Image-based ex-vivo drug screening for patients with aggressive haematological malignancies: interim results from a single-arm, open-label, pilot study.

Background: Patients with refractory or relapsed haematological malignancies have few treatment options and short survival times. Identification of effective therapies with genomic-based precision medicine is hampered by intratumour heterogeneity and incomplete understanding of the contribution of various mutations within specific cancer phenotypes. Ex-vivo drug-response profiling in patient biopsies might aid effective treatment identification; however, proof of its clinical utility is limited.

Post-Bariatric Body-Contouring Surgery: Fewer Procedures, Less Demand, and Lower Costs.

Background: Paralleling the growth of bariatric surgery, the demand for post-bariatric body-contouring surgery is increasing and placing additional burdens on already strained health care systems. In Austria, medically necessary body contouring is covered by public health care. In a sample of 622 women, we assessed the proportion of patients that underwent post-bariatric surgery at least 2 years after gastric bypass.

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy as an isolated bariatric procedure: intermediate-term results from a large series in three Austrian centers.

Background: Gastric sleeve resection was initially planned as the first step of bilio-pancreatic diversion with duodenal switch but it continues to emerge as a restrictive bariatric procedure on its own. We describe intermediate results in a series of 126 laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomies (LSG) compiled from three bariatric centers in eastern Austria.

Methods: The stomach was laparoscopically reduced to a "sleeve" along the lesser curvature over a 48-Fr bougie.

Does gastric dilatation limit the success of sleeve gastrectomy as a sole operation for morbid obesity?

Background: Sleeve gastrectomy as the sole bariatric operation has been reported for high-risk super-obese patients or as first-step followed by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) or duodenal switch (DS) in super-super obese patients. The efficacy of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) for morbidly obese patients with a BMI of <50 kg/m2 and the incidence of gastric dilatation following LSG have not yet been investigated.

Methods: 23 patients (15 morbidly obese, 8 super-obese) were studied prospectively for weight loss following LSG.

[Surgical treatment of obesity].

At the beginning of the 21st century, obesity has become an epidemic with the greatest prevalence in the western world. For morbidly obese patients, conservative treatment has yielded disappointing results: On the other hand, bariatric surgery offers a sustained substantial weight loss for these patients. Common bariatric procedures including results and complications are described.

[Pregnancy and labor after adjustable gastric banding for therapy of morbid obesity].

Surgical placement of an adjustable gastric band has become a widely used method for treatment of morbid obesity. As a consequence, a higher number of pregnancies after weight loss is observed. Information is limited on pregnancy outcome after gastric banding, whereas metabolic and nutritional complications are reported after gastric bypass procedures.