Influence of the surgical technique on survival in the treatment of carcinomas of the true cardia (Siewert Type II) - Right thoracoabdominal vs. transhiatal-abdominal approach.

Introduction: It is still a matter of debate whether subtotal esophagectomy via a right thoracoabdominal approach (RTA) or extended gastrectomy using a transhiatal-abdominal approach (TH) is the favorable technique in the treatment of Siewert type II esophago-gastric junction adenocarcinoma (EJA).

Materials And Methods: Patients undergoing RTA or TH for EJA at our institution between 2000 and 2013 were extracted from a prospective database. Of 270 patients 91 (33.

Update on surgical treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms.

Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) are rare and account for only 2%-4% of all pancreatic neoplasms. All PNENs are potential (neurendocrine tumors PNETs) or overt (neuroendocrine carcinomas PNECs) malignant, but a subset of PNETs is low-risk. Even in case of low-risk PNETs surgical resection is frequently required to treat hormone-related symptoms and to obtain an appropriate pathological diagnosis.

Response evaluation following neoadjuvant treatment of pancreatic cancer patients.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive human neoplastic entities, with a very poor prognosis characterized by a high mortality rate and short survival. This is due both to its aggressive biological behaviour and the high incidence of locally advanced stages at the time of the initial diagnosis. The limits of resectability and the role of neoadjuvant (radio) chemotherapy for PDAC management are still unclear.

The cost of the objective structured clinical examination on an Italian nursing bachelor's degree course.

The OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) is considered the most valid and reliable method for assessing the clinical skills of students training for health professions, but its use is limited by the related high costs. We analyzed the cost retrospectively of using an OSCE designed for second-year students (2009) in our degree course, adopting the Reznick et al. guidelines (1993), which recommend assessing both high-end costs and low-end costs.