Should scirrhous gastric carcinoma be treated surgically? Clinical experiences with 233 cases and a retrospective analysis of prognosticators.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The prognosis of patients with scirrhous gastric carcinoma has been poorest. METHODOLOGY: To clarify the role of surgical treatment, 233 patients with a primary scirrhous gastric carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 233 patients, 182 underwent surgical resection, while the other 51 did not. The median survival time of those with unresectable tumors was 88.0 +/- 15.3 days and that of those who underwent resection was 380.0 +/- 41.8 days. In the 182 patients who underwent resection, multivariate analysis revealed four significant factors; lymphatic invasion, serosal invasion, curability, and lymph node dissection. Of these, curability was the most significant. The median survival time of patients whose tumor were curatively resected was 727.0 +/- 116.3 days, significantly longer than 272 +/- 34.9 days for those whose resection ended noncuratively. In 65 patients whose tumor was curatively resected, subset analyses of factors by multivariate analyses revealed an absence of serosal invasion as the single significant prognosticator. The 5-year survival rate was 55.6% in patients with scirrhous cancer without serosal invasion. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with scirrhous gastric carcinoma, palliative resection should not be attempted for poor outcome. However, if curative resection seems feasible, radical surgery would be justified, especially for tumors without serosal exposure.     

Preservation of the pylorus during pancreaticoduodenectomy —Evolution and current indications

The Whipple procedure has been improved by preservation of afunctioning pylorus. A functioning pylorus is important because marginal ulceration is avoided and, compared to the standard Whipple procedure with hemigastrectomy, more patients can gain weight postoperatively. The most common indications for this procedure are severe complication of chronic pancreatitis and periampullary tumors. In patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the pylorus-preserving variety results in equal or better survival rates than those of the standard Whipple procedure with hemigastrectomy. Surgery alone is not sufficient to improve survival rates in patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Improved imaging modalities are required to diagnose the disease earlier. The most likely combination of treatment to prolong survival time is a combination of resection for cure in a patient with an early diagnosis plus an aggressive adjuvant chemoradiotherapy protocol. This protocol is most likely to be completed if a patient has preserved endocrine, exocrine, and digestive ability. A radical (R1) pylorus-preserving Whipple procedure would have the following advantages to result in the best survival rates — the patients can gain weight and thereby withstand the chemoradiotherapy protocol while, at the same time, the weakest aspect of the radical resection is addressed, i.e., the retroperitoneal margin of the pancreatic head.     

The role of microRNAs in liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma constitute the majority of primary malignant tumors located in the liver, with hepatocellular carcinoma accounting for approximately 80% of these tumors and cholangiocarcinoma representing the remaining 20%. Both are aggressive malignancies, heterogeneous in terms of biological activities and clinical behavior, with dismal outcomes and an increasing incidence worldwide. Radical surgical resection remains the gold standard to date, as adjuvant therapeutic modalities have failed to show a consistent and adequate curative response. However, radical surgical resection is not feasible in most of the patients with such tumors, as tumor size or functional status of the parenchyma does not permit extended hepatic resection. In addition, patients who undergo curative resection often have a high rate of relapse. Multimodal therapeutic approaches, such as the combination of invasive methods (surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation, and two-step or three-step procedures with intermittent portal vein embolization) with interferon-α, systemic chemotherapy, or transarterial catheter embolization, may prolong survival in some patients, but have, however, failed to demonstrate satisfactory results. Therefore, an obvious need emerges for the discovery of new biomarkers to understand the events leading to hepatocarcinogenesis, to relate different phenotypes with differences in clinical behavior and prognosis, and, if possible, to predict response rates to adjuvant therapeutic modalities or, furthermore, to establish novel mechanism-based treatments for hepatic tumors.     

Contemporary management of superior pulmonary sulcus (Pancoast) lung tumors

For more than three decades following the initial report by Shaw et al. in 1961, the standard treatment of Pancoast lung tumors consisted of induction radiotherapy followed by en bloc resection through a posterolateral thoracotomy. Overall 5-year survival rates with this regime were typically 30 to 40%, with poor prognosis in patients with positive mediastinal lymph nodes, T4 involvement, or incomplete resection. During the past decade, advancements in surgical technique and adjuvant therapy have improved the safety and completeness of resection as well as the probability of long-term survival. Alternative surgical approaches have been developed to facilitate more complete resection of tumors involving subclavian vessels and brachial plexus, and aggressive vertebral body resection has been performed in conjunction with neurosurgeons. Arguably the most important advance in the treatment of Pancoast tumors has been the recognition that induction chemoradiation substantially improves both the rate of complete resection and medium-term survival.     

