Increase in C-reactive protein as early predictor of anastomotic leakage in abdominal surgery.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the C-reactive protein (CRP) and white cell count (WC) in the prediction of anastomotic leakage (AL) in major abdominal surgery.

Methods: Multicenter, prospective, and observational study of adult patients who underwent major abdominal surgery. CRP and hemogram were measured after post-operative day (POD) 3 and POD 5.

Hidradenitis suppurativa: Basic considerations for its approach: A narrative review.

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic and debilitating skin disease, whose lesions can range from inflammatory nodules to abscesses and fistulas in the armpits, groin, perineum, inframammary region. Diagnosis can be confused with a large number of clinical pictures, and although studies on hidradenitis suppurativa are not so scarce in the literature, doctors are often unaware of this disease and therefore its diagnosis is often late. Pharmacological treatment ranges from retinoids to immunosuppression and radiation therapy, and surgical treatment ranges from incision and drainage to more complete excisions and laser therapies.

Hybrid Esophagectomy: How I Do It?

The hybrid esophagectomy is a procedure that combines an initial laparoscopic approach in which the gastric conduit is prepared preserving the right gastroepiploic artery, followed by a right thoracotomy for resection of the esophagus, gastric pull-up into the chest, and esophagogastric anastomosis. Critical surgical steps should be carefully respected to perform a safe operation.

An International Collaborative Study on Surgical Education for Quality Improvement (ASSURED): A Project by the 2017 International Society of Surgery (ISS/SIC) Travel Scholars International Working Group.

Background: There is a huge difference in the standard of surgical training in different countries around the world. The disparity is more obvious in the various models of surgical training in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high-income countries. Although the global training model of surgeons is evolving from an apprenticeship model to a competency-based model with additional training using simulation, the training of surgeons in LMICs still lacks a standard pathway of training.

[First experience of minimally invasive surgery in the upper digestive tract].

Background: Upper gastrointestinal cancer is responsible of important numbers deaths worldwide and is widely associated with lifestyle and genetic factors. Minimally invasive surgery treatment is still controversial wit difficult learning curves, longer operative times but clear advantages in bleeding, postoperative pain, return to activities and less complications associated with de incision.

Objective: Describe our first experience in minimally invasive surgery of the upper alimentary tract for cancer at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología.

Is resection of an esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum always necessary in the setting of achalasia?

Background: Esophageal epiphrenic diverticulum (ED) is usually secondary to a primary esophageal motility disorder, such as achalasia. Whereas the recommended surgical treatment includes esophageal myotomy and diverticulectomy, the outcome of patients in whom a myotomy without ED resection is performed is not known. The purpose of this study was to compare the outcome of ED patients who underwent ED resection and myotomy and those of ED patients who had a myotomy only.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and gastroesophageal reflux. Implications for treatment.

Background: Even though the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is unknown, there is mounting evidence that abnormal reflux (GERD) and aspiration of gastric contents may play a role in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Aims: The aims of this study were to determine in patients with GERD and IPF: (a) the clinical presentation, (b) the esophageal function, and (c) the reflux profile.

Methods: We compared the clinical presentation, the esophageal function (as defined by high-resolution manometry), and the reflux profile (by dual sensor pH monitoring) in 80 patients with GERD (group A) and in 22 patients with GERD and IPF (group B).