Difficulties or failures in securing the airway still occur and can lead to permanent disabilities and mortality. Patients with head and neck pathologies obstructing airway access are at risk of airway management failure once they lose spontaneous respiration. Awake flexible scope intubation is considered the gold standard for controlling the airway in such patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Radiofrequency ablation of unresectable pancreatic tumors represents a palliative method in selected patients. The lack of standardization of the technique used as well as the non-homogeneous immediate and long-term results from the reports in the literature made us evaluate in a pilot study the application of a standardized technique through a surgical approach, with the evaluation of the immediate and long-term results.
Methods: Ten consecutive patients diagnosed with unresectable nonmetastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma were referred for radio-frequency ablation by surgical approach.
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAirway management is a vital part of anesthesia practices, intensive care units, and emergency departments, and a proper pre-operative assessment can guide clinicians' plans for securing an airway. Complex airway assessment has recently been at the forefront of anesthesia research, with a substantial increase in annual publications during the last 20 years. In this paper, we provide an extensive overview of the literature connected with pre-operative airway evaluation procedures, ranging from essential bedside physical examinations to advanced imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US), radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastatic tumors of the pancreas are uncommon, but renal cell carcinoma is one of the few known cancers that can metastasize to the pancreas. Few cases have been reported as being metachronous multicentric metastases to the pancreas, but none associated with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor and reported in literature, to our knowledge. Case presentation: We describe a case of 66-year-old woman who was diagnosed with multicentric pancreatic metastases from clear renal cell carcinoma associated with concomitant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, after 14 years from the initial diagnosis of kidney cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: In the last years increasing scientific evidence drew attention on the potential effects of anesthetic drugs on postoperative outcome in cancer patients. Local anesthetics, especially lidocaine, have been intensively studied in relation with postoperative outcome in colorectal cancer patients. Our study objectives were to investigate the effects of perioperative intravenous lidocaine infusion on neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and short-term postoperative outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sedation of elderly patients with associated comorbidities, subjected to ERCP procedure, can produce serious complications including respiratory instability and hemodynamics caused by the administration of anesthetic substances. In this study we aimed to evaluate whether the administration of lidocaine in continuous infusion during ERCP procedure reduces the consumption of propofol and the rate of complications in these patients.
Methods: 83 patients over 65-year old, ASA II-IV score, undergoing an ERCP procedure were randomized in two groups: lidocaine group (group L) who received 1.
Background and Aims: Recent single-center retrospective studies have focused on laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy (LPD) in elderly patients, and compared the outcomes between the laparoscopic and open approaches. Our study aimed to determine the outcomes of LPD in the elderly patients, by performing a systematic review and a meta-analysis of relevant studies. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing the Embase, Medline, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane databases to identify all studies that compared laparoscopic vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this prospective, randomized, double blind control trial we aim to investigate which of the most used analgesic techniques after laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the most efficient. This study included 81 patients that were randomly distributed into 3 groups using a computer-generated random number which was enclosed in a sealed envelope: group A (control) received classic multimodal iv opioid analgesia, group B received Tap block in oblique subcostal approach (OSTAP) and group C received local anesthetic infiltration of the trocar insertion sites (LAI). The primary outcome of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of each analgetic technique by measuring VAS pain scores.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTotal duodenopancreatectomy (TDP), performed exclusively by laparoscopic approach is considered one of the most complex abdominal surgical procedures. TDP with preservation of spleen vessels (operation Kimura) is a more technically-demanding procedure, but is beneficial in selected cases. While some high-volume centers have gained experience in minimally-invasive pancreatectomies, laparoscopic approach remains a recommendation for well selected patients with benign or low-grade malignant tumors and should be performed with caution, by experienced HPB surgeons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPancreatic adenocarcinoma is a very aggressive tumor with a low overall survival rate. The prognostic and the treatment of this disease are strongly interconnected and highly dependent on the resectability criteria of the tumor, surgical excision being the golden standard. For local advance disease or for unresectable tumors, with or without metastasis we can take into consideration as adjuvant therapy, together with chemotherapy, the radiofrequency ablation or stereotactic ablation radiotherapy of the solid tumor mass.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBeside 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Wide geographical variations in depression and anxiety rates related to the ethical climate have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic in intensive care units (ICUs). The objective was to investigate whether moral distress is associated and has predictive values for depression, anxiety, and intention to resign.
Methods: 79 consenting ICU nurses completed MMD-HP and PHQ-4 scales in this cross-sectional study between October 2020-February 2021, after ethical approval.
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Nanotechnology and its applications in medicine made us live a new era of healthcare, particularly in oncology. The objective of this paper is to review the contribution of nanotechnology in clinical use of contrast agents for gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis and follow-up and to offer an overview of the impact of nanotechnology in the management of cancer.
Materials And Methods: In this regard, we reviewed the main areas of expertise where nanotechnology has contributed to the improvement of diagnostic methods (CE-US, CE-CT, MRI), along with the therapeutic applications that nanoparticles can have.
Desmoid tumors (DT) are rare non-metastatic neoplasms that occur through myofibroblast proliferation in musculoaponeurotic or fascial structures of the body, being commonly diagnosed in young women during pregnancy or in the post-partum period. We present the case of a 38-year-old woman, who recently gave birth, manifesting non-specific abdominal symptoms. Computed tomography indicated the presence of a solitary tumor arising from the intestinal wall or from the mesentery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Laparoscopic radio-frequency ablation (L-RFA) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is used for unresectable tumors, with difficult location, unfitted for a percutaneous ablation technique. L-RFA has a high incidence of local recurrence. Even if intraoperative-ultrasound is standardized for staging and RFA probe guidance, the role of laparoscopic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (L-CEUS) for the real time monitoring of L-RFA efficacy has not been previously reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gastrointestin Liver Dis
December 2019
The association of Crohn's disease (CD) with acute intermittent porphyria (AIP), both without a family or personal pathological history, is a very rare clinical possibility. We present the case of a 23-year-old male diagnosed on the same admission with ileal CD and with an AIP crisis. The diagnosis was challenging as the symptoms overlapped.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Accumulating evidence indicates that objective neuromuscular monitoring and pharmacological reversal of neuromuscular block reduces the occurrence of residual muscle paralysis in the acute postoperative phase. However, objective neuromuscular monitoring is not a routine habit in anaesthesia. In order to change this situation, we wished to find out, as a first step to improvement, the current use of neuromuscular monitors and the custom of anaesthetists for reversal of neuromuscular block before tracheal extubation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeritoneal 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeritoneal carcinomatosis represents the advanced, final stage of peritoneal malignancy, although it is often not accompanied by systemic neoplasia. The development of the pharmaceutical industry in combination with advanced surgery techniques has helped to improve the outcome of these patients, considered for a long time without radical resources. Tumoral cytoreduction followed by hypertermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the treatment of choice for these patients, of course, this beeing done in a multimodal treatment, carefully chosen, following a multidisciplinary consensus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: 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.