Surgery, Gastroenterology and Oncology

Read article The International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists & Oncologists (IASGO) has been at the forefront of globalization of medical knowledge for almost three decades. In this time interval, IASGO has grown into a strong international organization, with sections in more than 70 countries and more than 1,700 members.
IASGO has an established program aimed at globalization of medical knowledge and expertise through a wellstructured and precisely or....[more]

Read article Two anastomotic techniques are available for reconstruction after pancreatoduodenectomy: pancreatojejunostomy, which is the traditional and most widely used technique, and pancreatogastrostomy.

The latter was introduced into clinical practice more than 50 years ago, and has recently received increasing attention due to favorable outcome when compared to pancreatojejunostomy in randomized controlled trials. We briefly review the history, current evidence and emerging applications of pancreatogastrostomy.

Read article Neuroblastoma is the most frequent solid extra-cranial malignant tumor in children. A proper staging of the disease allows the selection of the appropriate treatment, including the surgical approach.
The present review aims to discuss and illustrate the role of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MRI) in the differential diagnosis of the retroperitoneal or mediastinal masses, prior discovered by ultrasound or X-ray examination.

Furthermore, it is discussed the role of CT and MRI for staging the patients with a histological proof of neuroblastoma. CT scan is v....[more]

Read article Objectives: Rosacea is currently defined as an inflammatory cutaneous disease without systemic echoes. The objective of our paper is to review the published articles to confirm our belief that rosacea is associated to or can predispose to various diseases, mainly inflammatory diseases.

Material and methods: Review all the papers published in the last two decades in PubMed, Google Academic and Medscape databases, linking rosacea and various disorders of the body systems.

Results: We found that rosacea is associated to several illnesses of major s....[more]

Read article Conventional radical hysterectomy, the main part of the standard surgical treatment in cervical cancer, causes damage to the pelvic autonomic nerves, thus leading to urinary, anorectal and sexual dysfunctions.

Many researches have focused on surgical approaches that protect the pelvic nerves in order to decrease postoperative related morbidity. Nervesparing radical hysterectomy is a safe technique that improves the quality of life of patients who undergo cervical cancer surgery without compromising oncologic outcomes.

Read article The objective of this study was to determine whether the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4 (MAP4K4) expression can differentiate pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) from chronic pancreatitis (CP) and to analyze its biological and clinical significance in PDA.

We have previously found by gene array analysis that MAP4K4 is overexpressed in PDA tissues. Here, we measured MAP4K4 gene and protein expression in 58 PDA and 9 CP surgical specimens using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, and analyzed their association with clinical outcomes.
MAP4K4 mRNA exp....[more]

Read article We used an aCGH mini-chip specific to gastric cancer for endoscopic biopsy specimens of gastric cancer to estimate the systemic disease status of the cancer before treatment.
We employed the aCGH mini-chip to examine pretherapeutic endoscopic biopsy specimens of 32 gastric cancer lesions from 31 cases.
The accuracy levels of the aCGH mini-chip for gastric cancer biopsy specimens were 44% for lymph node metastasis, 80% for liver metastasis, 76% for peritoneal dissemination, and 68% for invasion depth.
The aCGH minichip was applicable for endoscopic gastric cancer biopsy sp....[more]

Read article Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the treatment of patients with complicated liver hydatid cysts.

Methods: The records of 184 patients who had undergone surgery for complicated liver hydatid cyst in our institution during 2005 and 2014 were reviewed retrospectively.

Results: Among all complications, the most common were intrabiliary rupture (140 patients) and suppuration of the cysts (27 patients). Eleven cases had a combination of two complications.
Other complications were rupture in the thorax (4 cases), rupture in the peri....[more]

Read article Purpose: The standard protocol of perioperative antibiotic use in laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer remains to be established. Given the ever-increasing number of antibiotic options available, as well as the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, there is a need for research on this important topic.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 45 patients receiving laparoscopic right hemicolectomy for colon cancer to investigate the occurrence of perioperative infections following laparoscopic surgery.
This study included 45 cases rece....[more]

Read article Objectives: Despite normal or high cardiac output at rest, cirrhotic patients often exhibit abnormal cardiac function when subjected to stress. During the pretransplant cardiac workup, the diagnosis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy would be easily missed without the aid of some supportive criteria because most patients have normal rest echocardiography.
The period of highest hemodynamic instability during liver transplantation occurs after revascularization of the liver graft and is called postreperfusion syndrome.
The aim of this study was to investigate if patients at ris....[more]

Read article Background: Loco-regional invasion is not uncommon in a patient diagnosed with a pancreatic cancer. A negative resection margins pancreatectomy represents the most important determining factor of survival in patients resected for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Thus, in order to increase resectability in such patients, extended pancreatectomies were proposed in so-called borderline resectable tumors, including venous, arterial or other surrounding organs removal.

Case presentation: A 52-year old male, with pancreatic head cancer invasive into the portal vein and rep....[more]

Read article The retroperitoneum can host a wide spectrum of pathologies, including a variety of rare benign tumors and malignant neoplasms that can be either primary or metastatic lesions, whose correct diagnosis can be a challenge for the medical team and whose approach is often complex.

We present the case of a patient diagnosed in June 2011, as a result of non-specific abdominal symptoms, with a small retroperitoneal mass with cystic appearance, whose affiliation could not be established.
The evolution of this tumor was stable during the 3.5 years of clinical, biological and imagi....[more]

Read article Diagnosis of occupational asthma is always a challenge, particularly in a white collar setting, as it is a widespread belief that occupational respiratory diseases, including asthma, are associated only with industrial exposure.
A detailed occupational history, a comprehensive workplace assessment and a proof of the relation between asthma attack and the presence of a risk factor in the workplace environment are the key factors for diagnosis. Early diagnosis of occupational asthma has a major positive influence on improving both evolution and prognosis.

However, due to th....[more]