Publications by authors named "Alessandro Carrara"

Article Synopsis
  • This study compares the costs and effectiveness of minimally invasive rectus abdominal diastasis (RAD) repair with standard care (SOC) from the perspectives of both Italy's National Healthcare Service and society.
  • Results show that while the SOC costs are higher overall, RAD repair offers better quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), indicating improved patient outcomes despite higher NHS costs per patient.
  • The findings suggest that increasing the use of RAD repair could lead to substantial societal benefits, highlighting the importance of economic evaluations in healthcare decision-making and resource allocation.
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Introduction: Several predictive scores to evaluate outcomes of adrenal surgery for unilateral primary aldosteronism (UPA), have been conceived. We compared a novel trifecta that summarizes outcomes of adrenal surgery for UPA with the clinical cure proposed by Vorselaars.

Material And Methods: Between March 2011 and January 2022, a multi-institutional dataset was queried for UPA.

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Background: To evaluate the ability of therapeutic intensity score (TIS) in predicting the clinical outcomes of partial (PA) and total adrenalectomy (TA) for UPA.

Methods: Between 2011 and 2022, a four-center adrenalectomy dataset was queried for "unilateral adrenal mass" and "UPA" (n = 90). Preoperative TIS of each antihypertensive medication were individually calculated and merged to create a single, cumulative variable.

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Background: This systematic review and metanalysis was conducted to assess differences between perioperative and functional outcomes in patients undergoing minimally-invasive partial (mi-PA) and total adrenalectomy (mi-TA) for unilateral primary aldosteronism (uPHA).

Material And Methods: Multiple scientific databases (PUBMED, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library) were searched up to November 2021 for surgical series comparing mi-PA vs. mi-TA for uPHA according to the PRISMA statement.

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Background: To propose a trifecta that summarizes endpoints and predicts their maintenance after adrenalectomy ( = 90) for unilateral primary aldosteronism (UPA).

Methods: Trifecta was defined as coexistence of: ≥50% antihypertensive therapeutic intensity score reduction (∆TIS), no hypokalemia at 3 months, and no Clavien grade 2-5. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of trifecta.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzes the effects of the two COVID-19 pandemic waves on surgical admissions and severity of clinical cases in Trento, Italy, by comparing data from 2020 with data from the same periods in 2019.
  • It examines patient loads related to urgent and emergency surgeries during different phases of the pandemic, specifically looking at three distinct time frames: the initial lockdown, the summer break, and the second wave with ongoing restrictions.
  • The primary outcomes focus on the number of admissions and surgical rates for key diagnoses like diverticulitis and appendicitis, along with assessing the severity of patient conditions based on factors such as age and hospital stay duration.
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Background and aim This study analyses the impact of the first two pandemic waves on surgical urgencies/emergencies and their consequences on an entire provincial hospital network's surgical activities. Methods  Clinical and epidemiological data of urgent/emergent surgical admissions and interventions in the Autonomous Province of Trento's hospital network were collected from the internal common electronic database. The investigation periods were March-May 2019 (reference period), March-May 2020 (phase-I), June - August 2020 (phase-II), and October - December 2020 (phase-III).

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Background: the purpose of this study was to identify which clinicopathological features of early-stage rectal cancer (ESRC) are significantly correlated with the risk of local-regional lymph node metastases (LNM) and to quantify the strength of this association through a novel scoring system. According to several case studies, about 20% of operated ESRC are found with occult lymph nodal metastases at the histological examination. The low frequency of local recurrence in these tumors treated with total mesorectal excision (TME) compared to transanal approaches highlights the role of mesorectal lymph nodes as a site of metastatic location.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study compares emergency surgery outcomes during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy (March-May 2020) to the same period in 2019 to understand the impact of delayed hospital access due to the pandemic.* -
  • It found that while no major differences in peri-operative characteristics were noted, overall morbidity and mortality rates were higher during the pandemic, particularly among patients who faced delays in accessing care.* -
  • The research concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected surgical care quality, leading to worse patient outcomes as only the most severe cases were able to access emergency services in a timely manner.*
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Purpose: To analyze different types of management and one-year outcomes of anastomotic leakage (AL) after elective colorectal resection.

Methods: All patients with anastomotic leakage after elective colorectal surgery with anastomosis (76/1,546; 4.9%), with the exclusion of cases with proximal diverting stoma, were followed-up for at least one year.

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Background: Determination of success after adrenal-sparing surgery for primary aldosteronism (PA) is limited by the lack of standardized definitions of outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of minimally invasive partial adrenalectomy (MIPA) for PA by comparing perioperative and functional outcomes with minimally invasive total adrenalectomy (MITA) according to the Primary Aldosteronism Surgical Outcome (PASO) criteria.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Between March 2011 and April 2020, a multicenter adrenalectomy dataset was queried for "unilateral adrenal mass, PA, MIPA (n = 29), or MITA (n = 61)"at four participating Institutions.

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Background: The COVID19 pandemic had a deep impact on healthcare facilities in Italy, with profound reorganization of surgical activities. The Italian ColoRectal Anastomotic Leakage (iCral) study group collecting 43 Italian surgical centers experienced in colorectal surgery from multiple regions performed a quick survey to make a snapshot of the current situation.

Methods: A 25-items questionnaire was sent to the 43 principal investigators of the iCral study group, with questions regarding qualitative and quantitative aspects of the surgical activity before and after the COVID19 outbreak.

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Background: Midline primary hernias represent one of the most frequent abdominal wall defects in the adult population and in almost half of the cases they are associated with a rectus abdominis diastasis (RAD). Despite the high incidence of these defects there is currently no consensus in the literature on what is the preferred surgical technique for treatment. In this paper we present the first case series treated with an innovative technique that aims to repair the defects of the midline and RAD, while combining the advantages of the sublay Rives-Stoppa technique with those of the minimally-invasive surgery.

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Introduction: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard technique for gallbladder diseases in both acute and elective surgery. Nevertheless, reports from national surveys still seem to represent some doubts regarding its diffusion. There is neither a wide consensus on its indications nor on its possible related morbidity.

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Background. Over the past ten years oncological outcomes achieved by local excision techniques (LETs) as the sole treatment for early stages of rectal cancer (ESRC) have been often disappointing. The reasons for these poor results lie mostly in the high risk of the disease's diffusion to local-regional lymph nodes even in ESRC.

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Introduction. Despite initial enthusiasm, the use of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is still quite limited at present because of the expense of highly specialized equipment and the complexity of the learning curve. Furthermore, some authors report a relevant, although temporary, effect on anorectal function because of the considerable anal dilatation which can even produce a rupture of the internal anal sphincter.

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Background And Aims: The proto-oncogene c-KIT encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor essential during embryonic development and postnatal life. Although deregulated expression of c-KIT has been reported, its role in colorectal carcinoma remains controversial: some authors have described a correlation between c-KIT expression and colorectal cancer (CRC), while others have failed to detect the receptor in the majority of neoplasia examined. To address this question, we designed a prospective study to analyze the expression of c-KIT in normal and neoplastic colonic mucosa of the same patient.

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Objective: To highlight the current available evidence in antireflux surgery through a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Summary Background Data: Laparoscopic fundoplication is currently suggested as the gold standard for the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, but many controversies are still open concerning the influence of some technical details on its results.

Methods: Papers related to RCTs identified via a systematic literature search were evaluated according to standard criteria.

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Axillary lymph node metastasis from an occult breast carcinoma is a rare occurrence. We report this condition in a 59-year-old woman who presented with a swelling in the right axilla. No breast mass was clinically evident.

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