Management of intraoperatively identified small bile duct stones in patients undergoing cholecystectomy.

INTRODUCTION: The management of CBDS (common bile duct stones) in patients with co-existing gallbladder stones has been debated. Guidelines recommend patients with CBDS identified on imaging should be offered duct clearance; however, this is based on low-quality evidence. This study aimed to investigate the natural history of small CBDS identified using IOUS (intraoperative ultrasound) in patients undergoing cholecystectomy. This may provide evidence to support a short-term expectant management approach in such patients. METHODS: Patients with CBDS diagnosed on IOUS during cholecystectomy were identified from a database of consecutive patients undergoing surgery. Patients with CBDS identified were divided into small stone (SS, ≤5 mm) and large stone (LS, >5 mm) groups. Intraoperative CBDS management, postoperative investigations, postoperative bile duct clearance, re-admissions, complications, length of stay (LOS) and follow-up are described. RESULTS: Fifty-nine of 427 patients had CBDS identified on IOUS. In the SS group (n=51), 46 patients underwent short-term expectant management rather than immediate/planned bile duct clearance. Following short-term expectant management, 41/46 patients (89.1%) did not require postoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and at >3 year follow-up, none has since presented with residual CBDS. Median LOS was 0 days in the short-term expectant management group and 2 days in the immediate/planned bile duct clearance group, P=0.039. CONCLUSIONS: This study reports the natural history of small CBDS identified on IOUS in patients undergoing cholecystectomy. Such patients were safely treated with short-term expectant management associated with a reduced hospital LOS. This provides rationale for undertaking further research to establish this as a preferred management strategy.

The First Modified Delphi Consensus-Building Exercise on Surgical Ward Rounds in the United Kingdom National Health Service.

BACKGROUND: The ward round is an integral part of everyday surgical practice. It is a complex clinical activity that requires both sound clinical management and communication skills. This study reports the results of a consensus-building exercise on the common aspects of the general surgical ward rounds. METHODS: The consensus-building committee involving a range of stakeholders from 16 United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service trusts took part in this consensus exercise. The members discussed and suggested a series of statements concerning surgical ward round. An agreement of ≥ 70% among members was regarded as a consensus. RESULTS: Thirty-two members voted on 60 statements. There was a consensus on fifty-nine statements after the first round of voting, and one statement was modified before it reached consensus in the second round. The statements covered nine sections: a preparation phase, team allocation, multidisciplinary approach to the ward round, structure of the round, teaching considerations, confidentiality and privacy, documentation, post-round arrangements, and weekend round. There was a consensus on spending time to prepare for the round, a consultant-led round, involvement of the nursing staff, an MDT round at the beginning and end of the week, a minimum of 5 min allocated to each patient, utilisation of a round checklist, afternoon virtual round, and a clear handover and plan for the weekend. CONCLUSION: The consensus committee achieved agreement on several aspects concerning the surgical ward rounds in the UK NHS. This should help improve the care of surgical patients in the UK.

Prospective cohort study of neoadjuvant therapy toxicity in the treatment of oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Early studies investigating the benefits of neoadjuvant therapy in oesophageal cancer showed conflicting results, taking many years before a survival advantage was demonstrated in randomised trials. Gains are modest, limited by progressive disease and toxicity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between neoadjuvant therapy-associated toxicity and clinical outcomes including survival in patients with potentially curable oesophageal adenocarcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 286 patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgical resection at a single institution was identified from a prospective database. Adverse events from neoadjuvant therapy were recorded and graded. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether they suffered toxicity or not. Clinical outcomes including whether patients completed the neoadjuvant course, whether they proceeded to resection and overall survival, were compared between the groups. RESULTS: Neoadjuvant therapy-related toxicity was identified in 67/286 patients. 46 patients suffered severe, life-threatening or fatal adverse events. In patients with toxicity, 47% did not complete the chemotherapy course compared to 17% without toxicity, RR 2.7 (95%CI 1.7-4.4), (P < 0.001). In patients suffering toxicity, 17.9% failed to proceed to resection compared with 7.8% in those without toxicity, RR 2.3 (95%CI 1.2-4.6) P = 0.02. Median overall survival was shorter in patients suffering toxicity (20.7 months) compared to those without toxicity (37.8 months), P = 0.008. When patients failing to proceed to resection were excluded, median overall survival was shorter in patients suffering toxicity (26.2 months) compared with those without toxicity (47.8), P = 0.039. CONCLUSION: Neoadjuvant therapy-related toxicity is common and can have serious consequences including failure to complete chemotherapy cycles, a higher risk of not proceeding to surgical resection and poorer overall survival. Efforts should be made to reduce toxicity and research should aim to identify responders and factors predictive of toxicity.

