Publications by authors named "Vaira M"

Background: Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a complex procedure that involves extensive peritoneal and visceral resections followed by intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program aims to achieve faster recovery by maintaining pre-operative organ function and reducing the stress response following surgery. A recent publication introduced dedicated ERAS guidelines for CRS and HIPEC with the aim of extending the benefits to patients with peritoneal surface malignancies.

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Background: There is little evidence on KRAS mutational profiles in colorectal cancer (CRC) peritoneal metastases (PM). This study aims to determine the prevalence of specific KRAS mutations and their prognostic value in a homogeneous cohort of patients with isolated CRC PM treated with cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Data were collected from 13 Italian centers, gathered in a collaborative group of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology.

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Introduction: The selection of patients undergoing cytoreductive- surgery (CRS) followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is crucial. BIOSCOPE and COMPASS are prognostic scores designed to stratify survival into four classes according to clinical and pathological features. The purpose of this study is to analyze the prognostic role of these scores using a large cohort of patients as an external reference.

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Air particle pollution is a current issue that can cause adverse problems to human health and the urban environment. A fraction of these emitted particles is magnetite and iron-rich materials, which may be accumulated by biological indicators and effectively characterized by environmental magnetism methods. Thus, we studied this emitted particle fraction using the epiphytic species Tillandsia capillaris growing in northwestern Argentina's urban, suburban, and rural areas.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effectiveness of systemic chemotherapy (SC) and its timing in conjunction with surgical cytoreduction (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for treating colorectal cancer peritoneal metastases (CRC-PM).
  • Researchers analyzed data from 367 patients across 13 Italian centers, noting different timings for chemotherapy administration: before, after, or both surrounding the CRS-HIPEC procedure.
  • Results indicated that while SC was not linked to an overall survival benefit, receiving SC after the surgery improved disease-free survival rates compared to receiving it before the procedure, highlighting the need for further research on optimal chemotherapy strategies.
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  • - Systematic assessments of species extinction risk are crucial for effective conservation, and the second Global Amphibian Assessment evaluated over 8,000 species for their threat levels.
  • - Amphibians are the most at-risk vertebrates, with 40.7% of species globally threatened, and their status has worsened since previous assessments, especially in salamanders and the Neotropics.
  • - The major threats contributing to declining amphibian populations include disease, habitat loss, and increasing impacts from climate change, highlighting the urgent need for more conservation funding and initiatives to reverse negative trends.
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The Lynch syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant condition usually characterized by germline pathogenic variants in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Despite the guidelines now available, determining the pathogenicity of rare variants remains challenging, as the clinical significance of a genetic variant could be uncertain, but it may represent a disease-associated variation in the aforementioned genes. In this case report we will describe the case of a 47 years-old female affected by endometrial cancer (EC) with an extremely rare germline heterozygous variant in the MSH2 gene (c.

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  • Long-term right ventricular pacing (VP) can lead to negative outcomes like heart failure and cardiovascular mortality in patients who have undergone transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
  • The PACE-TAVI registry studied 377 TAVR patients with pacemakers, comparing those with VP below 40% to those at or above 40% to see how this affects their health outcomes.
  • Results showed that patients with VP ≥40% had a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization, emphasizing the need for closer monitoring of these patients after TAVR.
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Objective: We present a portable automatic kinetic perimeter based on a virtual reality (VR) headset device as an innovative and alternative solution for the screening of clinical visual fields. We compared the performances of our solution with a gold standard perimeter, validating the test on healthy subjects.

Methods: The system is composed of an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset with a clicker for participant response feedback.

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Background: Pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) is a novel intraperitoneal drug delivery method of low-dose chemotherapy as a pressurized aerosol in patients affected by peritoneal cancer of primary or secondary origin. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis with the aim of assessing the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of PIPAC.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed using Medline and Web of Science databases from 1 January 2011, to inception, to 31 December 2021.

