Non-robotic minimally invasive gastrectomy as an independent risk factor for postoperative intra-abdominal infectious complications: A single-center,retrospective and propensity score-matched analysis

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer(GC) has gained widespread use as a safe curative procedure especially for early GC.AIM To determine risk factors for postoperative complications after minimally invasive gastrectomy for GC.METHODS Between January 2009 and June 2019, 1716 consecutive patients were referred to our division for primary GC. Among them, 1401 patients who were diagnosed with both clinical and pathological Stage Ⅲ or lower GC and underwent robotic gastrectomy(RG) or laparoscopic gastrectomy(LG) were enrolled. Retrospective chart review and multivariate analysis were performed for identifying risk factors for postoperative morbidity.RESULTS Morbidity following minimally invasive gastrectomy was observed in 7.5% of the patients. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery, male gender, and an operative time of ≥ 360 min were significant independent risk factors for morbidity. Therefore, morbidity was compared between RG and LG. Accordingly, propensity-matched cohort analysis revealed that the RG group had significantly fewer intra-abdominal infectious complications than the LG group(2.5% vs 5.9%, respectively; P = 0.038), while no significant differences were noted for other local or systemic complications.Multivariate analyses of the propensity-matched cohort revealed that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery [odds ratio = 2.463(1.070–5.682); P = 0.034] was a significant independent risk factor for intra-abdominal infectious complications.CONCLUSION The findings showed that robotic surgery might improve short-term outcomes following minimally invasive radical gastrectomy by reducing intra-abdominal infectious complications.     

Hypocholesterolaemic mechanism of bitter melon aqueous extracts via inhibition of pancreatic cholesterol esterase and reduction of cholesterol micellar solubility

This study investigated the hypocholesterolaemic effects of bitter melon aqueous extracts (BMAE) in vitro, the inhibitory effects of BMAE on pancreatic cholesterol esterase (CEase) and incorporation of cholesterol into micelles were investigated. BMAE decreased the in vitro micellar solubility of cholesterol in a dose-dependent manner. The conformation of CEase was investigated by means of circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence. The result revealed the decrease of α-helix contents, increase of β-sheet and exposure of aromatic amino acid residuals. The incorporation of cholesterol into micelles was inhibited by BMAE. A complex was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which indicated interaction between cholesterol and BMAE. The result revealed that BMAE can play a role in decreased intestinal cholesterol absorption via inhibition of CEase, and of micelle formation.     

Differentiating autoimmune pancreatitis from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with CT radiomics features

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine whether computed tomography (CT)-based machine learning of radiomics features could help distinguish autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).Materials and MethodsEighty-nine patients with AIP (65 men, 24 women; mean age, 59.7 ± 13.9 [SD] years; range: 21–83 years) and 93 patients with PDAC (68 men, 25 women; mean age, 60.1 ± 12.3 [SD] years; range: 36–86 years) were retrospectively included. All patients had dedicated dual-phase pancreatic protocol CT between 2004 and 2018. Thin-slice images (0.75/0.5 mm thickness/increment) were compared with thick-slices images (3 or 5 mm thickness/increment). Pancreatic regions involved by PDAC or AIP (areas of enlargement, altered enhancement, effacement of pancreatic duct) as well as uninvolved parenchyma were segmented as three-dimensional volumes. Four hundred and thirty-one radiomics features were extracted and a random forest was used to distinguish AIP from PDAC. CT data of 60 AIP and 60 PDAC patients were used for training and those of 29 AIP and 33 PDAC independent patients were used for testing.ResultsThe pancreas was diffusely involved in 37 (37/89; 41.6%) patients with AIP and not diffusely in 52 (52/89; 58.4%) patients. Using machine learning, 95.2% (59/62; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 89.8–100%), 83.9% (52:67; 95% CI: 74.7–93.0%) and 77.4% (48/62; 95% CI: 67.0–87.8%) of the 62 test patients were correctly classified as either having PDAC or AIP with thin-slice venous phase, thin-slice arterial phase, and thick-slice venous phase CT, respectively. Three of the 29 patients with AIP (3/29; 10.3%) were incorrectly classified as having PDAC but all 33 patients with PDAC (33/33; 100%) were correctly classified with thin-slice venous phase with 89.7% sensitivity (26/29; 95% CI: 78.6–100%) and 100% specificity (33/33; 95% CI: 93–100%) for the diagnosis of AIP, 95.2% accuracy (59/62; 95% CI: 89.8–100%) and area under the curve of 0.975 (95% CI: 0.936–1.0).ConclusionsRadiomic features help differentiate AIP from PDAC with an overall accuracy of 95.2%.     