Loco-regional staging accuracy in oesophageal cancer-How good are we in the modern era?

INTRODUCTION: Accuracy of locoregional staging in patients with oesophageal cancer is critical in determining operability and the need for neoadjuvant treatment. Imaging technology has advanced significantly in recent years but it is not known whether this translates to improved staging accuracy. This study investigates staging accuracy in relation to CT, EUS, PET-CT and final pre-operative stage. It specifically addresses the accuracy of staging with respect to the threshold for administering neoadjuvant therapies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre-operative staging according to CT, EUS, PET-CT and final pre-operative stage were compared to the postoperative histological staging in 133 patients undergoing potentially curative surgery (without neoadjuvant therapy) for oesophageal cancer between January 2010 and January 2015. T and N stage accuracies were reported separately for each imaging modality. Patients were also divided into two groups depending on whether the final pre-operative stage was below (≤T2, N0, early tumours) or above (≥T3 and/or ≥N1, locally advanced tumours) the threshold for offering neoadjuvant therapy. Accuracy of pre-operative staging was then analysed with respect to identification of patients below/above this threshold. The additional benefit offered by EUS for this purpose was investigated. RESULTS: T stage accuracies were 72.6%, 76.7% and 79.3% for CT, EUS and final pre-operative stage respectively. N stage accuracies were 75.6%, 77.2%, 74.5% and 78.6% for CT, EUS, PET-CT and final pre-operative stage respectively. Staging accuracy with respect to threshold for neoadjuvant treatment showed 62.0% early tumours were correctly staged and 80.5% advanced tumours were correctly staged. Whether or not patients underwent EUS did not affect the staging accuracy with respect to neoadjuvant treatment threshold. CONCLUSIONS: Staging accuracy with respect to the threshold for treatment with neoadjuvant therapy is poor, leading to potential over/under treatment. Predicting individual response to neoadjuvant therapy would provide a better way to determine which patients should receive this additional treatment.

The non-medical workforce and its role in surgical training: Consensus recommendations by the Association of Surgeons in Training.

Changes in the delivery of the healthcare structure have led to the expansion of the non-medical workforce (NMW). The non-medical practitioner in surgery (a healthcare professional without a medical degree who undertakes specialist training) is a valuable addition to a surgical firm. However, there are a number of challenges regarding the successful widespread implementation of this role. This paper outlines a number of these concerns, and makes recommendations to aid the realisation of the non-medical practitioner as a normal part of the surgical team. In summary, the Association of Surgeons in Training welcomes the development of the non-medical workforce as part of the surgical team in order to promote enhanced patient care and improved surgical training opportunities. However, establishing a workforce of independent/semi-independent practitioners who compete for the same training opportunities as surgeons in training may threaten the UK surgical training system, and therefore the care of our future patients.

Laparoscopic Distal Pancreatectomy Using the Modified Prolonged Prefiring Compression Technique Reduces Pancreatic Fistula.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic fistula (PF) is a common postoperative complication following distal pancreatectomy. The prolonged prefiring compression (PFC) technique to reduce PF has been described by Nakamura and colleagues in Japan. The present study assessed if this technique can be applied to the United Kingdom patient population in a tertiary referral center and replicate the low incidence of PF after the laparoscopic approach to distal pancreatectomy (Lap-DP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective study of all patients who underwent Lap-DP using the modified PFC technique by the senior author between June 2011 and July 2014. The modified PFC technique involved compression of the pancreatic parenchyma with an endo-stapler for a 3-minute period prior to firing and further 1-minute compression after firing prior to removal of the stapler, which is a small variant to the original technique of maintaining a 2-minute compression post firing. RESULTS: Twenty patients (15 females; median age, 66 [range, 25-77] years) underwent Lap-DP using the PFC technique during the study period. Six patients had splenic-preserving Lap-DP. Median operating time was 240 minutes (range, 150-420 minutes) with a median length of hospital stay of 6 days (range, 3-22 days). Six patients (30%) developed Type A (biochemically noted as high drain fluid amylase) PF, and none of the patients had Type B/C PF. In the splenic preservation group, 1 patient had complete splenic infarction requiring laparoscopic splenectomy on Day 3, and 1 patient had partial infarction requiring prolonged hospital stay for pain relief. One patient required prolonged respiratory support due to severe preexisting lung disease. Overall mortality was zero. CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirm that the PFC technique is safe, feasible, and effective in reducing clinically significant PF post-Lap-DP in the United Kingdom patient population.