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  • Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a rare disease that lacks enough scientific research for a definitive treatment trial, highlighting the need for a standardized diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm (DTA).
  • The Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (SICO) convened a consensus panel of experts to create a DTA specifically for PMP and primary appendiceal tumors in Italy.
  • The panel reached agreement on 33 out of 34 treatment statements and developed flowcharts for managing appendiceal cancer and peritoneal disease, although some debates remain regarding the criteria for HIPEC treatment.
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Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program refers to a multimodal intervention to reduce the length of stay and postoperative complications; it has been effective in different kinds of major surgery including colorectal, gynaecologic and gastric cancer surgery. Its impact in terms of safety and efficacy in the treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies is still unclear. A systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the effect of ERAS after cytoreductive surgery with or without HIPEC for peritoneal metastases.

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Ovarian cancer is the eighth most common neoplasm in women with a high mortality rate mainly due to a marked propensity for peritoneal spread directly at diagnosis, as well as tumor recurrence after radical surgical treatment. Treatments for peritoneal metastases have to be designed from a patient's perspective and focus on meaningful measures of benefit. Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), a strategy combining maximal cytoreductive surgery with regional chemotherapy, has been proposed to treat advanced ovarian cancer.

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Background: Cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy may significantly improve survival for selected patients with peritoneal surface malignancies, but it has always been criticized due to the high incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality.

Methods: Data were collected from nine Italian centers with peritoneal surface malignancies expertise within a collaborative group of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology. Complications and mortality rates were recorded, and multivariate Cox analysis was used to identify risk factors.

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Colchicine, a microtubule-disassembling (antitubulin) agent used for centuries for the treatment of gout and autoimmune diseases, is a drug of growing interest in the cardiovascular field. While in the last decades it has become cornerstone of pericarditis treatment, it has also emerged in the last few years as a promising drug in the management of coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and heart failure. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy of colchicine in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

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Background: Even though breast cancer is the most frequent extra-abdominal tumor causing peritoneal metastases, clear clinical guidelines are lacking. Our aim is to establish whether cytoreductive surgery (CRS) could be considered in selected patients with peritoneal metastases from breast cancer (PMBC) to manage abdominal spread and allow patients to resume or complete other medical treatments.

Methods: We considered patients with PMBC treated in 10 referral centers from January 2002 to May 2019.

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Background: PIPAC (Pressurized IntraPeritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy) is a minimally invasive approach relying on physical principles for improving intraperitoneal drug delivery, including optimizing the homogeneity of drug distribution through an aerosol. Feasibility and safety of the new approach are now consolidated and data on its effectiveness are continuously increasing. Although any surgical procedure associated with PIPAC had always been discouraged due to the high risk of complications, surgical practice is constantly changing: with growing expertise, more and more surgical teams associate PIPAC with surgery.

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Over the past 40 years, strategies to treat neoplastic spread into the peritoneal space have benefitted from a gradually evolving approach, thanks mainly to studies conducted by the charismatic leader in this medical field Professor Paul Sugarbaker, Washington DC [...

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Background: Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) leads to prolonged survival for selected patients with colorectal (CRC) peritoneal metastases (PM). This study aimed to analyze the prognostic role of micro-satellite (MS) status and RAS/RAF mutations for patients treated with CRS.

Methods: Data were collected from 13 Italian centers with PM expertise within a collaborative group of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology.

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Pressurized Intra-Peritoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC) is a novel laparoscopic intraperitoneal chemotherapy approach offered in selected patients affected by non-resectable peritoneal carcinomatosis. Drugs doses currently established for nebulization are very low: oxaliplatin (OXA) 120 mg/sm, cisplatin (CDDP) 10.5 mg/sm and doxorubicin (DXR) 2.

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Background: The development of multimodality treatment, including cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), has led to promising results in selected patients with peritoneal disease of gastric origin. The aim of this study was to investigate the short- and long-term outcomes of CRS/HIPEC in the treatment of synchronous peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer.

Methods: The Italian Peritoneal Surface Malignancies Oncoteam-S.

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Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC) is an innovative laparoscopic intraperitoneal chemotherapy approach with the advantage of a deeper tissue penetration. Thus far, oxaliplatin has been administered at an arbitrary dose of 92 mg/m, cisplatin at 7.5 mg/m and doxorubicin 1.

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Aims: Permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) may be required after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Evidence on PPI prediction has largely been gathered from high-risk patients receiving first-generation valve implants. We undertook a meta-analysis of the existing literature to examine the incidence and predictors of PPI after TAVI according to generation of valve, valve type, and surgical risk.

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