Splenic rupture following lenograstim in post-autologous stem cell transplantation treated with emergency open splenectomy: a case report and literature review.

Granulocyte-colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs) are the cornerstone of peripheral blood stem cell mobilization and apheresis. However, splenic rupture following G-CSF treatment represents a serious and potentially fatal adverse event. Here, we report the case of a patient in their late 50s with severe pancytopenia post-autologous stem cell transplantation reinfusion suffering from splenic rupture after treatment with lenograstim.

Successful use of carbamazepine in a patient with drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms.

Drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a serious adverse drug reaction with a high mortality rate. Discontinuation of the causative agent is the primary treatment. History of DRESS may put patients at higher risk of future episodes; however, cross-reactivity between various medications is not well established.

Laparoscopic ventral hernia repair: Results of a two thousand patients prospective multicentric database.

Laparoscopic incisional and ventral hernia repair (LIVHR) has been largely employed by the surgical community worldwide, despite the use of different types of mesh and fixation devices. A large nationwide prospective multicentric database collected 2005 operations from 8 high-volume centers, to investigate the perioeperative and long-term outcomes. The laparoscopic operations were completed in 1979 patients (98.

Inhibition of histone deacetylase 4 increases cytotoxicity of docetaxel in gastric cancer cells.

Purpose: New treatment options for gastric cancer are in great demand. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are exciting therapeutic targets, but only the class I HDACs 1, 2, and 3 have been studied in gastric cancer. We have investigated class IIa HDAC expression and inhibition in gastric cancer cells.

Abdominal wall reconstruction with intraperitoneal prosthesis in desmoid tumors surgery.

Desmoid tumor (DT), also known as aggressive fibromatosis, is a rare soft tissue neoplasm. For those tumors localized in the anterior abdominal wall, radical resection and reconstruction with mesh are indicated. Due to the rarity of this disease, there have been no randomized trials, but in reported retrospective series, although it is considered a benign lesion, it is clear that local recurrence is not uncommon.

[Our experience on the treatment of epigastric hernia].

The epigastric hernia represents a rare surgical affection, sometimes insidious, whose pathogenesis has been discussed for a long time, revealing, in the course of the years, multiple predisposing and responsible factors of its appearance. From our experience and the data reported in the literature, it is clear that a standard surgery does not exist for this pathology, and it is often necessary to perform preliminary uncommon diagnostic exams. Our retrospective study consists in the analysis of the surgical treatments executed, from 2003 to 2006, on 37 patients suffered from epigastric hernia, for everyone of which, on the basis of the clinical features, of the preoperative diagnostic results and of the characteristics of the hernia defect, it has been encouraged a personalized surgical procedure,obtaining therefore, for the same pathology, different treatment protocols (open or laparoscopic procedures, ordinary hospital stay or day-surgery, prosthetic or not surgical repair).

Obese teenagers treated by Lap-Band System: the Italian experience.

Background: Little is known about obesity surgery in young and adolescent patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate results of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in obese teenagers.

Methods: Patients < or = 19 years old selected from the database of the Italian Collaborative Study Group for Lap-Band were analyzed according to mortality, comorbidities, laparotomic conversion, intra- and postoperative complications, body mass index (BMI), and % excess weight loss (EWL) at different times of follow-up.

The Italian Group for LAP-BAND: predictive value of initial body mass index for weight loss after 5 years of follow-up.

Background: Laparoscopic of the LAP-BAND System placement stage of obesity is a safe operation, but its indication in terms of stage of obesity is controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the 5 years stage of obesity results for weight loss in patients with varying preoperative ranges of body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Data were obtained from the Italian Collaborative Study Group for LAP-BAND System (GILB) registry.

Italian Group for Lap-Band System: results of multicenter study on patients with BMI < or =35 kg/m2.

Background: The Lap-Band System is the most common bariatric operation world-wide. Current selection criteria do not include patients with BMI < or = 35. We report the Italian multicentre experience with BMI < or = 35 kg/m(2) over the last 5 years.

Results of the Italian multicenter study on 239 super-obese patients treated by adjustable gastric banding.

Background: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is the most common bariatric operation. This study is a retrospective analysis of the multicenter Italian experience in patients with BMI > 50 over the last 4 years.

Methods: An electronic data sheet made for LAGB-operated patients since January 1996, was mailed and e-mailed to all surgeons involved in this kind of procedure in Italy.

[Uterus in a male: persistent Mullerian duct syndrome. Report of a case with embryological considerations].

We describe a case of persistent mullerian duct syndrome incidentally found in a 79-year-old man. It was characterized by the presence of a uterus-like retroperitoneal mass composed of an ovoidal corpus and rudimental portio with a central lumen. Histologically the mass was leiomyomatous in nature, closely resembling myometrium, while the central lumen was lined by a monolayer of ciliated cuboidal to columnar epithelium similar to embryo-fetal celomatic epithelium.