Positron emission tomography-computed tomography in oesophageal cancer staging: a tailored approach.

BACKGROUND: Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scanning is used routinely in the staging of oesophageal cancer to identify occult metastases not apparent on CT and changes the management in typically 3-18% patients. The authors aim to re-evaluate its role in the management of oesophageal cancer, investigating whether it is possible to identify a group of patients that will not benefit and can safely be spared from this investigation. METHODS: Consecutive patients with oesophageal cancer undergoing PET-CT staging between 2010 and 2013 were identified from a specialist modern multidisciplinary team database. Without knowledge of the PET-CT result, patients were stratified into low-risk or high-risk groups according to the likelihood of identifying metastatic disease on PET-CT based on specified criteria routinely available from endoscopy and CT reports. Clinical outcomes in the two groups were investigated. RESULTS: In 383 undergoing PET-CT, metastatic disease was identified in 52 (13.6%) patients. Eighty-three patients were stratified as low risk and 300 as high risk. None of the low-risk patients went on to have metastatic disease identified on PET-CT. Of the high-risk patients, 17% had metastatic disease identified on PET-CT. CONCLUSIONS: In one of the largest studies to date investigating the influence of staging PET-CT on management of patients with oesophageal cancer, the authors report a classification based on endoscopy/CT criteria is able to accurately stratify patients according to the risk of having metastatic disease. This could be used to avoid unnecessary PET-CT 22% of patients, saving cost, inconvenience and reducing potential delay to definitive treatment in this group.

Laparoscopic hernia repair--when is a hernia not a hernia?

A wide range of diagnoses can present as inguinal hernia. Laparoscopic techniques are being increasingly used in the repair of inguinal hernias and offer the potential benefit of identifying additional pathology. The authors present the first reported case of a hydrocele of the canal of Nuck diagnosed laparoscopically. We review the incidence of identifying additional pathology through laparoscopy for inguinal hernia repair. We suggest that in patients with atypical presenting features of a hernia, the transabdominal preperitoneal, rather than a totally extraperitoneal, approach to groin hernia repair should be considered because of its greater diagnostic potential.

Laparoscopic repair of coexisting prevascular and obturator hernias.

A prevascular femoral hernia is a rare type of femoral hernia in which the neck lies anterior to the femoral vessels. Obturator hernias are unusual herniations through the obturator foramen. There are no reports in the literature of coexisting prevascular and obturator hernias. Although obturator hernias have been treated successfully by laparoscopic techniques, there are no published reports of prevascular hernias treated in this way. We report the first case in the literature of a patient with a prevascular femoral hernia treated successfully by laparoscopic preperitoneal mesh repair in a rare case associated with ipsilateral obturator and classic femoral hernias. Prevascular femoral hernias are rare, potentially difficult to treat and are ideally suited to investigation and repair by laparoscopic means.

Port-site hernia following laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

BACKGROUND: Port-site hernia is a rare but potentially serious complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This study aimed to review the current literature, assess the incidence and causes of port-site hernias, and identify methods to reduce the risk. METHODS: A systematic search of the literature published in English from 1995 to 2010 was conducted using PubMed to identify all reports of port-site, trocar-site, or incisional hernia following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Studies in over 100 patients were identified before the application of defined exclusion criteria. The incidence of port-site hernia was calculated and compared with historical data. Predisposing factors were reviewed. RESULTS: Seven studies met the search criteria, with 99 port-site hernias in 5984 patients. The overall incidence of port-site hernia was 1.7% (range, 0.3% to 5.4). The most important factors were older age, higher body mass index, preexisting hernia, trocar design, trocar diameter, increased duration of surgery, and extension of the port site for gallbladder extraction. CONCLUSION: The incidence of port-site hernia is low but likely to be underestimated and has not declined over time. Awareness of the predisposing factors and modification of techniques may help to reduce the risk.

An unusual case of pigmented villonodular synovitis after total knee arthroplasty.

We describe a case of focal pigmented villonodular synovitis in the knee presenting 12 months after total knee arthroplasty. The abnormal synovial proliferation was noted at arthroscopy, and histological analysis of the resected tissue confirmed the diagnosis.