Should We Plan CME vs non-CME surgery in colon cancer based on preoperative CT? An observational cohort study.

tumour specific surgery in colon cancer is gaining popularity among colorectal surgeons. Many advocate adapting surgical technique based on preoperative CT staging as not all patients require complete mesocolic excision (CME) and D3 lymphadenectomy. We aimed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of preoperative CT scans in nodal staging and analyse whether inadequate CT staging could have influenced local recurrences.

Impact of Clostridium difficile Infection Versus Colonization on Postoperative Outcomes After Oncological Colorectal Surgery: An Observational Single-Center Study With Propensity Score Analysis.

Background: There is limited research available concerning the risk anastomotic leakage in the context of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Herein, we aim to elucidate the correlation between CDI, encompassing both preoperative asymptomatic C. difficile carriers (CDC) and postoperative hospital acquired C.

Frailty Increases Morbidity and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Oncological Liver Resections: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Considered to reflect a patients' biological age, frailty is a new syndrome shown to predict surgical outcomes in elderly patients. In view of the increasing age at which patients are proposed oncological liver surgery and the morbidity associated with it, we attempted to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare morbidity and mortality between frail and nonfrail patients after liver resections.

Methods: The study was registered with PROSPERO.

Splenectomy Does Not Increase Early Morbidity in Patients Undergoing Total Gastrectomy: A Case-Control Study with Propensity Score Analysis.

Aim: In gastric cancer (GC), D2 lymph node dissection is, alongside negative-margins gastrectomy, of paramount importance. There is a debate between Western and Eastern scientific communities concerning the risk-benefit balance with respect to splenectomy, as Western countries are inclined to perform spleen-preserving gastrectomy due to an increased risk for postoperative complications. In Eastern countries (such as Japan) this is not the case.

Evaluation of Changes in Circulating Cell-Free DNA as an Early Predictor of Response to Chemoradiation in Rectal Cancer-A Pilot Study.

The objective of this study was to investigate quantitative changes in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) found in the bloodstream of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who received neoadjuvant long-course chemoradiation, assuming a change in DNA fragments release during therapeutic stress. This was a prospective observational study that involved 49 patients who had three distinct pathologies requiring neoadjuvant chemoradiation: 18 patients with breast cancer, 18 patients with cervical cancer, and 13 patients with rectal cancer. Both breast cancer and cervical cancer patients were used as a control groups.

Predictive and Prognostic Role of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio in Rectal Cancer: A Case Control Study with Propensity Score Analysis.

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is promoted as a marker reflecting the antitumoral inflammatory response. Herein, we aim to assess whether NLR at the time of diagnosis can predict response to neoadjuvant therapy and long-term survival in a matched cohort of rectal cancer patients. This is a case control study on rectal cancer patients who underwent standard oncological treatment and had NLR sampled at each stage.

Laparoscopic versus open resection of primary colorectal cancers and synchronous liver metastasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Combined resection of primary colorectal cancer and associated liver metastases is increasingly common. This study compares peri-operative and oncological outcomes according to surgical approach.

Methods: The study was registered with PROSPERO.

Conservative surgery versus colorectal resection for endometriosis with rectal involvement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of surgical and long-term outcomes.

Purpose: The optimal surgical approach for removal of colorectal endometrial deposits is unclear. Shaving and discoid excision of colorectal deposits allow organ preservation but risk recurrence with associated functional issues and re-operation. Formal resection risks potential higher complications but may be associated with lower recurrence rates.

The mesocolic apical fragment in complete mesocolic excision colectomies: Should it be analysed separately? A proof-of-concept study.

Aim: The aim of this work is to describe a protocol and assess the feasibility of harvesting and analysing the mesocolic apical fragment (MAF) for the presence of central lymph node (LN) metastasis and extra lymphatic free tumour cells in a random subgroup extracted from a cohort of complete mesocolic excision colectomies with central vascular ligation.

Method: Forty-seven patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were included. A 2/2 cm pyramid of tissue was cut around the central tie and sent for pathological examination.

PELVIC ACTINOMYCOSIS MIMICKING A LOCALLY ADVANCED PELVIC MALIGNANCY--CASE REPORT.

We present the case of a former user of an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) for 10 years, diagnosed with a bulky, fixed pelvic tumor involving the internal genital organs and the recto sigmoid, causing luminal narrowing of the rectum, interpreted as locally advanced pelvic malignancy, probably of genital origin. Intraoperatively, a high index of suspicion made us collect a sample from the fibrous wall of the tumor mass, large Actinomyces colonies were thus identified. Surgery consisted in debridement, removal of a small amount of pus and appendectomy, thus avoiding a mutilating and useless surgery.

POSTOPERATIVE ARTERIAL RELAXATION AND INTRAOPERATIVE VENOUS DILATION AS INTERCONNECTED PROGNOSTIC FACTORS FOR THE MATURATION OF ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULAS.

Aim: To investigate if immediate arterial distention can be used as a predictive factor for the development of a good fistula.

