Implementation and evaluation of Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural effusion: study protocol for the Danish phase-I PITAC-OPC5 study.

Objectives: Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) is a minimally invasive cancer-directed therapy for patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) and/or pleural metastasis (PLM). PITAC is based on Pressurized IntraPeritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy, which has proven to be safe and feasible. Since 2012, 47 PITACs have been published, and prospective data on feasibility, safety and potential local response are lacking.

Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) directed therapy of patients with malignant pleural effusion and pleural metastasis.

Objectives: Pressurized IntraThoracic Aerosol Chemotherapy (PITAC) has been suggested as a new therapy for patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) and/or pleural metastasis (PLM). The patients have a poor prognosis with a median survival of 3 to 12 months. We present feasibility, patient safety, and cytological/histological response assessment in PITAC-treated patients with MPE and/or PLM.

Outcome of patients with peritoneal metastasis from ovarian cancer treated with Pressurized IntraPeritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC).

Objectives: There are few data on Pressurized IntraPeritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy with cisplatin and doxorubicin (PIPAC C/D) in women with primary unresectable or recurrent platinum-resistant peritoneal metastasis (PM) from ovarian cancer (OC). We evaluated survival, histological and cytological response, Quality of Life (QoL) and toxicity after PIPAC C/D in these patients.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients from the prospective PIPAC-OPC1 and -OPC2 studies.

Short-term outcomes after minimally invasive oesophagectomy.

Introduction: Minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO) has gained increasing popularity. This study reports the results of the first patients operated using this technique at our department.

Methods: All procedures were prospectively registered in a database.

[Metastasis from a malignant melanoma presenting as a gall bladder polyp].

Gall bladder polyps larger than 10 mm hold an increased risk of malignancy. In this case report, a metastasis from a superficial spreading malignant melanoma level IV presented as a large gall bladder polyp in a 52-year-old woman. The melanoma had been surgically resected eight years earlier.

[Palliative treatment of malignant gastric outlet obstruction].

In gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) the passage from the stomach to the intestine is obstructed. The condition is referred to as malignant GOO if cancer is the reason. Self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) and gastrojejunostomy (GEA) are the therapeutic options for palliation, with SEMS often being recommended as first choice.

Ten years of experience with transgastric necrosectomy for walled-off necrosis in acute pancreatitis.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to report our results with open transgastric necrosectomy for walled-off necrosis in acute pancreatitis over a period of ten years.

Methods: Patients operated at the department from 2003 until 2012 were studied retrospectively.

Results: A total of 50 patients had surgery.

Endoscopic ultrasonography is a valuable diagnostic tool in patients with incidental findings in the pancreas or bile ducts.

Introduction: Incidental findings are often seen at computed tomographies (CT). This study describes patients who had an endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) because of an incidental finding in the pancreas/bile duct.

Methods: Patients referred for EUS between September 2012 and September 2013 because of an incidental finding in the pancreas/bile duct at a CT were prospectively enrolled.

[Malignant lymphoma perforating the small intestine].

A rare cause of acute abdominal pain: lymphoma making its debut by perforation of the small intestine. Lymphomas localised to the gastrointestinal tract are rare. A case is presented where the initial symptom of the disease was acute abdominal pain because of perforation of one of the lymphomas in the small intestine.

[Diagnostic workup for incidentally found thickening of the stomach wall].

Thickened stomach wall is sometimes found incidentally in abdominal CT scans. A review of the literature supports our general perception that normal findings or benign diseases are found in the majority of the cases. Gastroscopy seems to be sufficient for making the diagnosis in most patients; and endoscopic ultrasonograhy is only indicated for those patients in whom malignant diseases or benign submucosal lesions with need for therapy are still suspected after standard upper endoscopy has been performed.

Potential impact of adding endoscopic ultrasound to standard imaging procedures in the preoperative assessment of resectability in patients with liver tumors.

Objective: The value of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in patients with liver diseases is limitedly described. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of adding EUS to standard imaging procedures in the evaluation of resectability in patients with liver tumors.

Material And Methods: Patients who, based on the findings of CT and/or MRI, had been referred for curative resection of liver tumours were studied.

Cholecystectomy in children.

Introduction: It is recommended that children with typical clinical signs of biliary colic should be offered surgery if gallstones are present. The aim of this study was to describe a population of children having undergone cholecystectomy.

Material And Methods: A retrospective study of all children (aged less than 15 years) who had a cholecystectomy at the Department of Surgery, Odense University Hospital, during a ten-year period (2000-2009).

Indications for and clinical impact of repeat endoscopic ultrasound.

Objective: The value of repeating endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is seldom described. This study evaluates a patient population in which EUS was repeated.

Material And Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who between January 2002 and December 2006 had an EUS scan performed; this EUS scan (re-EUS) was the second or more EUS scan performed.

[Routinely performed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography should not be recommended for gallstone-induced acute pancreatitis].

Danish guidelines recommend that patients with presumed severe gallstone-induced acute pancreatitis (GAP) should receive endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) within 72 hours. The results of a newly performed meta-analysis show that acute ERCP in patients with GAP does not reduce the risk of complications, and ERCP is therefore not to be used routinely in GAP patients. The possible benefits of replacing ERCP with either endoscopic ultrasonography or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatograhy have yet to be demonstrated.

[Endoscopic ultrasonography in patients suspected of neuroendocrine tumours].

Background: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is a valuable diagnostic tool for evaluating pathologies in or in relation to the upper gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic yield of EUS in patients suspected of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs).

Materials And Methods: Retrospective analysis of data from the department's local EUS database and from hospital records.

[Gallstones--do we know it all?].

Despite several reviews on the treatment of gallstones, there still seems to be unanswered questions regarding some topics. This review focuses on some of these: Why are more and more patients being cholecystectomised? Who needs further diagnostic work-up for common bile duct stones (CBDS) before laparoscopic cholecystectomy? Is elective cholecystectomy mandatory following endoscopic or conservative treatment of complicated gallstone disease (CBDS, acute pancreatitis, or acute cholecystitis)? Further research is still required in order to answer these questions.