Initial Stroke Thrombectomy Experience in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

New York City has become the global epicenter of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Despite a massive shift in health care resources, cerebrovascular disease continues to be a substantial burden. We review the first 10 patients undergoing thrombectomy following a series of governmental and institutional policy changes diverting resources to the care of critically ill patients with COVID-19. Ten patients with emergent large-vessel occlusion underwent thrombectomy between March 23 and April 1, 2020. Five patients tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Successful reperfusion was achieved in 9 of 10 patients, at a median time of 37 minutes from vascular access. The postprocedural NIHSS score improved by an average of 7.7 points. Of the 5 patients positive for COVID-19, none have experienced a critical respiratory illness. We report the early incidence of COVID-19 positivity in patients with emergent large-vessel occlusion and demonstrate that thrombectomy continues to be an efficacious option, as well as safe for health care providers.

Laparoscopic vs percutaneous hysterectomy in obese patients: a prospective evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of obese female patients represents a real challenge. Indeed, obesity among women has reached epidemic levels not only elevating the cardiovascular and endocrinological risks, but also increasing the incidence of various gynecological pathologies (e.g. endometrial cancer and hyperplasia, uterine fibroids, genital prolapse) which commonly require hysterectomy as a surgical solution. In the last decade, minimally invasive surgery has emerged as an approach reducing the invasiveness of the standard laparoscopic surgical procedures while maintaining efficacy and feasibility. As such, in this study we aimed to evaluate the feasibility of percutaneous hysterectomy (PSS-H) approach in obese patients by reporting the first prospective comparison between the PSS-H to laparoscopic hysterectomy (LPS-H). METHODS: In this multicentric comparative prospective study, 45 patients affected by benign and malignant gynecological conditions were considered eligible for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Fifteen patients received PSS-H and 30 LPS-H. All patients enrolled received a total hysterectomy ± bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, with or without lymph nodal staging. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were noted in operative time and estimated blood loss between the two groups. Four patients in PSS-H group and 3 in LPS-H group received lymph node staging. A multifunctional energy device was used in all PSS-H and 73.3% of LPS-H procedures (p=0.038). There were no conversions to laparotomy in either group and similarly there were no conversions to conventional laparoscopy in the PSS-H group. In the LPS-H group, there was one (3.3%) case of major bleeding( ≥ 500 mls). We recorded one vaginal cuff bleeding in PSS-H, whereas for LPS-H we reported 4 (13.3%) 30-days complications (p=0.651). No differences in visual analogue scale (VAS) score were recorded. A significant disparity was noted in cosmetic outcome at discharge (p=0.001), but not after 30 days. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated for the first time, in a prospective comparison between PSS and LPS approaches, that PSS-H may represent a valid alternative to performing total hysterectomy in obese patients.

Total laparoscopic hysterectomy for enlarged uteri: factors associated with the rate of conversion to open surgery.

A hysterectomy for enlarged uteri is considered a challenge for gynaecologic surgeons, due to the limit of exposure to surgical spaces. Our objective is to investigate the different variables that may have an impact on the risk of conversion to open surgery. This is a retrospective cohort study consisting of 133 women who were submitted to surgery for uterine fibroids and who underwent total hysterectomy by laparoscopic approach attempt. The median uterus weight was 622 grams (range 301-3882) and the median maximum diameter of the bigger fibroid was 74 mm (range 33-148). We registered 13 (9.8%) cases of conversion to laparotomy. Minor and major post-operative complications were recorded in 4 (3%) and in 4 (3%) cases, respectively. After multivariable analysis, the surgeon's experience (OR: 0.24; 95% CI: 0.06-0.94, p = .027) and a maximum diameter of the biggest fibroid ≥10 cm (4.7; 1.39-15.87; p = .046), but not the uterus weight were associated with the risk of conversion to open surgery. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Laparoscopic procedures for enlarged uteri are well described in literature; however, the only parameters that have been studied for the success of a laparoscopic procedure have been the uterus weight and the surgeon's experience. What do the results of this study add? This study aimed to value all the possible variables related to the successful of laparoscopic procedures; in fact, we investigated not only the uterine weight, but in our multivariate analysis, the position of the fibroids, the trocar's setting, etc. were analysed. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? This study reported novel data about the feasibility of laparoscopic hysterectomy for enlarged uteri. In opposition to the literature, the uterine weight is not a predictive value for laparotomic conversion. Moreover, we discussed the possible reasons of our novel findings. It opens new perspective to create a predictive value of laparoscopic feasibility for the different types of enlarged uteri.

Technological innovation and personalized surgical treatment for early-stage endometrial cancer patients: A prospective multicenter Italian experience to evaluate the novel percutaneous approach.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the safety, feasibility and oncological adequacy of the Percutaneous Surgical System - PSS in a consecutive series of low-risk endometrial cancer staging. STUDY DESIGN: From May 2015 to April 2017, we prospectively performed 30 consecutive percutaneous staging for low/intermediate risk endometrial cancer (FIGO stage IA G1-G2, IB G1-G2, IA G3). All patients were divided in two different groups on the basis of surgical procedure received: Group A included patients submitted to radical Class A hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy; Group B concerned patients that received a lymph nodal assessment also. RESULTS: The time needed to install percutaneous instruments and suprapubic trocar was 4 min. (range 2-10). The recorded median operative time (OT) was 80 min. (range 65-120) for Gr.A and 143 min. (range 107-190) for Gr.B, in which the median time of lymph nodal assessment was 55 min. (range 20-76). The median time for hysterectomy was 60 min. (range 40-110) in all cases. Lymph nodal assessment was performed in 14 (46.6%) cases: 7 sentinel node mapping, 7 pelvic lymphadenectomy. No intraoperative complications or LPS/LPT conversions were recorded. Median discharge time was 2 days (range 1-4), 5 patients were discharged in 3rd post-op day, and only 1 patient was discharged in 4th day for fever. All patients conveyed high satisfaction with the cosmetic results. A progressive overall reduction of pain perception was observed at 24 h after surgery. Median follow-up was of 14 months (range 12-36), no recurrences have been detected. CONCLUSIONS: PSS seems to be a feasible approach for endometrial cancer staging. Larger experiences and prospective comparative studies are important to assess our assumptions and further investigate the real benefits of percutaneous surgical system.

