Publications by authors named "Gregor Kocher"

Background: Sleeve lobectomy (SL) and extended SL (ESL), which aim to preserve pulmonary function and enhance the quality of life of patients while ensuring oncological outcomes, are valuable surgical options for the treatment of centrally located non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to compare perioperative adverse events and long-term survival between SL and ESL in NSCLC patients, providing a comprehensive review of surgical outcomes, complications, and survival to assess the roles of SL and ESL in thoracic oncology.

Methods: This single-center retrospective study assessed the outcomes of NSCLC patients who underwent SL or ESL from June 2014 to January 2022.

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Background: Open thoracotomy has been the traditional surgical approach for patients with bronchogenic cysts (BCs). This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) compared to open surgery for the treatment of BCs in adults.

Methods: This single-institution, retrospective cohort study included 117 consecutive adult patients who underwent VATS (group A) or open surgery (group B) for BC resection between February 2019 and January 2023.

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Article Synopsis
  • The gold standard treatment for Pancoast tumors involves neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by radical resection of the upper lobe and chest wall.
  • Traditional surgical approaches, like the extended posterolateral thoracotomy, can cause significant tissue damage and may not optimize tumor exposure, leading to newer techniques being explored.
  • This report describes a pioneering case of fully portal robotic-assisted Pancoast tumor resection, highlighting its safety and improved exposure compared to traditional methods.
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Background: The criteria for chest drain removal after lung resections remain vague and rely on personal experience instead of evidence. Because pleural fluid resorption is proportional to body weight, a weight-related approach seems reasonable. We examined the feasibility of a weight-adjusted fluid output threshold concerning postoperative respiratory complications and the occurrence of symptomatic pleural effusion after chest drain removal.

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BACKGROUND Tension pneumothorax (TP) is a medical emergency resulting in air accumulation in the pleural cavity of the affected side. Later, this air applies pressure on the mediastinal structures, leading to a shift of these structures toward the contralateral side. This shift results in a picture of obstructive shock with a possibly fatal consequence if not detected and treated early.

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Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a lethal malignancy etiologically caused by asbestos exposure, for which there are few effective treatment options. Although asbestos carcinogenesis is associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS), the bona fide oncogenic signaling pathways that regulate ROS homeostasis and bypass ROS-evoked apoptosis in MPM are poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK is hyperactive and a molecular driver of MPM, independent of histological subtypes and genetic heterogeneity.

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Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) is caused by compression of the neurovascular bundle between the first rib and the clavicula, which can cause a large panel of symptoms and has a reported incidence of approximately 2-4/100.000. Surgical treatment consists of the resection of the first rib and is historically performed using an open, mainly transaxillary, approach.

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Background: With the exception of very early-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), surgery is not typically recommended for this disease; however, incidental resection still occurs. After incidental resection, adjuvant salvage therapy is widely offered, but the evidence supporting its use is limited. This study aimed to explore proper adjuvant therapy for these incidentally resected SCLC cases.

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Background: Treatment of subdiaphragmatic collection by intercostal image-guided drain placement is associated with a risk of pleural complications including potentially life-threatening pleural empyema. Descriptions of patient characteristics and clinical course of postinterventional pleural empyema are lacking. We aim to present characteristics, clinical course and outcomes of patients with empyema after intercostal approach of drain placement.

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Objective: Perioperative management of glucose levels remains challenging. We aimed to assess whether fully closed-loop subcutaneous insulin delivery would improve glycemic control compared with standard insulin therapy in insulin-requiring patients undergoing elective surgery.

Research Design And Methods: We performed a single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

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Once considered a waste product of anaerobic cellular metabolism, lactate has been identified as a critical regulator of tumorigenesis, maintenance, and progression. The putative primary function of lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB) is to catalyze the conversion of lactate to pyruvate; however, its role in regulating metabolism during tumorigenesis is largely unknown. To determine whether LDHB plays a pivotal role in tumorigenesis, we performed 2D and 3D in vitro experiments, utilized a conventional xenograft tumor model, and developed a novel genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in which we combined an LDHB deletion allele with an inducible model of lung adenocarcinoma driven by the concomitant loss of p53 (also known as Trp53) and expression of oncogenic KRAS (G12D) (KP).

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Article Synopsis
  • * In laboratory tests, DHEA showed the ability to lower pro-fibrotic markers without being toxic, and it influenced cell growth by changing the cell cycle and reducing G6PD activity.
  • * Low levels of DHEAS in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic ILDs were linked to worse lung function and increased risk of early mortality, suggesting that DHEAS could serve as a potential biomarker for disease severity.
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Background: Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is a pathological condition caused by a narrowing between the clavicle and first rib leading to a compression of the neurovascular bundle to the upper extremity. The incidence of TOS is probably nowadays underestimated because the diagnosis could be very challenging without a thorough clinical examination along with appropriate clinical testing. Beside traditional supra-, infraclavicular or transaxillary approaches, the robotic assisted first rib resection has been gaining importance in the last few years.