Radical resection of cardiac sarcoma

We report on our experience with six patients with malignant sarcoma of the heart and show that long-term survival is possible after radical resection. At presentation, the 6 patients (3 male, 3 female) were 45.8 +/- 20 years old. Three patients are alive without evidence of metastases since 29.6 +/- 36.8 months, three patients died after 38 +/- 50.2 months due to distant metastases. Precise preoperative localization of the tumor by means of imaging techniques is very important. In some cases, radical surgery requires an ex situ procedure (autotransplantation). If necessary, the right heart can be resected almost completely, and reconstructed in the form of a Fontan-type circulation. A heart transplantation, as suggested by others, is not justified from our point of view, since prognosis is not better and donor organs are too rare. The results of radical resection are promising, but new concepts for treatment--in particular chemotherapy concepts--for these mostly middle-aged or young patients are required.     

Therapieoptionen beim Hepatikusgabelkarzinom

Over the last decade, major progress has been made in liver resection as well as in liver transplantation for central cholangiocarcinoma. In our own experience of more than 270 patients in whom either resection or transplantation was performed during the last 19 years, a surgical concept combining an extended right hepatic resection and a principal portal vein resection has emerged as the most favorable technique. It achieves formally curative resections in 80% of the patients although a considerable share of patients suffering from Bismuth-Corlette type IV tumors is included. The 5-year survival rate in these patients is 61%. The most promising strategy in liver transplantation is based on neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy as proposed and reported by the Mayo Clinic group. The Mayo Clinic group has achieved a 5-year post-transplant survival of 83% in their patients, which is an outstanding and unprecedented figure that a few years ago would not have been considered to be a realistic goal in any type of treatment for cholangiocarcinoma.     

Therapy for primary cardiac tumors: is there a role for heart transplantation?

Primary cardiac tumors are rare clinical entities. Benign tumors are often amenable to surgical excision, whereas malignant tumors are seldom resectable. The literature has reported that 28 patients have undergone orthotopic heart transplantation for inoperable primary cardiac tumors. The results of these transplants are presented in this article. Of the 28 patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation for primary cardiac neoplasms, 7 patients had benign histology (fibroma-5, rhabdomyoma-1, and pheochromocytoma-1) and 21 patients had malignant histology (sarcoma-15, malignant fibrohistiocytoma-3, and lymphoma-3). Mean survival in the patients with benign histology was 46 months, and the mean survival in the patients with malignant histology was 12 months. However, there were seven patients with malignant histology who had survived for a mean of 27 months without evidence of recurrent disease. An awareness by clinicians of the presenting clinical picture of these tumors is warranted in view of the potential for cure by resection or transplantation. Patients with benign primary cardiac tumors appear to benefit from the complete resection afforded by cardiectomy and transplantation. The role of transplantation for patients with malignant tumors remains unclear. Further experience and continued follow-up of these patients is necessary to ascertain the role of cardiac transplantation, radiation, and chemotherapy in the management of patients with primary tumors of the heart.     

Surgical outcome after curative resection of rectal leiomyosarcoma

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to present the prognosis and possible associated prognostic factors after curative resection of rectal leiomyosarcoma. METHODS: From 1979 to 1996 our hospital saw 40 patients with rectal leiomyosarcoma, including 19 females, who did not have metastasis initially and received curative resection and regular postoperative follow-up. RESULTS: The mean age of the 40 patients was 58.7 years. Anal bleeding and perianal pain were the two most common symptoms at initial diagnosis. Twenty-nine patients received a radical surgical resection, such as abdominoperineal resection or low anterior resection; the other 11 patients received a wide local excision, such as transrectal excision or Kraske's operation. Sixteen tumors were classified as high-grade leiomyosarcoma, and 23 as low grade. Nineteen patients (48 percent) developed recurrence or metastasis postoperatively (median follow-up, 35 months). The overall and disease-free (1-year, 3-year, and 5-year) survival rates were 97, 90, and 75 percent and 90, 59, and 46 percent, respectively. In univariate analysis, younger group (<50 years, n=9,P=0.033) and high-grade leiomyosarcoma (P=0.043) showed poorer prognosis in the disease-free survival curve. In the multivariate Cox model, gender, tumor size, tumor location, and operation type did not significantly affect disease-free survival, whereas histologic grade (P=0.037) and age divided by a level of 50 years (P=0.009) were shown to be independent factors. There was a strong trend toward higher local recurrence rate for the wide local excision group than for the radical resection group (55vs. 24 percent,P=0.067) despite the wide local excision group being composed of smaller tumors (5.1vs. 7.5 cm,P=0.069). There was no difference in the incidence of distant metastasis between the two groups with different operation types. The metastasis rates of the wide local excision and radical resection groups were 27 and 38 percent, respectively. CONCLUSION: A younger age (<50 years) and a high histologic grade of tumor were the two most significant poor prognostic factors for rectal leiomyosarcoma. Radical resection may be superior to wide local excision in the prevention of local recurrence but not distant metastasis.     

