylaxis, and, oriented by gastric pH determination, can be indicated only in patients with bacterogastria. Finally, we confirm that antibiotic therapy of postoperative onset should be eliminated as a method of prevention of postoperative infection.