Up to Date and Perspectives for Hepatocellular Carcinoma\'s Intraoperative Ultrasound.

With all the technological progress registered so far, hepatocellular carcinoma is still a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, the optimal management being ensured only by a personalized attitude, offered by a multidisciplinary approach. Ultrasound plays an essential role in the guidelines for this neoplasm, the intraoperative application being mandatory to increase the survival of these patients, when the surgical approach is possible and indicated. This paper highlights the main indications for intraoperative ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, along with areas that have developmental potential.

Rare Causes of Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Focus on Pancreatic Pathology and Visceral Artery Aneurysms.

Beside the common situations of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) managed by endoscopy, there are clinical situations when the endoscopic approach is limited by the amount of blood, the hemodynamic instability, the intermittent nature of bleeding and a proper diagnosis and treatment requires radiological interventional methods and even surgery. The pancreatic pathology is rarely considered as a possible cause for patients that presents in emergencies with GIB. The rupture of visceral artery aneurysms (VAAs), without underlying pancreatic pathology, should also be regarded in the differential diagnosis of GIB. Even the natural history of VAAs is not well understood, there is a potential risk of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, peritoneal cavity and retroperitoneal space, that can result in death. In this paper, we aim to review the rare causes of GIB focusing on pancreatic pathology and VAAs, unrevealed by the underlying pathology and presenting in the emergency department with bleeding symptoms and signs.

Abdominal Sepsis - Current Definitions and Practice.

Abdominal sepsis remains the second most common source of sepsis, a life-threatening condition that became a global health priority in the medical field research. Open abdomen is part of the damage control surgery, a life-saving strategy in a well-selected group of surgical patients with severe abdominal sepsis and intra-abdominal hypertension. Definitions and recommendations in the management of abdominal sepsis and open abdomen have gradually evolved, as a reflection of the progress of both the comprehension of physiopathological mechanisms involved in sepsis and the technology of different temporary abdominal closure systems. The aim of this paper is to make an up-to-date literature narrative review of the definitions and current practice guidelines in abdominal sepsis, with illustration of clinical experience in the management of open abdomen wounds. In the past decades, progress has been made in the management of abdominal sepsis, with greatly ameliorated survival rates. Rapid diagnosis, extensive comprehension of the physiopathological mechanisms of sepsis, adapted fluid resuscitation, antimicrobial therapy and damage-control surgery, orchestrated by a multy-disciplinary team, play an equally important role in the prognosis of a patient.

Laparoscopic Central Pancreatectomy with Pancreato-Gastric Anastomosis for Pancreatic Cystadenoma.

We present the case of a 42-year-old woman diagnosed with a cystic pancreatic lesion, suggestive of a serous cystadenoma of 27/13 mm. The diagnosis was established by the examination of abdominal CT and eco-endoscopy. The patient was referred to the surgery department for treatment. The benign etiology suggested by imaging and the desire to preserve the spleen along with as much of the pancreatic parenchyma, indicated a laparoscopic central pancreatectomy with a anastomosis between the distal pancreatic stump and the stomach. The authors reviewed the national and international publications related to the indications of this minimally invasive surgery.

Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis: Our Initial Experience.

Introduction: Peritoneal carcinomatosis represents an advanced stage of tumor dissemination of abdominal cancers in general and colorectal cancer in particular. The only therapeutic methods currently available for the treatment of this pathology are systemic chemotherapy (palliative character) and cytoreductive surgery (CR) with intraperitoneal chemotherapy. After evaluation of evidence-based medical literature and current guide lines we can state that CR + HIPEC procedure is considered to be the treatment of choice in case of patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis of colorectal, ovarian and mucinous appendicular origin. Material and method: In the present study we prospectively analyzed the immediate postoperative results obtained in the first 50 patients that were treated by our team for peritoneal carcinomatosis of different origin. We described the protocol of selection, the patients characteristics that were included in our CR+HIPEC program and analyzed the complications and death rate. Results: From January 2015 till Dec 2018 we evaluated 98 patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. From them, 51 received radical CR+HIPEC treatment, 33 were not suitable for surgery because of the exclusion criteria's and 15 had only exploratory laparotomies. In regard with the histopathological diagnosis, 30 patients had ovarian cancer and 19 had colorectal cancer or peritoneal pseudomixoma of appendicular origin. There was no 30 days postoperative mortality. The incidence of significant postoperative complications was 15%. Conclusions: Cytoreductive surgery followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is a complex technique accompanied by an acceptable rate of complications and postoperative deaths, the results being optimized by a standardized perioperative management and patient selection. The initial results obtained by our team emphasize the feasibility of this procedure, with immediate good results, as a result of a standardization protocol of patient selection and perioperative care.