Non-small cell lung cancer with chest wall invasion: evolution of surgical treatment and prognosis in the last 3 decades

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is invading the chest wall is still debated. We aim to illustrate the improvements in treatment results that have occurred over last decade. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of our experience and an overview of the literature. SETTING: Department of Surgery, San Giuseppe Hospital, University of Milan. PATIENTS: From January 1970 to December 1999, of 2,738 patients with NSCLC, we operated on 146 patients (5.4%) with chest wall invasion by NSCLC. Superior sulcus tumors and tumors invading the diaphragm or mediastinum were excluded. We reclassified all cases according to the current TNM classification. RESULTS: We registered one postoperative death (0.69%) and five major complications (3.4%). From 1970 to 1979, of 32 patients, 10 underwent an exploratory thoracotomy (ET) and 22 underwent a radical resection (stage IIB disease, 17 patients; stage IIIA disease, 5 patients). The 5-year survival rate was 22.7% (25% for stage IIB disease). From 1980 to 1989, of 67 patients, 11 underwent an ET and 56 underwent a radical resection (stage IIB disease, 34 patients; stage IIIA disease, 12 patients; stage IIIB disease, 5 patients; and stage IV disease, 5 patients). The survival rate following radical resection was 14.1%, ranging between 23.5% for patients with stage IIB disease and 0% (3 years, 14%) for those with stage IIIA disease. From 1990 to 1999, of 47 patients, 2 underwent an ET, 2 underwent an exploratory thoracoscopy, and 43 underwent a radical resection (stage IIB disease, 23 patients; stage IIIA disease, 20 patients). The survival rate was 42.7% (stage IIB disease, 78.5%; stage IIIA disease, 7.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Considering the low morbidity, mortality, and significant improvement in survival during the last decade, we advocate the performance of radical en bloc resection for the treatment of chest wall invasive NSCLC.     

Surgical technique of hepatectomy combined with simultaneous resection of hepatic artery and portal vein for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (with video)

Perihilar cholangiocarcinomas often involve the bifurcation of the portal vein and the hepatic artery at initial presentation. Previously, vascular invasion was a major obstacle for R0 resection; therefore, such tumors were regarded as locally advanced, unresectable disease. Recently, in leading centers, these tumors have been resected using a specific technique, vascular resection and reconstruction. Vascular resection is classified into three types: portal vein resection alone, hepatic artery resection alone, and simultaneous resection of both the portal vein and hepatic artery. Of these, portal vein resection is widely performed, whereas hepatic artery resection remains controversial. Therefore, hepatectomy combined with simultaneous resection of the portal vein and hepatic artery represents one of the most complicated and challenging procedures in hepatobiliary surgery. The survival benefit of this extended procedure remains unproven, and there is only a single study reporting an unexpectedly favorable outcome in 50 patients. Considering the dismal survival in patients with unresectable disease, hepatic artery resection and/or portal vein resection may be a promising option of choice. However, the technique is highly demanding and has not been standardized. Therefore, this extended surgery may be allowed only in selected hepatobiliary centers.     

Should the bile duct be preserved or removed in radical surgery for gallbladder cancer?

BACKGROUND/AIMS: It is unclear whether resection of the extrahepatic bile duct in radical surgery for gallbladder cancer should be performed when direct infiltration into the hepatoduodenal ligament is absent. METHODOLOGY: The results of radical surgery with or without bile duct resection were compared in 55 patients with gallbladder cancer without direct extension to the hepatoduodenal ligament. Lymph node dissection and combined resection of involved organs were carried out according to the extent of the tumor. RESULTS: Nodal involvement was present in 43% of patients with tumors more advanced than pT1. Survival rates were similar between patients with or without bile duct resection in stages I-III, while significantly better survival was observed with bile duct resection in stage IV. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the adverse effect of bilioenteric anastomosis, preservation of the extrahepatic bile duct is recommended in radical surgery for gallbladder cancer when the tumor is less advanced than stage IV and does not extend to the hepatoduodenal ligament.     

