Effectiveness of Autologous Fat Graft in Treating Fecal Incontinence

PURPOSE: The most common risk factor for fecal incontinence (FI) is obstetric injury. FI affects 1.4%–18% of adults. Most patients are unaware when they are young, when symptoms appear suddenly and worsen with aging. Autologous fat graft is widely used in cosmetic surgical field and may substitute for injectable bulky agents in treating FI. Authors have done fat graft for past several years. This article reports the effectiveness of the fat graft in treating FI and discusses satisfaction with the procedure. METHODS: Fat was harvested from both lateral thighs using 10-mL Luer-loc syringe. Pure fat was extracted from harvests and mixed with fat, oil, and tumescent through refinement. Fats were injected into upper border of posterior ano-rectal ring, submucosa of anal canal and intersphincteric space. Thirty-five patients with FI were treated with this method from July 2016 to February 2017 in Busan Hangun Hospital. They were 13 male (mean age, 60.8 years) and 22 female patients (mean age, 63.3 years). The Wexner score was checked before procedure. We evaluated outcome in outpatients by asking the patients. For 19 patients we checked the Wexner score after procedure. RESULTS: Symptom improved in 29 (82.9%), and not improved in 6 (17.1%). In 2 of 6 patients, they felt better than before procedure, although not satisfied. No improvement in 4. Mean Wexner score was 9.7 before procedure. There were no serious complications such as inflammation or fat embolism. CONCLUSION: Autologous fat graft can be an effective alternative treatment for FI. It is safe and easy to perform, and cost effective.

ERCC1 as a Predictive Marker for FOLFOX Chemotherapy in an Adjuvant Setting

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) as a predictive marker for FOLFOX adjuvant chemotherapy in stages II and III colon cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 166 high risk stages II and III colon cancer patients were retrospectively enrolled in this study, and data were collected prospectively. They underwent a curative resection followed by FOLFOX4 adjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed ERCC1 expression in the primary colon tumor by using immunohistochemical staining. The oncological outcomes included the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate. The DFS was analyzed by using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazard model was used for the prognostic analysis. RESULTS: ERCC1-positive expression was statistically significant in the older patients (P = 0.032). In the multivariate analysis, the prognostic factors for DFS were female sex (P = 0.016), N stage (P = 0.009), and postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level (P = 0.001), but ERCC1 expression was not a statistically significant prognostic factor for DFS in the univariate analysis (P = 0.397). The 5-year DFS rate was not significantly associated with the ERCC1 expression in all patients (P = 0.396) or with stage III disease (P = 0.582). CONCLUSION: We found that ERCC1 expression was not significantly correlated with the 5-year DFS as reflected by the oncologic outcomes in patients with high-risk stages II and III colon cancer treated with FOLFOX adjuvant chemotherapy.

Long-Term Clinical Results of Tricuspid Valve Replacement / 대한흉부외과학회지

BACKGROUND: There are only limited numbers of reports about long-term results of tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) with bioprosthetic and mechanical prostheses. We analyzed risk factors for tricuspid valve replacement and compared long-term clinical results of bioprosthetic and mechanical valves in tricuspid position. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We reviewed 77 cases of TVR, which were performed between October 1978 and December 1996. Mean age was 38.8 15.9 years. Bioprostheses were implanted in 26 cases and mechanical prostheses were implanted in 51 cases. RESULT: The operative mortality was 15.6% and late mortality was 12.3%. Survival for bioprosthetic and mechanical valve group at 5, 10 and 13 years was 81.3% vs. 100%, 66.1% vs. 100%, 60.6% vs. 100% (p= 0.0175). Free from valve related re-operation for bioprosthetic and mechanical valve group at 5, 10 and 13 years was 100 % vs. 93.9%, 100% vs. 93.9% and 58.3% vs. 93.9% (p=0.3274). Linealized incidences of valve related re-operation for bioprosthetic and mechanical valve group was 2.27 %/patient-years and 1.10 %/patient-years. Risk factor analysis showed that presence of preoperative ascites, hepatomegaly larger than 2 finger breaths, poor preoperative NYHA functional class and number of tricuspid valve replacement were risk factors for early mortality, and the use of bioprosthetic valve and number of open heart surgery were risk factors for late mortality. CONCLUSION: Long-term survival of mechanical valve was superior to bioprosthetic valve in tricuspid position. We recommend mechanical valve in tricuspid position if the patient can be closely followed up.