Clincal practice of pelvic exenteration for late complications of pelvic radiation injury / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Pelvic radiation injury can potentially involve multiple pelvic organs, and due to its progressive and irreversible nature, its late stage can be complicated by fistulas, perforations, obstructions and other complications involved multiple pelvic organs, which seriously affect the long-term survival and the quality of life of patients. As a multidisciplinary surgical approach, pelvic exenteration has potential application in the treatment of late complications of pelvic radiation injury by completely removing the irradiated lesion, relieving symptoms and avoiding recurrence of symptoms. In clinical practice, we should advocate the concept of "pelvic radiation injury", emphasize multidisciplinary collaboration, fully evaluate the overall status of patients, primary tumor and pelvic radiation injury. We should follow the principles of "damage-control" and "extended resection", and follow the principle of enhanced recovery after surgery to achieve the goal of ensuring the surgical safety, relieving patients' symptoms and improving patients' quality of life and long-term survival.

Meta analysis of diseased bowel resection versus diversion enterostomy in the treatment of late severe complications of chronic radiation-induced rectal injury / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of diseased bowel resection and diversion enterostomy in the treatment of late severe complications of chronic radiation-induced late rectal injury (RLRI). Methods: Studies about comparison of diseased bowel resection and diversion enterostomy in the treatment of late severe complications of chronic RLRI were screened and retrieved from databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, CBM and Wanfang. The following terms in Chinese were used to search [Title/Abstract]: radiation-induced intestinal injury, radiation proctitis, surgery. The following English terms were used to search: Radiation-induced intestinal injury, Bowel injury from radiation, Radiation proctitis, Surgery, Colostomy. Literature inclusion criteria: (1) studies with control groups, published at home and abroad publicly, about the postoperative effects of diseased bowel resection vs. diversion enterostomy on RLRI patients with late severe complications; (2) the period of the study performed in the literatures must be clear; (3) patients at the preoperative diagnosis for RLRI with refractory bleeding, narrow, obstruction, perforation or fistula, etc.; (4) diseased bowel resection included Hartmann, Dixon, Bacon and Parks; diversion enterostomy included colostomy and ileostomy; (5) if the studies were published by the same institution or authors at the same time, the study with the biggest sample size was chosen; studies conducted in different time with different subjects were simultaneously included; (6) at least one prognostic indicator of the following parameters should be included: the improvement of symptoms, postoperative complications, mortality, and reversed stomas rate. The stoma reduction rate was defined as the ratio of successful closure of colostomy after diseased bowel resection and diversion enterostomy. The method of direct calculation or the method of convert into direct calculation were used for stoma reduction rate. Exclusion criteria: (1) a single-arm study without control group; (2) RLRI patients did not undergo diseased bowel resection or diversion enterostomy at the first time; (3) RLRI patients with distant metastasis; (4) the statistical method in the study was not appropriate; (5) the information was not complete, such as a lack of prognosis in the observational indexes. After screening literatures according to criteria, data retrieval and quality evaluation were carried out. Review Manager 5.3 software was used for Meta-analysis. Sensitivity analysis was used to exam the stability of results. Funnel diagram was used to analyze the bias of publication. Results: A total of 11 literatures were enrolled, including 426 RLRI patients with late severe complications, of whom 174 underwent diseased bowel resection (resection group) and 252 underwent diversion enterostomy (diversion group), respectively. Compared with diversion group, although resection group had a higher morbidity of complication (35.1% vs. 15.9%, OR=2.67, 95% CI: 1.58 to 4.53, P<0.001), but it was more advantageous in symptom improvement (94.2% vs. 64.1%, OR=6.19, 95% CI: 2.47 to 15.52, P<0.001) and stoma reductions (62.8% vs. 5.1%, OR=15.17, 95% CI: 1.21 to 189.74, P=0.030), and the differences were significant (both P<0.05). No significant difference in postoperative mortality was found between the two groups (10.1% vs. 18.8%, OR=0.74, 95% CI: 0.21 to 2.59, P=0.640). There were no obvious changes between the two groups after sensitivity analysis for the prognostic indicators (the symptoms improved, postoperative complications, mortality, and reversed stomas rate) compared with the meta-analysis results before exclusion, suggesting that the results were robust and credible. Funnel diagram analysis suggested a small published bias. Conclusions: Chronic RLRI patients with late severe complications undergoing diseased bowel resection have higher risk of complication, while their long-term mortality is comparable to those undergoing diversion enterostomy. Diseased bowel resection is better in postoperative improvement of symptoms and stoma reduction rate.