三种不同引流方式对食管癌术后颈部吻合口瘘引流效果的研究

目的:探讨三种不同引流方式对食管癌术后颈部吻合口瘘的引流效果。方法:收集从2013年1月到2016年9月在我科行食管癌手术并术后发生颈部吻合口瘘患者，比较入组患者所采用的不同颈部引流方式的优劣。结果:共有83例患者纳入研究，有34例进入A组，行纱布条引流组；28例进入B组，行造瘘袋引流组；21例进入C组，行胃管负压引流组。所有入组患者一般资料和手术资料对比无明显统计学差异（P>0.05）。观察指标对比结果显示，C组患者瘘口愈合时间较其他两组时间短［（15.90±4.18）天vs（14.60±4.41）天vs（9.65±3.80）天］，住院时间较其他两组短［（18.10±4.17）天vs（16.20±3.78）天vs（12.30±3.29）天］，换药次数较其他两组少［（37.55±8.75）天vs（14.5±3.23）天vs（10.00±2.05）天］，抗生素使用时间也较其他组明显减少［（13.10±2.49）天vs（10.85±1.84）天vs（7.20±1.74）天］。结论:颈部放置负压引流有助于食管癌术后颈部吻合口瘘愈合，值得临床推广与进一步研究。     

Clinical practice guidelines for the interventional treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer (5th edition)

Pancreatic cancer has become a major disease affecting people's health because of its insidiousness, rapid progression and poor prognosis. Based on the practical needs of clinical work, combined with domestic multi-center research and experience, this guideline provides constructive suggestions for the interventional treatment of pancreatic cancer.     

MRI图像融合技术在肛瘘评估中的初步应用

目的采用图像融合技术获得T2WI与T2WI-FS的融合图像，评估其在肛瘘及肛周结构显示中的优势。 方法2016年6月至2018年6月，前瞻性选择中山大学附属第一医院29例肛瘘患者进行肛管磁共振（MR）检查，采用图像融合技术获取T2WI与T2WI-FS的融合图像T2WI-Fusion，利用Fisher score算法计算瘘管及肛门括约肌的组织间分辨力Fisher值、脂肪与肛门括约肌间的Fisher值，评估融合图像中瘘管及肛周结构的显示情况。采用改进的双刺激连续质量量表（DSCQS）对T2WI-FS、T2WI、增强3D-VIBE和T2WI-Fusion序列图像进行主观图像质量评价。 结果29例患者均成功获得T2WI与T2WI-FS的融合图像T2WI-Fusion。T2WI-Fusion、T2WI瘘管与括约肌间Fisher均值分别为6.46、3.31，T2WI-Fusion图像对瘘管的显示优于T2WI序列图像（P<0.001）。T2WI-Fusion、T2WI-FS脂肪与括约肌间Fisher均值分别为10.61、2.45，T2WI-Fusion图像对括约肌的显示优于T2WI-FS序列图像（P<0.001）。T2WI-Fusion对瘘管与括约肌的图像质量评价总评分均高于T2WI-FS、T2WI、增强3D-VIBE序列（P<0.001）。 结论MRI图像融合技术同时具备T2WI及T2WI-FS的优势，无需增加扫描序列及扫描时间，且操作简单，花费时间短，显著提高病变及肛周解剖结构的对比度和图像质量。     

Application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for suspected infected pancreatic necrosis

BackgroundMetagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is increasingly used for the clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases, but there is a paucity of data regarding the application of mNGS in the early diagnosis of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN).ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical application value of mNGS in the pathogenic diagnosis of IPN.MethodsForty-two patients with suspected IPN were prospectively and consecutively enrolled from August 2019 to August 2021. Blood samples were collected for mNGS and microbial culture simultaneously during fever (T ≥ 38.5 °C). For patients who had indications of surgical interventions, peri-pancreatic specimens were collected for mNGS and microbial culture simultaneously during the first surgical intervention to confirm IPN. The clinical performance of mNGS and microbial culture were compared.ResultsA total of 21 patients (50.0%) were confirmed to have IPN during hospitalization. The sensitivity of blood mNGS was significantly higher than blood culture (95.2% vs. 23.8%, P < 0.001) in diagnosing IPN. The negative predictive value of blood mNGS was 90.0%. The turnaround time of mNGS was significantly shorter than that of microbial culture [(37.70 ± 1.44) vs. (115.23 ± 8.79) h, P < 0.01] and the average costs of mNGS accounted for 1.7% of the average total cost of hospitalization. The survival analysis demonstrates that the positive blood mNGS result was not associated with increased mortality (P = 0.119).ConclusionsWith more valuable diagnostic performance and shorter turnaround time, clinical mNGS represents a potential step forward in the early diagnosis of IPN.     

Comparative outcomes of vascular access in patients older than 70 years with end-stage renal disease

Objective

The advantage of arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) in older patients requiring dialysis is controversial. We reviewed our vascular access experience in patients ≥70 years of age (older group) compared with younger patients.