The Impact of Thoracic Ultrasound on Clinical Management of Critically Ill Patients (UltraMan): An International Prospective Observational Study.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of thoracic ultrasound (TUS) examinations on clinical management in adult ICU patients.

Design: A prospective international observational study.

Setting: Four centers in The Netherlands and Italy.

Liver resection versus radiofrequency ablation in octogenarian patients for hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score multicenter analysis.

Background: Liver resection (LR) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are considered curative options for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to compare outcomes after LR and RFA in octogenarian patients with HCC.

Materials And Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included 102 elderly patients (> 80 years old) treated between January 2009 and January 2019, who underwent LR or RFA for HCC (65 and 37 with, respectively).

Analysis of Antibiotic Exposure and Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis in Europe, North America, and Australia.

Importance: Appropriate use of antibiotics is life-saving in neonatal early-onset sepsis (EOS), but overuse of antibiotics is associated with antimicrobial resistance and long-term adverse outcomes. Large international studies quantifying early-life antibiotic exposure along with EOS incidence are needed to provide a basis for future interventions aimed at safely reducing neonatal antibiotic exposure.

Objective: To compare early postnatal exposure to antibiotics, incidence of EOS, and mortality among different networks in high-income countries.

Impact of tumor size on the difficulty of laparoscopic left lateral sectionectomies.

Background: Tumor size (TS) represents a critical parameter in the risk assessment of laparoscopic liver resections (LLR). Moreover, TS has been rarely related to the extent of liver resection. The aim of this study was to study the relationship between tumor size and difficulty of laparoscopic left lateral sectionectomy (L-LLS).

Short-term outcomes of da Vinci Xi versus Si robotic systems for minor hepatectomies.

Background: In the recent years, robotic technology has been drastically improved and the last generation of robotic platforms is hardly comparable with the earlier ones. The present study aims to investigate the short-term outcomes of minor hepatectomies performed with da Vinci Xi surgical system vs. Si surgical systems.

The Italian Association for Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) position statements for postoperative breast cancer radiation therapy volume, dose, and fractionation.

Recent advances in non-metastatic breast cancer radiation therapy significantly reshaped our views on modern dose and fractionation schedules. Especially the advent of hypofractionation and partial breast irradiation defined a new concept of treatment optimization, that should strongly include both patient and tumour characteristics in the physician's decision-making process. Unfortunately, hypofractionation for breast cancer radiation therapy needed long time to enter the routine practice during the last decades despite the level-1 evidence published over time.

Impact of preoperative chemoradiation with higher dose intensity modulated radiotherapy on pathological complete response for locally advanced rectal cancer: a systematic review.

Introduction: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) followed by total mesorectal excision is the current standard-of-care for locally advanced UICC II-III stage rectal cancer (LARC). A pathological complete response (pCR) correlates with survival. Improvements of pCR, including dose escalation, should be explored.

AIRO Breast Cancer Group .

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women and represents the leading cause of cancer death. Radiation therapy plays a key-role in the treatment of all breast cancer stages. Therefore, the adoption of evidence-based treatments is warranted, to ensure equity of access and standardization of care in clinical practice.

A critical review on oligometastatic disease: a radiation oncologist's perspective.

Since the first definition by Hellman and Weichselbaum in 1995, the concept of OligoMetastatic Disease (OMD) is a growing oncology field. It was hypothesized that OMD is a clinical temporal window between localized primary tumor and widespread metastases deserving of potentially curative treatment. In real-world clinical practice, OMD is a "spectrum of disease" that includes a highly heterogeneous population of patients with different prognosis.

Role of gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma after locoregional treatment.

Locoregional treatments, as alternatives to surgery, play a key role in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables a multiparametric assessment, going beyond the traditional dynamic computed tomography approach. Moreover, the use of hepatobiliary agents can improve diagnostic accuracy and are becoming important in the diagnosis and follow-up of HCC.

A prospective multicentric study of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy in BRCA mutation patients.

Background And Aim Of The Work: BRCA1/2 are tumour-suppressor genes involved in DNA homologous recombination and ovarian cancer development.  The study evaluated the risk of tumor cancer in women presenting the BRCA mutations.

Methods: Risk-reducing surgery (RRS) was performed in 100 patients carrying BRCA1 (aged between 30-73 years, median age was 51 years) and BRCA 2 mutation (aged between 36-70 years, median age was 53 years).

Adding Concomitant Chemotherapy to Postoperative Radiotherapy in Oral Cavity Carcinoma with Minor Risk Factors: Systematic Review of the Literature and Meta-Analysis.

When presenting with major pathological risk factors, adjuvant radio-chemotherapy for oral cavity cancers (OCC) is recommended, but the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy (POCRT) when only minor pathological risk factors are present is controversial. A systematic review following the PICO-PRISMA methodology (PROSPERO registration ID: CRD42021267498) was conducted using the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane libraries. Studies assessing outcomes of POCRT in patients with solely minor risk factors (perineural invasion or lymph vascular invasion; pN1 single; DOI ≥ 5 mm; close margin < 2−5 mm; node-positive level IV or V; pT3 or pT4; multiple lymph nodes without ENE) were evaluated.

