Re-examining chemically defined liquid diets through the lens of the microbiome.

Trends in nutritional science are rapidly shifting as information regarding the value of eating unprocessed foods and its salutary effect on the human microbiome emerge. Unravelling the evolution and ecology by which humans have harboured a microbiome that participates in every facet of health and disease is daunting. Most strikingly, the host habitat has sought out naturally occurring foodstuff that can fulfil its own metabolic needs and also the needs of its microbiota, each of which remain inexorably connected to one another. With the introduction of modern medicine and complexities of critical care, came the assumption that the best way to feed a critically ill patient is by delivering fibre-free chemically defined sterile liquid foods (that is, total enteral nutrition). In this Perspective, we uncover the potential flaws in this assumption and discuss how emerging technology in microbiome sciences might inform the best method of feeding malnourished and critically ill patients.

[Historical evolution and research progress of perioperative therapy of locally advanced gastric cancer].

Based on the four major classic studies of perioperative treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC), the North American Intergroup-0116 trial, the European MRC MAGIC trial, the Japan ACTS-GC trial and Korea-China CLASSIC trial, the perioperative therapy of LAGC was divided into three major patterns in the world, namely, postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in the North America, perioperative chemotherapy in the Europe and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in the East Asia. In recent years, scholars around the world have done many researches on the perioperative treatment of gastric cancer. For instance the German FLOT4-AIO trial pushed the perioperative chemotherapy of gastric cancer to a high point, so the NCCN guide changed perioperative chemotherapy to the preferred recommendation, and rewrote the perioperative chemotherapy regimen. The ARTIST trial in Korea showed that the addition of radiotherapy to the adjuvant chemotherapy after D2 radical resection of gastric cancer could not improve the overall survival rate, and further defined adjuvant chemotherapy as the standard treatment in D2 resection of gastric cancer. Asian scholars are actively exploring the application of perioperative chemotherapy in LAGC. For Bulky N cases, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been recommended as the standard treatment in the Japanese guidelines. The JOCG1509,the RESOLVE and other studies will provide more effective evidence-based recommendations for the best perioperative therapy options of LAGC in Asian countries. At present, it is not clear whether perioperative chemotherapy or postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is better. In this article, the development course of the three patterns of perioperative therapy of gastric cancer, the research progress in the perioperative period of gastric cancer in recent years, and the changes of guidelines are reviewed in order to provide reference for clinical practice.

The History of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery and the ERAS Society.

This short historical overview explains the development of enhanced recovery from a small group of surgeons in European academic centers to the establishment of ERAS®Society, a not-for-profit multiprofessional multidisciplinary medical-academic society, reaching all major continents and involving a wide range of surgical and anesthesia disciplines.

Perioperative transoesophageal echocardiography: current status and future directions.

Transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) is used in the perioperative arena to monitor patients during life-threatening emergencies, cardiac and high-risk non-cardiac surgeries. It provides qualitative and quantitative information on valvular and ventricular functions, and dynamic cardiac anatomy can be displayed with a physiological perspective. This technology has evolved from two-dimensional (2D) to the ready availability of real-time three-dimensional (RT-3D) imaging in the operating rooms. Enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions with 3D imaging have most significantly impacted the quality of intraoperative surgical valve repair and replacement decisions. Additionally, 3D imaging has facilitated the advent of minimally invasive and percutaneous interventions for structural heart disease. Information derived from TEE is routinely used to evaluate a patient's suitability for an intervention, provide guidance during the intervention and eventually comment on the quality and success of the procedure. Expertise in perioperative TEE is an integral component of a cardiac anaesthesiologist's skill sets. With structural heart disease interventions becoming more minimally invasive, the intraoperative guidance provided by TEE will continue to be a critical component of these procedures. With improving computational and processing power, the expectations from TEE will continue to be incremental in the perioperative arena.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy: Australian beginnings.

Chance meetings in the USA and in France lead to the realization of the potential for cholecystectomy to be performed laparoscopically. Outlined are the steps taken to learn the technique and perform the first such operation in Australia (with unusual circumstances), immediately followed by the introduction of audit and training courses. Historical narrative.

Enteral nutrition in HPB surgery: past and future.

Perioperative nutrition has, during the past century, been transformed from a tool to provide calorie and nitrogen support to a tool to boost the immune system and increase resistance to complications. Despite all the progress in medicine and surgery, perioperative morbidity, the rate of infections, thrombosis, and the development of serosal adhesions has remained the same as long as can be judged, or at least during the past 80 years. Most prone to develop complications are persons above the age of 65 and persons with depressed immunity. About 80% of the immune system is localized in the gastrointestinal tract, which offers great opportunities for modulation through enteral nutrition. As the stomach has a tendency to develop postoperative paralysis, tube feeding is often necessary. In 1918, Andresen demonstrated the advantages of enteral nutrition, which already started on the operating table. Mulholland and colleagues and Rhoads and co-workers demonstrated, during the 1940s, certain advantages of enteral tube feeding. Also, the works by Alexander, Fischer, and Ryan, and their co-workers supported the value of early enteral feeding, and suggested enteral feeding as an effective tool to boost the immune system. It was, however, works published in the early 1990s, by Moore and colleagues and by Kudsk and colleagues, which made surgeons more aware of the advantages of early enteral nutrition. Surgery in the hepatobiliary pancreatic field is known to have a high rate of complications. Uninterrupted perioperative nutrition, i.e., nutrition during the night before, during surgery, and immediately after, offers a strong tool to prevent complications. It is essential that the nutrition also provides food for the colon, e.g., fiber and healthy bacteria (probiotics) to ferment the fiber and boost the immune system.