Preoperative Assessment of Geriatric Surgical Patients: Update on Clinical Scales Used for Elective General and Digestive Surgery.

Background: Higher life expectancy in the general population entails a growing interest in the surgical management of diseases affecting elderly patients. Preoperative assessment when planning surgery needs to carefully evaluate physical and functional status of the patient. This review aims to describe the most commonly used scales in the evaluation of elderly patients scheduled for surgery and provides a useful tool to decide the scales that would be better to assess these specific patients.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment: Influence on clinical results after colorectal surgery in advanced age patients.

Introduction: The objective of this work was to analyse the postoperative clinical results of patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer in relation to the results of the preoperative comprehensive geriatric evaluation.

Methods: Observational study in which postoperative morbidity and mortality at 30 and 90 days were analysed in a cohort of patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer according to age groups: group 1) between 75 and 79 years old; group 2) between 80 and 84 years old, and group 3) ≥85 years old. In addition to the anaesthetic risk assessment, patients were assessed with the Karnofsky, Barthel and Pfeiffer indexes.

Survival and quality of life after surgery for colorectal cancer in the elderly: a comparative study.

Background: the aim of this study was to analyze the clinical results of the multidisciplinary management of elderly patients with colorectal cancer in a single center and to describe postoperative quality of life.

Methods: a comparative study was designed to compare the results and quality of life of patients treated in our center for colon cancer, aged from 80 to 84 years (study group) compared to a control group (aged form 75 to 79 years of age). Morbidity, mortality, oncological results and quality of life were analyzed.

Long-Term Results of Serial Transverse Enteroplasty with Neovalve Creation for Extreme Short Bowel Syndrome: Report of Two Cases.

Objective: The aim of this article was to determine whether serial transverse enteroplasty (STEP) and the creation of a new ileocecal valve in extreme short bowel syndrome (SBS) cases (<45 cm) is effective in intestinal adaptation and improvement of nutritional parameters and serum citrulline levels.

Patients And Methods: We present 2 cases of SBS treated with STEP. Enterectomy was performed for massive intestinal ischemia secondary to a gastrointestinal stromal tumor in the first case and to catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome in the second.

[Use of platelet gel in breast reconstruction after breast-conserving cancer surgery].

Introduction: With the aim of decreasing breast defects after conservative cancer surgery, we present a new breast reconstruction technique using breast volume restitution with platelet gel.

Patients And Method: A pilot study was conducted on 20 breast cancer patients undergoing tumorectomy with placement a gel obtained by plateletpheresis of a healthy allogeneic donor in the surgical cavity. Patients had a clinical, photographic and histological follow-up, as well as an assessment of the aesthetic outcome.

Bronchial stump infiltration after lung cancer surgery. Retrospective study of a series of 2994 patients.

The incidence of lung cancer has been increasing in developed countries since the mid-1990s. The main objective of this study is to determine if bronquial stump infiltration can affect survival in patients with lung cancer. For this purpose, we differentiate between carcinoma 'in situ' and invasive carcinoma.

Clinical outcome in patients with peripheral artery disease and renal artery stenosis.

Background: There is controversy on the influence of renal artery stenosis on outcome in patients with peripheral artery disease.

Patients And Methods: The 12-month impact of renal artery stenosis on declining renal function, control of hypertension, and incidence of major cardiovascular events in 100 consecutive patients undergoing angiography for peripheral artery disease was evaluated.

Results: A total of 60 patients had renal artery stenosis: 32 mild, 16 moderate, and 12 severe stenosis.

Cisplatin plus weekly CPT-11/docetaxel in advanced esophagogastric cancer: a phase I study with pharmacogenetic assessment of XPD, XRCC3 and UGT1A1 polymorphisms.

Purpose: A multicenter phase I trial to establish the recommended dose of CPT-11/docetaxel plus cisplatin in advanced esophagogastric cancer patients and to correlate the efficacy and toxicity with genetic polymorphisms in DNA repair genes (XPD and XRCC3) and the UGT1A1 gene.

Methods: Four dose levels with a fixed dose of cisplatin (60 mg/m(2)), day 1, and dose-escalation of CPT-11 (50-70 mg/m(2)) and docetaxel (25-30 mg/m(2)), days 1 and 8, every 3 weeks were planned. Polymorphisms of XPD (Asp312Asn and Lys751Gln), XRCC3 (Thr241Met) and UGT1A1*28 were examined in baseline peripheral blood.

[Evaluation of splenic function by dynamic gammagraphy, study of pitted erythrocytes and submembranous vacuoles in patients with slight and severe splenic trauma receiving conservative treatment or splenectomy].

Background And Objective: The splenic function of patients followed by the Department of General and Digestive Surgery in the Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (HUGTiP) from 1985 to 2003 for different degrees of splenic trauma according to the classification of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) 1994 was quantified and related to the treatment received (non surgical, total splenectomy with or without splenosis and splenectomy plus autotransplantation) to detect splenic dysfunction predisposing the development of postsplenectomy sepsis (PSS).

Patients And Method: 43 patients underwent an isotopic study with dynamic splenic gammagraphy and pitted erythrocytes (Normarsky optics) and submembranous vacuoles (transmission electron microscopy) were evaluated.

Results: The non surgical group presented normal phagocytic and filtration function with the median speed of splenic enhancement being 3.