肝癌局部治疗——消融或切除?

肝癌是我国常见的恶性肿瘤之一,手术切除目前仍然是肝癌患者首选的根治性方法,但大部分患者由于受肿瘤大小及部位、肝功能和整体状况的影响,不能耐受手术切除。近年来,以射频和微波为代表的局部消融技术迅速发展,并在临床中广泛应用,更被誉为堪与外科切除相媲美的肝癌根治性治疗的新技术。就局部消融与外科切除在肝癌治疗中的应用和选择作一简介。     

A Pathologic Complete Response to Preoperative Chemoradiation Is Associated With Lower Local Recurrence and Improved Survival in Rectal Cancer Patients Treated by Mesorectal Excision

PURPOSE: Preoperative chemoradiation reduces tumor size and nodal metastasis in patients with rectal cancer. Tumor downstaging has been associated with an increased probability of a sphincter-saving procedure and with improved local control. However, pathologic complete response to chemoradiation has not been correlated with local control and patient survival. We studied the prognostic value of pathologic complete response to preoperative chemoradiation in rectal cancer patients. METHODS: We have prospectively followed up 168 consecutive patients with ultrasound Stages II (46) and III (122) rectal cancer treated by preoperative chemoradiation followed by radical resection with mesorectal excision; 161 had a curative resection. Recurrence and survival were compared with tumor characteristics and pathologic complete response. Average follow-up was 37 months. RESULTS: Tumor downstaging occurred in 97 (58 percent) patients, including 21 (13 percent) patients who had a pathologic complete response. None of the clinical or pathologic variables was associated with pathologic complete response. The estimated 5-year rate of local recurrence was 5 percent; of distant metastasis, 14 percent. None of the patients with pathologic complete response has developed disease recurrence. We found no difference in survival among patients with pathologic Stages I, II, or III tumors. CONCLUSIONS: A pathologic complete response to preoperative chemoradiation is associated with improved local control and patient survival. For patients without pathologic complete response, the pathology stage does not have prognostic significance.     

Blood transfusion worsens the prognosis in colorectal cancer. Preliminary study in a series of 717 cases

We have conducted an investigation on the relationship between blood transfusion and recurrence of resected colorectal cancer and survival of the patients. During the past ten years 717 patients have been surgically treated of colorectal cancer in our hospital; 442 of the cases were Duke's stages B or C, and the resection had been considered radical. In both groups, recurrences were most frequent in patients who received blood transfusions; survival was also lower in this group of patients.     

Primary Malignancies of the Heart and Pericardium

Primary malignancies of the heart and pericardium are rare. All the available data come from autopsy studies, case reports, and, in recent years, from large, specialized, single‐center studies. Nevertheless, if primary malignancy is present, it may have a devastating implication for patients. Malignancies may affect heart function, also causing left‐sided or right‐sided heart failure. In addition, they can be responsible for embolic events or arrhythmias. Today, with the widespread use of noninvasive imaging modalities, heart tumors become evident, even as an incidental finding. A multimodality imaging approach is usually required to establish the final diagnosis. Despite the increased awareness and improved diagnostic techniques, clinical manifestations of primary malignancy of the heart and pericardium are so variable that their occurrence may still come as a surprise during surgery or autopsy. No randomized clinical trials have been carried out to determine the optimal therapy for these primary malignancies. Surgery is performed for small tumors. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can be of help. Partial resection of large neoplasms is performed to relieve mechanical effects, such as cardiac compression or hemodynamic obstruction. Most patients present with marginally resectable or technically nonresectable disease at the time of diagnosis. It seems that orthotopic cardiac transplantation with subsequent immunosuppressive therapy may represent an option for very carefully selected patients. Early diagnosis and radical exeresis are of great importance for long‐term survival of a primary cardiac malignancy. This can rarely be accomplished, and overall results are very disappointing.     

