肠运动昼夜节律及其外科临床意义

肠运动存在昼夜节律，表现为白天活跃，夜间减弱或消失，这是一种内生性的、由时钟基因控制的生物节律。肠运动节律既可与中央节律保持高度一致，也可独立于中央节律而对外周环境刺激做出反馈。外科手术会破坏肠运动的昼夜节律，而围手术期合理使用褪黑素、五羟色胺（5-HT）受体激动剂和非甾体类解热镇痛药等药物则有助于促进此节律的恢复。外科医生了解肠运动节律的机制，有助于加深术后肠麻痹（POI）的认识，再基于时辰药理学，在合适的时机以适宜的剂量给药，或许能进一步缩短POI时间，促进肠运动功能尽早恢复。     

Current standards and future perspectives in adjuvant treatment for biliary tract cancers

Biliary tract cancer, including cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and gallbladder cancer (GBC) are rare tumours with a rising incidence. Prognosis is poor, since most patients are diagnosed with advanced disease. Only ~20% of patients are diagnosed with early-stage disease, suitable for curative surgery. Despite surgery performed with potentially-curative intent, relapse rates are high, with around 60–70% of patients expected to have disease recurrence. Most relapses occur in the form of distant metastases, with a predominance of liver spread. In view of high tumour recurrence, adjuvant strategies have been explored for many years, in the form of radiotherapy, chemo-radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Historically, few randomised trials were available, which included a variety of additional tumours (e.g. pancreatic and ampullary tumours); most evidence relied on phase II and retrospective studies, with no high-quality evidence available to define the real benefit derived from adjuvant strategies.Since 2017, three randomised phase III clinical trials have been reported; all recruited patients with resected biliary tract cancer (CCA and GBC) who were randomised to observation alone, or chemotherapy in the form of gemcitabine (BCAT study; included patients diagnosed with extrahepatic CCA only), gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (PRODIGE-12/ACCORD-18; included patients diagnosed with CCA and GBC) or capecitabine (BILCAP; included patients diagnosed with CCA and GBC). While gemcitabine-based chemotherapy failed to show an impact on patient outcome (relapse-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS)), the BILCAP study showed a benefit from adjuvant capecitabine in terms of OS (pre-planned sensitivity analysis in the intention-to-treat population and in the per-protocol analysis), with confirmed benefit in terms of RFS. Based on the BILCAP trial, international guidelines recommend adjuvant capecitabine for a period of six months following potentially curative resection of CCA as the current standard of care for resected CCA and GBC. However, BILCAP failed to show OS benefit in the intention-to-treat (non-sensitivity analysis) population (primary end-point), and this finding, as well as some inconsistencies between studies has been criticised and has led to confusion in the biliary tract cancer medical community.This review summarises the adjuvant field in biliary tract cancer, with evidence before and after 2017, and comparison between the latest randomised phase III studies. Potential explanations are presented for differential findings, and future steps are explored.     

重灸中脘穴对脾胃虚寒型糖尿病胃轻瘫患者胃肠激素、胃动力学的影响

目的观察重灸中脘穴对脾胃虚寒型2型糖尿病胃轻瘫患者胃肠激素、胃动力学的影响。方法选取符合纳入标准的88例脾胃虚寒型糖尿病胃轻瘫患者,按随机数字表法分为治疗组和对照组,每组44例。对照组采用常规药物治疗,治疗组采用重灸中脘穴治疗。疗程结束后记录并对比分析两组临床疗效、胃肠激素[胃泌素(GAS)、胃动素(MTL)]、胃动力学(胃收缩频率、胃排空时间、胃排空率)、主要临床症状评分等变化。结果治疗组临床疗效明显优于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05);两组治疗后GAS、MTL均明显优于治疗前(P<0.05),且治疗组明显优于对照组(P<0.05);两组治疗后胃收缩频率、胃排空时间、胃排空率均明显优于治疗前(P<0.05),且治疗组明显优于对照组(P<0.05);两组治疗后主要临床症状评分均明显优于治疗前(P<0.05),且治疗组明显优于对照组(P<0.05)。结论在常规药物治疗基础上重灸中脘穴治疗脾胃虚寒型2型糖尿病胃轻瘫,可调节胃肠激素,改善胃肠动力,促进胃肠功能恢复。     

The role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for advanced gallbladder cancer – A systematic review

BackgroundNeoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gallbladder cancer (GBC) has recently been proposed as an alternative to adjuvant chemotherapy, with potential increase in resectability rate and overall survival.AimTo undertake a systematic review and critical appraisal of available literature on the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) or chemoradiotherapy (NACRT) in the treatment of advanced GBC.MethodsSystematic review carried out in line with the Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. Primary outcomes were clinical benefit rate (CBR) of neoadjuvant therapy, defined as percentage of complete response, partial response and stable disease, resectability rate and R0 resection. Secondary outcomes were overall and disease-free survival.Results8 studies met the inclusion criteria (n = 474), of which 398 (84.0%) received NACT and 76 (16.0%) received NACRT. 133 of 434 patients (30.6%) had progressive disease despite NACT or NACRT. The CBR was 66.6%. 17% of the patients who responded to chemotherapy did not proceed to surgery. 50.4% of the patients were considered suitable for surgical resection, of which 191 (40.3%) underwent curative resection. The R0 rate for the whole cohort was 35.4%. Overall survival ranged from 18.5 to 50.1 months for those who underwent curative resection versus 5.0–10.8 months for non-resected group.ConclusionsThere is insufficient data to support the routine use of NACT or NACRT in advanced GBC, as this has only benefited a third of whole cohort, who eventually achieved a R0 resection. Future studies should be in the form of randomized controlled trials to investigate the role of neoadjuvant therapy in advanced GBC.     

Lymphatic spread of T2 gallbladder carcinoma: Regional lymphadenectomy is required independent of tumor location

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the incidence and distribution of regional lymph node metastasis according to tumor location, and to clarify whether tumor location could determine the extent of regional lymphadenectomy in patients with pathological T2 (pT2) gallbladder carcinoma.MethodsIn total, 81 patients with pT2 gallbladder carcinoma (25 with pT2a tumors and 56 with pT2b tumors) who underwent radical resection were enrolled. Tumor location was determined histologically in each gallbladder specimen.ResultsSurvival after resection was significantly worse in patients with pT2b tumors than those with pT2a tumors (5-year survival, 72% vs. 96%; p = 0.027). Tumor location was an independent prognostic factor on multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 14.162; p = 0.018). The incidence of regional lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in patients with pT2b tumors than in those with pT2a tumors (46% vs. 20%; p = 0.028). However, the number of positive nodes was similar between the two groups (median, 2 vs. 2; p = 0.910). For node-positive patients with pT2b tumors, metastasis was found in every regional node group (12%–63%), whereas even for node-positive patients with pT2a tumors, metastasis was observed in regional node groups outside the hepatoduodenal ligament.ConclusionsTumor location in patients with pT2 gallbladder carcinoma can predict the presence or absence of regional lymph node metastasis but not the number and anatomical distribution of positive regional lymph nodes. The extent of regional lymphadenectomy should not be changed even in patients with pT2a tumors, provided that they are fit enough for surgery.     

Prospective validation of the Parkland Grading Scale for Cholecystitis

Background

The Parkland Grading Scale for Cholecystitis (PGS) was developed as an intraoperative grading scale to stratify gallbladder (GB) disease severity during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). We aimed to prospectively validate this scale as a measure of LC outcomes.