Material And Methods: Over a 5-months period (January- May 2015) all the patients who underwent an arteriovenous fistula between the radial artery and the cephalic vein of the forearm at the Second Surgical Clinic of the Iasi Regional Cancer Institute and were willing to participate were enrolled in the study. The diameters of the vessels were measured 1 hour and 8 weeks after surgery.

Epidemiological evaluation of the outcomes after video-assisted thoracoscopic talcage in neoplastic pleurisy.

Aim: Clinical-epidemiological investigations for further assessing the importance of video-assisted thoracoscopy in the treatment y of patients with neoplastic pleurisy.

Materials And Methods: The researches included a group of 72 patients (31.9% men and 68.

Clinical-epidemiological study on the incidence of postoperative complications after pulmonary resection for lung cancer.

Aim: To determine the relationship between the characteristics of a group of lung cancer patients, lung cancer surgeries, and the incidence of early and/or late postoperative complications.

Material And Methods: The study included a group of 115 lung cancer patients aged 40 to 85 years, 76.5% men, 60.

Do perioperative blood transfusions influence prognosis of gastric cancer patients? Analysis of 927 patients and interactions with splenectomy.

Background: This study was to assess the influence of perioperative blood transfusions on the prognosis of patients undergoing a potentially curative resection for gastric cancer and to investigate the interaction between transfusions and splenectomy.

Materials And Methods: Between January 1990 and December 2005, 927 patients from 6 Italian tertiary referral centers underwent curative resections for gastric cancer. Clinical and pathologic variables were prospectively collected.

[True posttraumatic femoral artery aneurysm: a rare clinical entity].

Traumatic etiology in aneurysms is very rare. After arterial trauma we usually find pseudo aneurysms. True aneurysms are due to deterioration of the arterial wall in small and long-term repetitive trauma.

[Bleeding control in stab wounds to the great vessels at the neck base].

Stab wounds of the neck are a great challenge for every surgeon. Approximately 25% of penetrating neck injuries results in a vascular lesion. Wounds being situated below the cricoid cartilage are associated with the great mortality and morbidity, having a global mortality between 12-20%.

[Cystic lymphangioma of the adrenal gland].

Cystic lymphangioma of the adrenal gland is a rare tumor, which is often sub-clinical. Preoperative diagnosis is difficult. We present a case of a 47 year-old female in whom an incidental left cystic mass of 12 cm by 10 cm with no features of malignancy was discovered by ultrasound scan.

Unrelated allogeneic bone marrow donation: short- and long-term follow-up of 103 consecutive volunteer donors.

Between 1992 and 1999, 105 unrelated allogeneic bone marrow collections from 103 volunteer donors (65 males and 38 females; median age 33 years) were carried out in three northern Italian centers (Verona, Bolzano and Padova) affiliated with the Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (IBMDR). The average volume of BM collected was equivalent in both genders (1143.1 ml for males and 1054.

Presence and significance of cold agglutinins in patients with HIV infection.

Background: HIV-infected patients may contract a variety of other concurrent infections, including Mycoplasma pneumoniae, cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), that are known to be causes of transient cold agglutinins (CA). The aim of this study was to search for the prevalence, the persistence and the significance of CA in HIV antibody-positive patients.

Methods: Ninety patients belonging to different risk groups (drug addicts, homosexuals and hemophiliacs), including 15 with AIDS, 20 with ARC, 25 with PGL, 30 symptom-free individuals and 100 healthy blood donors were assessed for the presence of CA for at least six months.

[Chemotaxis deficiency in patients with HIV infection].

Increased susceptibility to bacterial recurrent infection is characteristically associated with impaired B cells function but also with a defective PMN function. We studied PMN CT in 15 HIV positive drug addicts patients with persistent generalized lymphoadenopathy (PGL), in 15 symptom free HIV negative drug addicts (SFDA) and in 15 healthy blood donors to evaluate influence of HIV infection on PMN functions. CT of patients with PGL was reduced to 78% (p < 0.

HLA gene and phenotype data of 60 insulin-dependent diabetic patients from north-eastern Italy. A negative association with DR5 rather than DR2?

The purpose of our study was to evaluate what kind of relationships exist between HLA antigens and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), in 20 families and in 40 single patients coming from and living in North Eastern Italy. The subjects studied show a strong association with HLA-DR3 and/or -DR4; at least one of these antigens is present in 88% of the diabetic subjects; this confirms that these antigens play a role in the pathogenesis of IDDM. We also noticed a negative association between IDDM and DR5 rather than DR2 and DR7.

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus epidemiology: HLA genotype study in 12 north eastern Italian families with two siblings affected by type I diabetes.

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the relationship between the histocompatibility antigens and type I diabetes mellitus in families living in the north-eastern part of Italy. In each family two siblings were affected by diabetes. HLA-antigens were determined with the lymphocytotoxicity test, utilizing antisera of the series A-B-C-DR.

Neutrophil function and humoral immunity in children with recurrent infections of the lower respiratory tract and chronic bronchial suppuration.

Neutrophil motility and superoxide anion production and serum immunoglobulin levels were assessed in 51 children with recurrent infections of the lower respiratory tract and chronic bronchial suppuration, not due to anatomic or functional cause. In 26 children (50.9%), a significant defect of the immunologic defenses, likely to be responsible for the disease, was observed.