Clinical features and prognosis of anastomotic leak after anterior resection for rectal cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy / 中华胃肠外科杂志

Objective: To explore clinical features and prognosis of anastomotic leak (AL) after anterior resection following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer patients. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. Data were retrieved from colorectal cancer database of the Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University. The clinical data of 470 patients with rectal cancer who underwent anterior resection after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy at our department from September 2010 to December 2018 were enrolled. Clinical features and outcome of postoperative AL were analyzed. The primary outcomes were the short-term and long-term incidence and severity of AL (ISREC grading standard was adopted). The secondary outcomes were the prognostic indicators of AL, including the secondary chronic presacral sinus, anastomotic stenosis and persistent stoma. Patients received regular follow-up every 3-6 months after surgery, including physical examination, blood test, colonoscopy and image; those received follow-up once a year after postoperative 2-year; those who did not return to our hospital received telephone follow-up. Data of this study were retrieved up to January 2020. Univariate χ(2) test and multivariate logistic analysis were used to identify risk factors of AL and prognostic factors of persistent stoma. Results: There were 331 males (70.4%) with the average age of (53.5±11.6) years. Distance from tumor to anal verge ≤ 5 cm was found in 228 (48.5%) patients. The diverting stoma was performed in 440 (93.6%) patients. After a median follow-up of 28 months, AL was found in 129 (27.4%) patients, including 67 (14.3%) patients with clinical leak (ISREC grade B-C). The median time for diagnosis of AL was 70 days (2-515 days) after index surgery. Common symptoms included sacrococcygeal pain (27.9%, 36/129), purulent discharge through anus (25.6%, 33/129), and rectal irritation (17.8%, 23/129). Sixty five point one percent (84/129) of the defect site was at the posterior wall of the anastomosis. Transanal incision and drainage or lavage (27.9%, 36/129) and percutaneous drainage under ultrasound or CT (17.1%, 22/129) were the most common management. Chronic presacral sinus tract could not be evaluated in 12 patients because imaging was performed more than 1 year after the operation. Evaluation beyond 1 year showed that 73 of 458 eligible patients (15.9%) were found with chronic presacral sinus, accounting for 62.4% (73/117) of patients with AL; 69 of 454 (15.2%) were diagnosed with anastomotic stenosis, of whom 49 were secondary to AL; 59 of 470 (12.6%) had persistent stoma due to AL. Univariate analysis showed that male, operative duration > 180 minutes, intraoperative blood loss >150 ml, and pelvic radiation injury were associated with AL (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that male (OR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.04-2.86, P=0.036), intraoperative blood loss > 150 ml (OR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.11-2.97, P=0.017), and pelvic radiation injury (OR=4.90, 95% CI: 3.09-7.76, P<0.001) were independent risk factors of AL after anterior resection. For patients with AL, clinical leak (ISREC grade B-C) (OR=9.59, 95% CI: 3.73-24.69, P<0.001), age ≤55 years (OR=3.35, 95% CI: 1.35-8.30, P=0.009), distance from tumor to anal verge ≤ 5 cm (OR=3.33, 95% CI: 1.25-8.92, P=0.017), and pelvic radiation injury (OR=3.29, 95% CI: 1.33-8.14, P=0.010) were independent risk factors of persistent stoma. Conclusions: AL after anterior resection following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer patients is common. Among patients with AL, the proportion of those needing persistent stoma is high. Pelvic radiation injury is significantly associated with occurrence of AL and subsequent persistent stoma. Sphincter-preserving surgery for rectal cancer should be selectively used based on the risk of pelvic radiation injury, which is beneficial to reduce the incidence of AL and improve the quality of life.