Restaging of colorectal cancer based on the identification of lymph node micrometastases through immunoperoxidase staining of CEA and cytokeratins.

The present study was performed to identify tumor cells in lymph nodes from colorectal adenocarcinomas considered free of disease by the classic hematoxylin-eosin stain, based on the detection of the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratins in neoplastic epithelial cells. For this purpose, 603 lymph nodes from 46 lesions were stained by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. Tumor cells were detected in 22 nodes from 12 patients, mainly in the subcapsular sinuses, permitting a restaging of these patients into two groups: those now considered to have metastatic disease and those free of metastases. However, the 5-year follow-up showed no statistical differences in survival between the two groups.

Surgery of chagasic megacolon.

Chagas' disease is an endemic clinical entity caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that is transmitted to humans by the hematophagic Triatominae insects. It affects several million persons in Latin America, mostly in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Megacolon, the most common complication of intestinal trypanosomiasis, results in severe constipation, for which surgery is indicated. A variety of procedures have been proposed for the correction of this disabling condition including sigmoidectomy, abdominal rectosigmoidectomy, left colectomy, and subtotal colectomy. On long-term follow-up, however, these operations have proved to be inadequate in a significant number of cases, apparently due to preservation of the dyskinetic rectum which continues to act as a functional obstacle to the progression of the fecal bolus. On the other hand, pull-through operations, which include the removal of all or almost all of the dyskinetic rectum, or the exclusion of the rectum, as in the Duhamel-Haddad operation, have been demonstrated to be superior. The abdominoperineal endoanal pull-through resection with delayed colorectal anastomosis and the Duhamel-Haddad operation are the most accepted procedures in Brazil and other Latin American countries; their technical details are illustrated. Functional results are satisfactory. Anal continence is normal in the vast majority of cases and sexual disturbances are rare. Routine treatment of 2 main complications--fecaloma and volvulus of the sigmoid colon--are discussed.

Abdominoperineal endoanal pull-through resection. A comparative study between immediate and delayed colorectal anastomosis.

Abdominoperineal endoanal pull-through resection with colorectal anastomosis was performed on 728 patients--primarily those with chagasic megacolon and cancer of the rectum. Intestinal continuity was reestablished through immediate anastomosis (Swenson procedure) in 229 patients and through delayed anastomosis (Cutait-Turnbull procedure) in 499. Comparative studies showed: that the incidence of leakage was 31.9 percent in immediate and only 2.2 percent in delayed anastomosis; that presacral infection occurred in 27.9 percent in immediate and in 6.8 percent in delayed anastomosis; that stenosis was observed in 4.4 percent in immediate and 1.8 percent in delayed anastomosis; that mortality was 6.1 percent in immediate and 2.2 percent in delayed anastomosis; that anal continence was good in both procedures and that sexual disturbances were rare in benign and frequent in malignant lesions in both procedures. The final conclusion is that, in abdominoperineal endoanal pull-through resection with colorectal anastomosis, complications and mortality are less frequent in delayed than in immediate anastomosis and that continence and sexual behavior are identical in both procedures.

Stapled anastomosis in colorectal surgery.

The authors review their experience with stapled anastomosis in colorectal and ileorectal resections for malignant and benign lesions of the large bowel. They describe the technique and results in a series of 49 patients (24 with cancer of the rectum and rectosigmoid junction; six with familial polyposis, associated with cancer in four; 12 with chagastic megacolon; three, Crohn's disease; two, ulcerative colitis; and one each, diverticular sigmoiditis and ischemic sigmoiditis). Anterior resection was performed in 38 patients and total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis in 11. Main complications and mortality are presented. They conclude that stapled anastomosis is an efficient method for intestinal reconstruction after resection for malignant and benign lesions of the large bowel.

Polipectomia por colonoscopia: indicacoes, tecnica e resultados. / Polypectomy by colonoscopy: indications, technic and results

Os autores relatam a experiencia de 215 polipectomias por colonoscopia, realizadas em 96 pacientes. Descrevem a metodologia e a tecnica empregadas e mostram os resultados, que foram inteiramente satisfatorios. A unica complicacao foi sangramento muito discreto em dois pacientes, de resolucao espontanea. A mortalidade foi nula. Consideracoes especiais foram feitas em relacao aos casos de polipos com carcinoma, no que concerne a conduta pos-polipectomia. E apresentado um plano de controle colonoscopico a longo prazo, tanto para os doentes submetidos a polipectomia por polipos benignos e malignos, como para os que sofreram colectomia por carcinoma