Surgery in the Next Space Missions.

In the coming years, missions to the Moon and Mars shall be the new goals of space flight. The complexity of these missions due to the great distance from Earth and the unforeseen obstacles to settle on another planet have given rise to great concerns for crew health and survival. The need for advanced crew autonomy and a different approach to surgical emergency require new protocols and devices to help future crew medical officers and other crew members in a task of unprecedented difficulty.

Optimization of an Ex-Vivo Human Skin/Vein Model for Long-Term Wound Healing Studies: Ground Preparatory Activities for the 'Suture in Space' Experiment Onboard the International Space Station.

This study is preliminary to an experiment to be performed onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and on Earth to investigate how low gravity influences the healing of sutured human skin and vein wounds. Its objective was to ascertain whether these tissue explants could be maintained to be viable ex vivo for long periods of time, mimicking the experimental conditions onboard the ISS. We developed an automated tissue culture chamber, reproducing and monitoring the physiological tensile forces over time, and a culture medium enriched with serelaxin (60 ng/mL) and (Zn(PipNONO)Cl) (28 ng/mL), known to extend viability of explanted organs for transplantation.

Exploitation of Skin Microbiota in Wound Healing: Perspectives During Space Missions.

Wound healing is slowed in Space. Microgravity and possible physical factors associated with Space affect alterations in fibroblast, matrix formation, dysregulation in apoptosis and inflammation. The microbial populations settled on skin, space modules, in space suits, are also playing a pivotal role, as wound healing is also affected by the microbial community.

Laparosacopic management with combination of fatty meal and methylen-blu for chylous leak after a left para-aortic paraganglioma excision.

We report a case of chylous leak recognized post-operatively after abdominal surgery for left para-aortic paraganglioma in a young female with a history of open botallo's duct. Conservative measures failed to control the leak and the patient is not eligible for sclerotisation. Laparoscopic exploration with intralipidand methylen blue injection through an orogastric tube revealed the leaking area near the superior mesenteric vein behind the Traitz, and this was ligated with non-asorbable suture and placement of acrylic glue.

Multispectral imaging autofluorescence microscopy in colonic and gastric cancer metastatic lymph nodes.

Background & Aims: The lymphadenectomy and extended lymphadenectomy procedures have been points of controversy in surgical oncology. The methods available for the detection of metastatic lymph nodes are numerous. These include lymphoscintigraphy and radiolabeled antibody detection, but in most cancers the currently used technique is sentinel lymph node identification, performed primarily through the use of immunohistochemistry.

Role of conventional treatments on circulating and monocyte-derived dendritic cells in colorectal cancer.

We investigated the effects of metastasis, surgery and chemotherapy on both circulating dendritic cells (DCs) and monocyte-derived-DCs (MoDCs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Metastatic or nonmetastatic CRC patients had significantly reduced DC subsets compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.001).

p53 and DPC4 alterations in the bile of patients with pancreatic carcinoma.

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is still predominantly diagnosed in advanced stages, and 85%-90% of patients are not eligible for surgery at diagnosis. This is mainly due to the great difficulty in detecting the tumour at an early stage and presently no satisfactory results have been obtained to overcome this problem. Studies on molecular genetic profile of pancreatic cancer may represent an important approach.

Peripheral paraneoplastic neuropathy, an uncommon clinical onset of sigmoid cancer. Case report and review of the literature.

A case of a 76-year-old man presenting with weakness of the lower legs and bilateral steppage gait is described. Neurological examination revealed a sensorimotor neuropathy with axonopathy and myelinic aspects. At the time of the diagnostic workup an episode of rectal bleeding occurred.