The Learning Curve for Pancreaticoduodenectomy: The Experience of a Single Surgeon.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is a complex and high-skill demanding procedure often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, the results have improved over the past two decades. However, there is a paucity of research concerning the learning curve for PD. Our aim was to report the outcomes of 100 consecutive PDs representing a single surgeon's learning curve and to depict the factors that influenced the learning process. METHODS: We reviewed the first 121 PDs performed at our academic center (2013-2019) by a single surgeon; 110 were PDs (5 laparoscopic and 105 open) and 11 were total PDs (1 laparoscopic and 10 open). Subsequent statistics was performed on the first 100 PDs, with attention paid to the learning curve and survival rate at 5 years. The data were analyzed comparing the first 50 cases (Group 1) to the last 50 cases (Group 2). RESULTS: The most frequent histopathological tumor type was pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (50%). A total of 39% of patients had preoperative biliary drainage and 45% presented with positive biliary cultures. The preferred reconstruction technique included pancreaticogastrostomy (99%), in situ hepaticojejunostomy (70%), and precolic gastro-jejunal anastomosis (88%). Postoperative complications included biliary fistula (1%), pancreatic fistula (8%), pancreatic stump bleeding (4%), and delayed gastric emptying (13%). The mean operative time decreased after the first 50 cases (p < 0.001) and blood loss after 60 cases (p = 0.046). R1 resections lowered after 25 cases (p = 0.025). Vascular resections (17%) did not influence the rate of complications (p = 0.8). The survival rate at 5 years for pancreatic adenocarcinoma was 32.93%. CONCLUSIONS: Outcomes improve as surgeon experience increases, with proper training being the most important factor for minimizing the impact of the learning curve over the postoperative complications. Analyzing the learning curve from the perspective of a single surgeon is mandatory for accurate statistical results and interpretation.

Role of radio-ablative technique for optimizing the survival of patients with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (Review).

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most common and frequently diagnosed malignant tumor of the pancreas with few treatment options and poor life expectancy. Despite the advances in the surgical field, 40% of the patients are diagnosed with locally advanced disease which is not suitable for surgery. Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) has been described as a new 'weapon' in the multimodal treatment of PDAC, representing a cytoreductive procedure which must be completed with radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy. A systematic research was carried out utilizing the PubMed database in regards to this subject, to evaluate the role of RFA in PDAC management. Abstracts, letters-to-the-editor and non-English language manuscripts were excluded. The literature showed that RFA can be used in open and laparoscopic surgery but it is also feasible for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS-guided RFA) or percutaneous approach. Even though we found optimistic and encouraging reports on overall survival (OS), randomized studies are still required to corroborate these findings. Our review research underline that surgical resection remains the only radical treatment option, RFA being a safe and feasible technique reserved for unresectable, non-metastatic pancreatic tumors. Its combination with oncological treatment can improve the OS of these patients.

Short-term outcome and survival after multiorgan resection for locally advanced colo-rectal cancer. Identification of risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: Although multi-organ resections (MOR) are recommended by international guidelines for advanced colorectal cancer, the literature shows that the morbidity and mortality that accompanies these complex interventions limits the number of patients receiving this treatment. The purpose of our study was to analyse the immediate and remote results obtained after MOR and to identify potential factors that might influence the outcome. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Our study is a retrospective cohort which included patients surgically treated in our service for locally advanced colorectal cancer. We excluded patients with hepatic metastatic tumors and those who needed pelvic exenteration. Between 2006 and 2010, in our service, have been treated with MOR 146 patients, 107 being included in our study. We analysed morbidity, mortality and survival after MOR and the factors that could have influenced the postoperative course. RESULTS: Identified risk factors that negatively influenced the postoperative outcome were: diabetes, personal neoplastic pathologies, associated cardiovascular disease, history of major surgeries, intraoperative blood loss, number of resected organs. Survival was negatively influenced by positive resection margins, the presence of lymph node metastases and the presence of complications in the postoperative period. CONCLUSIONS: The data of this study support the indication for routine MOR for patients diagnosed with locally advanced colorectal cancer with the condition that R0 resection margins are achieved. All mentioned above underline the importance of the experience that the surgical team has in this type of surgeries, in order to achieve optimum results. This experience must concern the preoperative management, surgical technique and postoperative care. KEY WORDS: Colo-rectal cancer, Multi-organ resections, Risk factors.