Total Abdominal Wall Reconstruction with Component Separation, Reinforcement, and Vertical Abdominoplasty in Patients with Complex Ventral Hernias.

UNLABELLED: Large complex ventral hernias act as tissue expanders for skin and subcutaneous fat. The purpose of this study is to evaluate outcomes of total abdominal wall reconstruction with component separation, posterior reinforcement, and vertical abdominoplasty in patients with large complex ventral hernias. Between 2010 and 2014, 58 patients underwent total abdominal wall reconstruction with component separation, intra-abdominal reinforcement, and vertical abdominoplasty. Between 2010 and 2012, patients underwent the conventional technique of component separation, while a perforator-preserving technique was performed during 2013 and 2014. Reinforcement material used was either synthetic mesh in clean cases or biologic mesh if contamination was present. All of the excessive skin and subcutaneous fat was removed in a vertical fashion. Data were analyzed with Mann-Whitney's U test or Fisher's exact test, as indicated. There were 27 moderately complex and 31 majorly complex hernias. Mean hernia size was 16 × 12 cm. The mean size of the removed skin island was 21 × 12 cm. Patients with contamination during the repair had longer in-hospital stays. Overall the local wound complication rate was 24 %, and was lower with the perforator-preserving technique compared to the conventional technique of component separation (11 vs. 48 %; OR 0.13, CI 0.03-0.5; p = 0.003). The overall postoperative morbidity rate was higher in the presence of contamination, and in patients with lower preoperative serum albumin levels. Mean total follow-up was 14 months with a 1-year recurrence-free survival of 96 %. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

More Favorable Short and Long-Term Outcomes for Screen-Detected Colorectal Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Screening significantly reduces mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC). Screen detected (SD) tumors associate with better prognosis, even at later stage, compared to non-screen detected (NSD) tumors. We aimed to evaluate the association between diagnostic modality (SD vs. NSD) and short- and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing surgery for CRC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study involved patients aged 50-69 years, residing in Veneto, Italy, who underwent curative-intent surgery for CRC between 2006 and 2018. The clinical multi-institutional dataset was linked with the screening dataset in order to define diagnostic modality (SD vs. NSD). Short- and long-term outcomes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Of 1,360 patients included, 464 were SD (34.1%) and 896 NSD (65.9%). Patients with a SD CRC were more likely to have less comorbidities (p = 0.013), lower ASA score (p = 0.001), tumors located in the proximal colon (p = 0.0018) and earlier stage at diagnosis (p < 0.0001). NSD patients were found to have more aggressive disease at diagnosis, higher complication rate and higher readmission rate due to surgical complications (all p < 0.05). NSD patients had a significantly lower Disease Free Survival and Overall Survival (all p < 0.0001), even after adjusting by demographic, clinic-pathological, tumor, and treatment characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: SD tumors were associated with better long-term outcomes, even after multiple adjustments. Our results confirm the advantages for the target population to participate in the screening programs and comply with their therapeutic pathways.