肝细胞癌患者外科手术根治术后生存分析

目的 探讨肝细胞癌（HCC）患者行外科手术切除后5年生存情况的独立影响因素。方法 收集我院2008年10月~2010年10月收治的112例接受外科手术治疗的HCC患者的临床资料,行腹部CTA检查,观察患者相关临床指标,运用Cox风险比例回归模型进行单因素和多因素分析,得出独立影响因素,运用Kaplan-Meier 法和Log-Rank 检验比较这些因素在生存曲线分布上的变化情况。结果多因素Cox回归模型分析结果 显示,微血管浸润、肿瘤数目、肿瘤大小、肿瘤细胞分化程度和术后行肝动脉灌注化疗栓塞术（TACE）为影响此类患者生存情况的独立影响因素,其OR值分别为2.61、2.57、2.01、1.37、0.31,Kaplan-Meier 法和Log-Rank 检验显示38例TACE治疗组1 a、3 a、5 a累计生存率分别为90.6%、83.2%、80.5%,显著高于74例未行TACE治疗组的88.2%、41.5%、30.9%（P<0.05）。结论 肝癌根治术后给予TACE治疗可提高HCC患者生存率,延长生存期,有助于改善患者预后。     

肝细胞癌降期转化的治疗策略

手术是肝细胞癌(HCC)最重要的根治性手段,但初诊时能获得手术切除的HCC患者不足30%。如何将不能切除转化为可根治性切除成为提高HCC生存率的重要方面,也是近年来的研究热点。目前,综合运用经肝动脉插管治疗、放射治疗、靶向治疗等方法让HCC实现降期,或者通过门静脉栓塞、联合肝脏隔断和门静脉结扎使残余肝体积快速增大,均可实现转化成功从而获得根治性切除的机会。但是,如何优化多种治疗模式,规范复杂性肝癌患者的多学科诊疗路径,提高手术切除的效率和安全性,仍需要进一步深入探讨和研究。     

Current surgical therapy for carcinoma of the pancreas

Despite progress in treating many solid tumors, pancreatic cancer continues to be a grave illness. Each year, >29,000 new cases of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas are diagnosed in the United States. Of these patients, only 10-20% have resectable tumors and 25,000 patients (83%) die within 12 months of diagnosis. Until recently, surgery has been the only "effective" therapy available for select patients. Historically, the operative mortality after radical pancreatic resection has been variable, ranging 1-30%, and is both operator- and institution-dependent. Even with a safe and complete surgical resection, the actual 5-year survival after surgery alone is essentially zero, although rates up to 5% have been reported. Despite what would appear to be a dismal outlook, slow progress has occurred in the operative and postoperative care of patients with pancreatic cancer. Advanced imaging techniques and laparoscopy have limited the number of unnecessary laparotomies, and novel adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy approaches have yielded promising results. This review will summarize the recent literature concerning the surgical therapy and trends in the treatment of carcinoma of the pancreas from 1990 to 1999.     

Outcomes of staged hepatectomies for liver malignancy

Liver malignancies are the fifth most common cause of death worldwide. Surgical intervention with curative intent is the treatment of choice for liver tumors as it provides long-term survival. However, only 20% of patients with metastatic liver lesions can be managed by curative liver resection. In most of the cases,hepatectomy is not feasible because of insufficient future liver remnant(FLR).Two-stage hepatectomy is advocated to achieve liver resection in a patient who is considered to not be a candidate for resection. Procedures of staged hepatectomy include conventional two-stage hepatectomy, portal vein embolization, and associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for a staged hepatectomy.Technical success is high for each of these procedures but variable between them.All the procedures have been reported as being effective in achieving a satisfactory FLR and completing the second-stage resection. Moreover, the overall survival and disease-free survival rates have improved significantly for patients who were otherwise considered nonresectable; yet, an increase in the morbidity and mortality rates has been observed. We suggest that this type of procedure should be carried out in high-flow centers and through a multidisciplinary approach. An experienced surgeon is key to the success of those interventions.     

Full-thickness cholecystectomy with limited lymphadenectomy for gallbladder cancer

Aggressive radical resection is advocated for gallbladder cancer. However, this is a disease of the elderly and some patients have comorbid disease(s) and/or a debilitated condition that may preclude such an aggressive treatment strategy. Here, we describe a minimum radical procedure for gallbladder cancer, termed as "full-thickness cholecystectomy with limited lymphadenectomy". This procedure comprises full-thickness resection of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy combined with removal of the entire cystic plate) and removal of the first-echelon lymph nodes (the pericholedochal and cystic duct node groups). Since 1992, 12 consecutive patients underwent the described procedure for tumors confined to the gallbladder wall and with no gross evidence of distant metastases/nodal disease, resulting in no in-hospital mortality or recurrent disease. The median overall survival was 229 months with a cumulative 5-year survival of 100%. In conclusion, the minimal radical resection procedure is safe and effective for early-stage gallbladder cancer. This less invasive procedure can be applied to patients with advanced age and/or comorbid disease(s), provided that the tumor is apparently confined to the gallbladder wall and has no gross evidence of distant metastases/nodal disease.