A case of descending necrotizing mediastinitis: Extra-pleural treatment.

AIM: Descending necrotising mediastinitis (DNM) is a rare but life-threatening condition. Diagnosis is challenging and prompt treatment is essential. We report a case of DNM in a 44-year-old man. METHODS: The patient was hospitalized because of worsening general health after pharyngeal infection, 10 days earlier, and with dyspnea and arrhythmia and suspected sepsis. Echocardiography revealed pericardial effusion. Empirical antibiotic therapy was started immediately. Subsequent evaluation with computed tomography (CT)-scan resulted in a diagnosis of DNM with fluid collections in the lower anterior mediastinum and facilitated surgical planning. The day after, surgery was promptly performed through a vertical epigastric incision permitting effective abscess drainage and debridement of necrotic tissue. RESULTS: There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. After 5 days in the Intensive Care Unit, the patient was transferred to the Emergency Surgery Unit. A chest CT-scan on postoperative day 10 showed improvement and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 15. CONCLUSIONS: In a patient with DNM access through a vertical epigastric incision allows mediastinal drainage and debridement,and avoids thoracotomy or thoracoscopy and the related complications. KEY WORDS: Descending Necrotizing Mediastinitis, Emergency Surgery.

[Prognostic and curative value of sentinel node in breast cancer. A 377 patients experience]. / Valore prognostico e curativo del linfonodo sentinella nel trattamento chirurgico del cancro della mammella. Analisi di 377 pazienti.

Sentinel node is defined as the first lymphnode receiving limphatic drain from the breast. Several studies show a very low recurrence rate to axillary and locoregional nodes in sentinel node negative patients who did not undergo axillary dissection. Our study aims to verify if complete axillary dissection could be replaced by sentinel node biopsy (SNB) in the staging and treatment of breast cancer. From January 2005 to December 2008, 377 patients (mean age 57.63) underwent SNB in the General Surgery unit of "San Giuseppe Moscati" Hospital in Avellino (Italy). All the patients underwent SNB with local anesthesia. Histologic studies were performed using GIVOM protocol (Veneto Breast cancer interdisciplinary group). Sixty five patients (17.2%) underwent a radical mastectomy with SNB and 312 (82.6%) patients underwent a quadrantectomy with SNB. Of this last group, 178 (47.2%) underwent a superior quadrant excision with SNB, 77 (20.4%) an inferior quadrant excision with SNB and 57 (15.1%) a central quadrant excision with SNB. Ductal carcinoma represented 57.3% of the tumous detected, lobular carcinoma was diagnosed in 16.4% of the cases, intraductal microinvasive carcinoma in 10.3%, ductal carcinoma in situ in 5.8% while the other histotypes were diagnosed in 10% of the tumours. All SNB+ patients (34.5%) underwent a radical axillary dissection in general anesthesia. Sixty nine (53%) patients were diagnosed with axillary node metastasis, after axillary dissection Micrometastasis resulted in 19.6% of the excised patients. The prevalence of axillary node metastasis was 26.4% (581/2198), while the incidence was 34.5% (130/377). The first axillary lymphnodes level was metastasized in 65.8% patients who had undergone an axillary dissection, level I and II in 268% and all the levels in 7.4%. Only one case (0.4%) of nodal metastatic recurrence has been diagnosed in patients who had undergone SNB alone, after a mean follow-up of 28.5 month. Apart from showing a very high diagnostic and staging accuracy, the high level of SN detection associated with a high predictive rate underline a lower complications rate if compared to complete nodal dissection.

Hemoperitoneum caused by the rupture of a giant ovarian teratoma in a 9-year-old female. Case report and literature review.

The Authors report the case of a 9-year-old girl suffering from acute abdominal pain, combined with mild anaemia (Hb 10.9 g/dL), leukocytosis (24.3 x 10(3) cells/dL), and a large palpable mass in the upper left quadrant. The child underwent an appendectomy 20 days before the admission to our Department. The operation performed in urgency, as well as the removal of a bulky mass situated in the left flank and the right ovary whence it arose, made it clear that abdominal signs and symptoms were caused by the twisting and rupturing of a neoformation, that would hence cause an impressive hemoperitoneum. The histopathologic examination showed a three-germ layer mature mixed teratoma. Clinical, radiologic and biochemical test (alpha-FP, beta-hcG) performed in a postoperative 2 months follow-up revealed no residual disease.

[Coleman lipofilling: experience of an Italian group and review of the literature]. / Lipomodellamento secondo Coleman: esperienza di un gruppo italiano e revisione della letteratura.

Although the first operation of reconstructive breast surgery dates back to the end of the nineteenth century, it was only in the last decade of the twentieth century that lipofilling became widely adopted in the management of diseases of the breast. The Coleman technique involves taking a sample of fat from the regions of the body where it is largely present (abdomen, trochanter region, groin, knee), followed by centrifugation and the grafting of the fat cells thus purified. In 1987 the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery banned the diffusion of this procedure because it was considered of little benefit for both aesthetic and oncological purposes. From January 2005 to May 2007, 17 patients underwent lipofilling according to the Coleman technique at the Operative Unit of General Surgery of the "San Giuseppe Moscati" Hospital in Avellino. Previously, 15 (88%) of the 17 women had received reconstructive breast surgery with a prosthesis after a Madden total mastectomy. As regards the other 2 patients, when admitted to hospital, one (5.9%) presented a pectum excavatum and the other (5.9%) a congenital depression of the temporal bone. No important complications were observed in the postoperative course. At a distance of 6 and 12 months after the injection, follow-up monitoring revealed that the loss of substance in the grafted adipose tissue was about 53%. In conclusion, reconstructive breast surgery should always be attempted after radical surgery. The multidisciplinary cooperation of radiologists, surgeons, anatomical pathologists and psychologists, in our opinion, avoids the danger of poor aesthetic results and the risk of underestimating a possible tumour relapse.

[Prognostic and therapeutic value of D2 lymphadenectomy in the treatment of gastric cancer: experience of an Italian team]. / Valore prognostico e terapeutico della linfoadenectomia D2 nel trattamento chirurgico del cancro gastrico: considerazioni di un gruppo Italiano.

Recently, the incidence of gastric cancer and the related percentage of mortality have been decreasing world-wide, especially in the industrialised countries. Surgery has commonly been opted for as primary treatment of this disease. However, the optimal extent of surgical intervention is still debated. Japanese surgeons have been the pioneers of perigastric and celiac tripod lymphadenectomies in an attempt to improve long-term survival and the postoperative disease-free period. In recent years, D2 resection has been compared with D1 resection, which consists in excision of the stomach along with its locoregional nodes. From March 2002 to January 2007, 70 interventions for gastric cancer were performed at the VII Division of General Surgery of the Second University of Naples. All patients underwent excision of the lymph nodes from stations 1 to 6 (D1) combined with excision of stations 7 to 12 (D2). In 32 cases (45.7%) there were no metastatic lymph nodes (NO), in 28 patients (40%) 1 to 6 nodes proved metastatic (N1), and in 10 cases (14.3%) from 7 to 15 nodes were metastasised (N2). The incidence of metastatic lymph nodes was 54.3% and the prevalence 13.6%. Metastatic lymph nodes were found mostly in T3 (15/24) and T4 (14/20) stage tumours rather than in T1 (3/12) and T2 (6/14) neoplasms. Two patients (2.86%) died within 60 days of the intervention. The overall postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were 21.43% and 2.86%, respectively. D2 gastrectomies without pancreatic resections present distinct advantages in terms of long-term survival and are associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality rates which are similar to those obtained after D1 node resection.