Lap Band adjustable gastric banding system: the Italian experience with 1863 patients operated on 6 years.

Background: The Lap Band system procedure is currently the most common bariatric surgical procedure worldwide. This is an interim report of the experience of the 27 Italian centers participating in the national collaborative study group for Lap Band (GILB).

Methods: An electronic database was specifically created.

Malignant schwannoma of the rectum: a clinical and pathological contribution.

Schwannomas of the rectum are uncommon and incompletely characterized tumours, and only a limited number of cases have been reported. On the basis of a case of rectal schwannoma and a review of the literature on this rare condition, we stress the importance of the clinical features, diagnostic difficulties and surgical indications for the various therapeutic approaches. The basis for radical operation, due to the tendency of such tumours to recur locally and the real possibility of malignant degeneration, is discussed.

Laparoscopic Italian experience with the Lap-Band.

Background: An increasing number of surgeons with different levels of experience with laparoscopic surgery and open obesity surgery have started to perform laparoscopic implantation of the Lap-Band.

Methods: An electronic patient data sheet was created and was mailed and e-mailed to all surgeons performing laparoscopic adjustable silicone gastric banding (LASGB) in Italy. Patients were recruited since January 1996.

Long-term results after a low anterior resection with mucosectomy and colo-anal sleeve anastomosis for a diffuse cavernous haemangioma of the rectum.

Diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the rectum is an unusual lesion. We reporting the case of an 18-year-old man with a rectal cavernous hemangioma in whom recurrent rectal bleeding and marked anemia were thought to be caused by his co-existing internal hemorrhoids. This resulted in a 2-year delay in reaching the correct diagnosis.

[Systemic neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced gastric carcinoma: phase II study with 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and etoposide].

Locally advanced gastric adenocarcinomas have a poor prognosis, particularly when the tumours are bulky, located in the cardia or when they present local/regional lymph node involvement. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced gastric cancer is an experimental treatment strategy that may increase resectability and improve survival in patients suffering from an almost uniformly fatal neoplasm. At our institution 11 patients younger than 70 years of age in good physical and mental condition with non-resectable adenocarcinomas of the stomach as determined by endoscopy, computed tomography scans and pathology examinations, were treated with combination chemotherapy [5-fluorouracil (375 mg/m2 i.

Insulin/insulin-like growth factor I hybrid receptors overexpression is not an early defect in insulin-resistant subjects.

Hybrid receptors (HRs), insulin receptor (IR)/insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-I-R) heterodimers have been reported increased in skeletal muscle of obese and type 2 diabetic patients and to contribute to the patient insulin resistance. To investigate whether or not the increased expression of hybrid receptors is an early defect (probably genetic) of insulin resistance, we measured by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays both IR, IGF-I-R, and HR content in skeletal muscle of healthy nonobese, nondiabetic subjects either insulin sensitive or insulin resistant, and also in patients with moderate obesity. IR content was significantly reduced in insulin-resistant subjects both nonobese and obese, compared with insulin-sensitive subjects (2.

Hepatobiliary anatomy in patients with transposition of the gallbladder: implications for safe laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

The surgical anatomy of six patients with sinistroposition of the gallbladder is described. Five of these were encountered in a consecutive series of 1764 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone disease in two hospitals between 1989 and 1994, a prevalence of 0.3 per cent in patients undergoing this operation.

[Abdominal wall metastasis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma following laparoscopy].

Wound recurrence after oncologic surgery is known since 1885, but nowadays we deal with a new problem after the rapid diffusion of laparoscopically assisted surgery and the 22 cases of trocar site metastases already reported in literature. Aim of this paper is to present a case of cutaneous seeding of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, in two trocar sites, after laparoscopy for lithiasis of the gallbladder. Diagnosis of neoplasia was made intraoperatively for the presence of peritoneal and omental carcinomatosis; no cholecystectomy was performed and after biopsy and postoperative TC-scan a chemotherapeutic treatment was started.

[Ogilvie's syndrome].

Ogilvie's Syndrome is defined as acute distension of the colon without any mechanical obstruction. We reported two new cases who underwent surgical treatment and the revision of the literature. Four hundred eight-six cases are described until now.

[Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome].

Trapped popliteal artery syndrome is relatively uncommon: the literature reports some 60 cases. The clinical picture is linked to compression of the popliteal artery by the gastrocnemius as it contracts, thus distorting the arterial route. The result is an interruption in the blood flow distally to the area involved due to stenosis of the blood vessel that is at first functional but becomes organic.