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Worldwide, health care professionals working in operating rooms (ORs) are exposed to electrocautery smoke on a daily basis. Aims of this study were to determine composition and concentrations of electrocautery smoke in the OR using mass spectrometry. Prospective observational study at a tertiary care academic center, involving 122 surgical procedures of which 84 were 1:1 computer randomized to smoke evacuation system (SES) versus no SES use.

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The subclavian artery at the thoracic outlet is in the deepest position of the thoracic cavity and is difficult to repair in this narrow space once injured, even if the surgery is converted to a thoracotomy. This article presents a successful left subclavian artery repair procedure at the thoracic outlet using a thoracoscopic approach, with a video demonstration, and describes its technical characteristics. The patient was planned for a left upper lobectomy through three-port thoracoscopic approach.

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We report the case of a female patient with an obstructing well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumour in the apical segment of the completely atelectatic right lower lobe. Bronchoscopic debulking of the tumour lead to re-ventilation of the remaining lobe, allowing to perform a lung-sparing bronchoplastic resection of the affected segment by uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery.

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Objectives: Evaluation of smoke capture efficiency of different mobile smoke evacuation devices with respect to volatile organic compounds and their noise emission.

Methods: Electrosurgical incisions were performed on fresh porcine liver in an operating room with vertical laminar flow. The generated surgical smoke was analysed with proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry with and without the use of a mobile smoke evacuation system consisting of a smoke evacuator machine, a suction hose and a handpiece.

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Objectives: Blunt chest trauma after mechanical resuscitation manoeuvres appears to have a significant impact on the often complicated course. Due to a lack of data in the literature, the purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and immediate outcome of chest wall stabilization for flail chest in this vulnerable patient population.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation between January 2014 and December 2018 who were diagnosed with flail chest.

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KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene in lung carcinomas, accounting for 25% of total incidence, with half of them being KRAS mutations. In past decades, KRAS enjoyed the notorious reputation of being untargetable-that is, until the advent of G12C inhibitors, which put an end to this legend by covalently targeting the G12C (glycine to cysteine) substitution in the switch-II pocket of the protein, inhibiting the affinity of the mutant KRAS with GTP and subsequently the downstream signaling pathways, such as Raf/MEK/ERK. KRAS-selective inhibitors, e.

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Article Synopsis
  • Oncogenic KRAS mutations are common in cancers, but treating these mutations effectively is difficult; this study aims to explore metabolic dependencies created by mutant KRAS for potential therapeutic strategies.
  • The researchers utilized functional genomic techniques and a targeted library of chemical inhibitors to discover that the nucleolar protein NOP56 is crucial for the survival of KRAS-mutant lung cancer cells, specifically by regulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels.
  • Depleting NOP56 increases ROS and makes cancer cells more vulnerable to mTOR inhibition, suggesting that targeting both NOP56 and mTOR could enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatments against KRAS-mutant tumors.
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Despite evidence suggesting that the tumor microenvironment (TME) in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is linked with poor prognosis, there is a lack of studies that functionally characterize stromal cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Here, we aim to characterize the stromal subsets within MPM, investigate their relationship to TILs, and explore the potential therapeutic targets. We curated a core set of genes defining stromal/immune signatures expressed by mesenchymal cells within the TME using molecular analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) MPM cohort.

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Objective: This study aimed to provide an extensive overview of clinical and pathological findings along with various therapeutic options analyzing in addiction, retrospectively, the surgical outcomes of a single center cohort.

Background: Thymic neoplasms are rare thoracic tumors which commonly are located in the anterior mediastinum and are associated with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. They may run an indolent course or could present a very aggressive biologic progression with infiltration of mediastinal structures and presence of distant metastases.

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In the past, the treatment of pectus carinatum has been managed by open, invasive surgical procedures, which involved the resection of cartilage growth plates (Ravitch procedure). By preventing normal bony growth and maturity, this technique often led to postoperative complications, such as acquired thoracic dystrophy, chronic pain and scarring, and stiffness of the whole anterior chest. Dyspnea and exercise intolerance due to restricted thoracic space and cardiac compression were not uncommon as well.

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Article Synopsis
  • About 60% of lung cancer patients are over 65 and may receive less optimal treatment, particularly surgical options like pneumonectomy, which is risky for elderly individuals.
  • A study involving 136 patients over 70 who underwent pneumonectomy across multiple countries between 2009 and 2019 analyzed their outcomes, focusing on survival and complications post-surgery.
  • Results showed a median survival of 38 months, with a 1.5% in-hospital mortality rate, highlighting the significant risk of post-operative complications in this age group despite the potential benefits of surgery.
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