Neoadjuvant therapy in the treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma:Review of the literature

Cholangiocarcinoma(CCA) is a malignant tumor of the biliary system and includes, according to the anatomical classification, intra hepatic CCA(iCCA),hilar CCA(hCCA) and distal CCA(dCCA). Hilar CCA is the most challenging type in terms of diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Surgery is the only treatment possibly providing long-term survival, but only few patients are considered resectable at the time of diagnosis. In fact, tumor's extension to segmentary or subsegmentary biliary ducts, along with large lymph node involvement or intrahepatic metastases, precludes the surgical approach. To achieve R0 margins is mandatory for the disease-free survival and overall survival. In case of unresectable locally advanced hCCA, radiochemotherapy(RCT) as neoadjuvant treatment demonstrated to be a therapeutic option before either hepatic resection or liver transplantation. Before liver surgery, RCT is believed to enhance the R0 margins rate. For patients meeting the Mayo Clinic criteria, RCT prior to orthotopic liver transplant(OLT) has proved to produce acceptable 5-years survivals. In this review, we analyze the current role of neoadjuvant RCT before resection as well as before OLT.     

Follow-Up Study of Over Three Years of Patients with Uveitis after Cataract Phacoemulsification: Outcomes and Complications

Purpose: To evaluate the rate and onset of intraoperative and postoperative complications post-phacoemulsification. Methods: One hundred sixty-two eyes of 145 patients with uveitis who underwent phacoemulsification between 2006 and 2009 were identified through surgical record review. Fifty-nine eyes of 46 patients met the inclusion criteria. Hazard ratio (HR) and Kaplan-Meier survival probability were calculated for each class of uveitis. Results: Macular edema (ME) resulted to be associated to chronic postoperative inflammation (r?=?0.6; p?=?0.00) and mostly related to patients who presented more than one postoperative relapse/year (r?=?0.2; p?=?0.02). Fuchs uveitis resulted to be a risk factor for posterior capsule opacification (PCO) (HR 3.36 IC95%1.0-10.5; p?=?0.03). Hypotony and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) were detected in the anterior uveitis group (0.02 EY). Conclusion: The HR to develop ME was significantly related to chronic anterior uveitis. PCO and elevated IOP are most frequent in Fuchs uveitis. The postoperative visual acuity result was good among all the uveitis groups.     

The Presence of Portal Vein Thrombosis Alters the Classic Enhancement Associated with Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Digestive Diseases and Sciences - To determine whether the presence of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) where venous flow within the liver may be altered may delay the diagnosis of HCC and be...     

Results From a Large,Multicenter, Retrospective Analysis On Radium223 Use in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) in the Triveneto Italian Region

Background

Radium 223 was introduced for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer based on the results of a randomized controlled trial showing risk reduction for death and skeletal events. Our aim was to evaluate the outcome of patients receiving radium 223 in a real-world setting.

A Novel Nomogram to Identify Candidates for Extended Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection Among Patients with Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer Diagnosed with Magnetic Resonance Imaging-targeted and Systematic Biopsies

Background

Available models for predicting lymph node invasion (LNI) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) might not be applicable to men diagnosed via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-targeted biopsies.