ABSTRACT
(1) Background: Rectal prolapse is a benign condition that mainly affects females and the elderly. The most common symptoms are constipation and incontinence. The treatment of choice is surgical, but so far, there has been no gold standard method. The aim of this study is to compare the two most common intrabdominal procedures utilized for treating rectal prolapse: the resection rectopexy and the mesh rectopexy. (2) Methods: In this study, we conducted a thorough systematic review and meta-analysis of the available literature and compared the two different approaches regarding their complication rate, recurrence rate, and improvement of symptoms rate. (3) Results: No statistically significant difference between the two methods was found regarding the operating time, the length of stay, the overall complication rate, the surgical site infection rate, the cardiopulmonary complication rate, the improvement in constipation and incontinence rates, and the recurrence rate. (4) Conclusions: Our study revealed that mesh rectopexy and resection rectopexy for rectal prolapse have similar short- and long-term outcomes. As a result, the decision for the procedure used should be individualized and based on the surgeon's preference and expertise.
ABSTRACT
Colorectal malignancies are the third-most common malignancies worldwide, with a rising incidence. Surgery remains the treatment of choice and adequate lymph node dissection is required for accurate staging. The objective of this study is to assess the use of carbon nanoparticles in lymph node tracing and resection in cases of colorectal cancer. For that purpose, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies included in Medline, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases. In the end, ten studies with a total number of 1418 patients were included in the final statistical analysis. The meta-analysis carried out showed that the use of carbon nanoparticles results in an increased number of lymph nodes harvested (WMD 6.15, 95% CI 4.14 to 8.16, p < 0.001) and a higher rate of cases with more than 12 lymph nodes harvested (OR 9.57, 95% CI 2.87 to 31.96, p = 0.0002). As a consequence, we suggest that carbon nanoparticles are used on a wider scale and that future research focuses on assessing the association between their use and overall patient survival. This study is limited by the fact that all included studies originate from China and by the fact that certain oncologic parameters and long-term outcomes have not been taken into account in the analysis.