Rethinking breast cancer follow-up based on individual risk and recurrence management.

Current follow-up policies for early breast cancer aim to detect loco-regional recurrences and manage treatment-related adverse effects. Their "one size fits all" approach does not take into account differences in subtypes at initial diagnosis, individual prognosis and treatments received. They are derived from clinical trials conducted when early detection means - other than mammography - and treatment options were limited.

How the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Impacted Patients' Hospital Admission and Care in the Vascular Surgery Divisions of the Southern Regions of the Italian Peninsula.

Background: To investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on the vasculopathic population. Methods: The Divisions of Vascular Surgery of the southern Italian peninsula joined this multicenter retrospective study. Each received a 13-point questionnaire investigating the hospitalization rate of vascular patients in the first 11 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the preceding 11 months.

Tricuspid annular disjunction can be isolated and even arrhythmogenic. A cardiac magnetic resonance study.

Mitral annular disjunction is related to increased arrhythmogenic risk; in a certain percentage of cases, mitral annular disjunction is associated with tricuspid annular disjunction. While the prognostic implications of mitral annular disjunction have been well established, there is still little data to define this aspect regarding the tricuspid annular disjunction. We present a case of a patient admitted for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias that occurred during endurance sporting activity, who was found to have isolated tricuspid annular disjunction, not associated with mitral annular disjunction.

Near zero vascular complications using echo-guided puncture during catheter ablation of arrhythmias: A retrospective study and literature review.

Background: Catheter ablation (CA) is routinely used for the treatment of arrhythmias. Vascular complications are the most common complications during these procedures. Previous data reported that ultrasound (US)-guided puncture is a useful method to avoid vascular complications.

Midterm Results of Intravascular Lithotripsy for Severely Calcified Common Femoral Artery Occlusive Disease: A Single-Center Experience.

Purpose: Common femoral artery (CFA)-occlusive disease has traditionally been treated with open surgery, yet nowadays the frailty of patients has induced to find new techniques of revascularisation by endovascular means. So far, intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has shown promising results in several lower limbs arterial districts. The purpose of this article is to report our experience with IVL for severely calcified peripheral arterial disease (PAD) of the CFA.

Benign focal liver lesions: The role of magnetic resonance imaging.

Liver lesions are common findings in radiologists' daily routine. They are a complex category of pathology that range from solitary benign lesions to primary liver cancer and liver metastases. Benign focal liver lesions can arise from different liver cell types: Epithelial (hepatocytes and biliary cells) and nonepithelial (mesenchymal cells).

Endobiliary biopsy.

The differential diagnosis between benign and malignant biliary strictures is challenging and requires a multidisciplinary approach with the use of serum biomarkers, imaging techniques, and several modalities of endoscopic or percutaneous tissue sampling. The diagnosis of biliary strictures consists of laboratory markers, and invasive and non-invasive imaging examinations such as computed tomography (CT), contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS). Nevertheless, invasive imaging modalities combined with tissue sampling are usually required to confirm the diagnosis of suspected malignant biliary strictures, while pathological diagnosis is mandatory to decide the optimal therapeutic strategy.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody response after BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in healthcare workers: Nine-month of follow-up.

We collected sequential serum samples (0, 4, 12 weeks, 9 months) for the determination of S-RDB IgG levels from 103 vaccinated healthy subjects (age 45 ± 13 years; 60 women), in order to evaluate neutralizing antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in healthy healthcare workers (HCWs) after the administration of two doses of BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine. Every subject received two doses of mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), 21 days apart (January-February 2021). Furthermore, antibody titer of 14 subjects who were hospitalized for symptomatic COVID-19 was evaluated.

Neurophysiological Aspects in SARS-CoV-2-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) often develop acute respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that requires intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalization and invasive mechanical ventilation, associated with a high mortality rate. In addition, many patients fail early weaning attempts, further increasing ICU length of stay and mortality. COVID-19 related ARDS can be complicated by neurological involvement with mechanisms of direct central nervous system (CNS) infection and with overlapping para-infective mechanisms of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).

Locally advanced cervical carcinoma patients treated with chemoradiation followed by radical surgery: clinical response and oncological outcomes according to histotype after propensity score analysis.

Introduction: The aims of this study were to analyze the pathological response, and survival outcomes of adenocarcinoma/adenosquamous (AC/ASC) versus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) managed by chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery.

Methods: Retrospective, multicenter, observational study, including patients with SCC and AC/ACS LACC patients treated with preoperative CT/RT followed by tailored radical surgery (RS) between 06/2002 and 05/2017. Clinical-pathological characteristics were compared between patients with SCC versus AC/ASC.