Increasing age and survival after orthotopic liver transplantation for patients with hepatocellular cancer.

BACKGROUND: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the gold standard treatment for patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There are concerns about the efficacy of OLT for HCC in older patients, who we hypothesized might have poorer outcomes. Therefore, we sought to examine advanced age and its impact on OLT outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: The United Network for Organ Sharing database was queried for patients who underwent OLT for HCC from 1987 to 2009. Patients were divided into 3 age groups: 35 to 49 years old, 50 to 64 years old, and 65 years or older, and patient characteristics were compared. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the impact of age on OLT outcomes. RESULTS: Of 10,238 patients with OLT for HCC, 16.5% (n = 1,688) of patients were 35 to 49 years old, 67.8% (n = 6,937) were 35 to 49 years old, and 15.8% (n = 1,613) were 65 years and older. By Kaplan-Meier method, the 50- to 64-year-old age group had the highest overall survival, despite having one of the highest rates of hepatitis C positivity (70%), but this group also had the lowest rate of diabetes mellitus (8.7%). The lowest overall survival was observed in the 65-year or older age group (p < 0.001). Finally, there was no difference in disease-specific survival among the age groups (p = 0.858), and patients aged 65 years and older had the highest rate of death from nonhepatic causes (17.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Although OS was prolonged in younger patients who underwent OLT for HCC, there was no observed difference in disease-specific survival among the age groups. Our results suggest that carefully selected patients 65 years of age and older can derive equal benefit from OLT for HCC when compared with their younger counterparts.

Senior residents as teaching assistants during laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the 80-hour workweek era: effect on biliary injury and overall complication rates.

PURPOSE: The resident as teaching assistant (TA) in the operating room is an important role in the maturation of surgical trainees. One concern in the current 80-hour workweek era is that current senior residents (SRs) are unprepared to serve as TAs, potentially leading to higher complication rates and a significant increase in the length of operations. The aim of this study was to analyze whether SRs serving as TAs during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) resulted in an adverse effect on complication rates in the 80-hour workweek era. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of 1668 LC performed at 2 affiliated general surgery teaching hospitals from 2003 through 2007. Teaching hospital A was a public teaching hospital where junior residents (JR) performed the LC with a scrubbed SR as TA under faculty supervision. Teaching hospital B was a community-based affiliate hospital where the JR performed LC with only scrubbed faculty supervision. Operative case duration, JR level, patient gender/age, operative indication, final pathology, and complication data were gathered and univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS: Despite a higher rate of acute cholecystitis in the TA hospital, LC-associated complications occurred at similar rates with and without SR as TA. The rate of biliary injury was also the same in both hospitals. On multivariable analysis, only male gender was associated with complications (odds ratio = 1.7; p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: In the 80-hour resident workweek era, SRs acting as TAs during LC is not associated with increased total complications or an increased rate of biliary injury.

External iliac artery fibrosis in endurance athletes successfully treated with bypass grafting.

Endofibrosis of the external iliac artery is a rare cause of performance-limiting claudication in elite athletes. We describe a 47-year-old male competitive cyclist and a 52-year-old female former international triathlete, with unilateral and bilateral external artery occlusions, respectively, who presented with disabling claudication and an inability to cycle or run. Due to a long-segment occlusion, both were treated with Dacron bypass grafting. Both were able to return to competitive racing postoperatively.

Admission variables predictive of gangrenous cholecystitis.

The objective of the present study was to identify admission clinical factors associated with gangrenous cholecystitis (GC) and factors associated with conversion to open cholecystectomy. We retrospectively evaluated 391 patients over a 17-month period who underwent urgent laparoscopic cholecystectomy for a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. Eighty-nine patients with pathologically proven GC were compared with 302 patients without GC. On multivariable logistic regression, predictors of GC included male gender, white blood cell count greater than 14,000/mm3, heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute, and sodium 135 mg/dL or less. Conversion rate to open cholecystectomy was 7.9 per cent overall, 4 per cent for non-GC, and 19 per cent for GC (odds ratio, 0.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.1 to 0.4; P<0.00001). Conversion was predicted by increasing number of days to surgery, total bilirubin, and white blood cell count. Complication rate was higher in the GC group (10.1 vs 3.6% in the acute cholecystitis group, P=0.01). The increased rate of conversion observed with surgery delay suggests that early laparoscopic cholecystectomy may be preferable in most patients.

Early laparoscopic cholecystectomy for mild gallstone pancreatitis: time for a paradigm shift.

HYPOTHESIS Patients with mild gallstone pancreatitis may undergo an early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) within 48 hours of hospital admission without awaiting the normalization of pancreatic and liver enzyme levels. This may decrease the hospital stay without increasing morbidity or mortality and may minimize the unnecessary use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. DESIGN A retrospective review. SETTING Two university-affiliated urban medical centers. PATIENTS A total of 303 patients with mild gallstone pancreatitis, of whom 117 underwent an early LC and 186 underwent a delayed LC. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Hospital length of stay, morbidity and mortality rates, and the use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. RESULTS Similar hospital admission variables were observed in the early and delayed LC groups, although the delayed group was older (P = .006). The median hospital length of stay was significantly less for the early group than for the delayed group (3 vs 6 days; P < .001). There were no patients who died, and the complication rates were similar for both groups. However, the patients who underwent an early LC were less likely than patients who underwent a delayed LC to undergo endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS An early LC may be safely performed for patients with mild gallstone pancreatitis, without concern for increased morbidity and mortality, resulting in shortened hospital stays and a decrease in the use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. The practice of delaying an LC until normalization of laboratory values appears to be unnecessary.