The Senhance™ surgical robotic system ("Senhance") for total hysterectomy in obese patients: a pilot study.

This pilot study was aimed to value the feasibility and safety of Senhance Robotic Platform for hysterectomy in obese patients. Ten obese patients (30 < BMI < 40) underwent elective Senhance total extrafascial hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy at the Division of Gynecologic Oncology of "Policlinico A. Gemelli" Foundation, Rome, Italy. Perioperative and postoperative outcomes data were recorded. The median age was 60 years (range 51-75) and the median BMI was 33.3 kg/m2 (range 30.4-38.3). The median uterine weight was 112.5 g (range 77-225). Indication to total hysterectomy was early-stage (FIGO Stage IA) endometrial cancer in 100% of patients. The median operative time (OT) was 110 min (70-200). The median docking time was 10.5 min (5-25). The median estimated blood loss was 100 mL (50-200). No conversions to laparotomy were recorded. No intra- and 30-day postoperative complications were registered. The median ileus was 17 h (12-36) and the median time to discharge was 2 days (1-4). The median VAS scores registered at 2, 4, 12, and 24 h were, respectively, 2 (1-3), 2 (1-3), 4 (1-8), and 3 (1-5). Our study results suggest that Senhance platform could be safe for hysterectomy even in obese patients. More clinical data are needed to determine whether this approach would offer any additional benefits in a new middle line between standard laparoscopy and robotics.

Laparoscopic, minilaparoscopic, single-port and percutaneous hysterectomy: Comparison of perioperative outcomes of minimally invasive approaches in gynecologic surgery.

OBJECTIVES: During the last decade endoscopic surgical procedures have been constantly evolving. The latest innovation in ultra-minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is the percutaneous technology (Percuvance™ Percutaneous Surgical System (PSS), Teleflex Inc., USA). We compared surgical outcome of hysterectomy, in a retrospective cohort study using the most recent MIS techniques as single-site (LESS) surgery, 3mm laparoscopy (MiniLPS) and percutaneous system (PSS) with standard laparoscopy (LPS). STUDY DESIGN: This is a matched retrospective cohort study. Endometrial Hyperplasia/Early stage endometrial cancer or benign pathology were the indication for surgery. Data of laparoscopic hysterectomies performed between May 2013 and April 2016 using PSS, LPS, MiniLPS, and LESS were collected and compared. RESULTS: The characteristics of each group were similar. The median Operative time (OT) was significantly longer in LESS compared to all other groups (120min [range 55-165] in LESS, 91min [range 60-180] in MiniLPS, 70min [range 55-230] in LPS and 65 [range 40-180] in PSS; p=0.0001). No significant differences among the 4 groups were observed in terms of estimated blood loss, conversion to laparoscopy or laparotomy, and intra e post-operative complications. Statistically significant differences were recorded in median VAS 24h (2 [range 0-3] in PSS, 2 [range 0-3] in MiniLPS, 3 [range 2-5] in LESS and 2 [range 1-5] in LPS; p=0.0001). The average time of discharge was (1day [range 1-3] in PSS, 1day [range 1-2] in MiniLPS, 1days [range 1-2] in LESS and 1day [range 1-3] in LPS; p=0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Data show that the effort to minimize the impact of surgical invasiveness can be feasible and could improve the advantages, not only in terms of aesthetic outcomes, even if the differences among the endoscopic approaches have not a relevant clinical impact. The technology innovations like PSS maintain the same triangulation between instruments as standard LPS with an evident decrease of the invasiveness thanks to reduced instruments size, even if the lack of suitability of bipolar energy, that require a multifunction instrument, remain a limit of these instruments.

Douglas peritonectomy compared to recto-sigmoid resection in optimally cytoreduced advanced ovarian cancer patients: analysis of morbidity and oncological outcome.

BACKGROUND: Rectosigmoidectomy (RR) with primary anastomosis or pelvic peritonectomy (PP) are often part of an optimal en bloc tumor resection in advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) patients with contiguous extension to or encasement of the reproductive organs, peritoneum of the cul-de-sac and sigmoid colon. We report our experience with two different surgical approaches in optimally cytoreduced AOC patients evaluating oncologic outcome and surgically associated morbidities METHODS: Data from all consecutive AOC patients undergoing PP or RR as part of the surgical procedure during primary cytoreduction from 2004 through 2009 were extrapolated and analyzed using the chi-squared test, Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier method including log-rank test. RESULTS: During the study period, we identified 187 AOC patients, fitting the inclusion criteria: 71 (38%) were submitted to RR and 116 (62%) were managed with PP. The estimated mean disease-free survival (DFS) was 30.7 months (95% CI 24.6-36.8) in the RR arm vs. 25.9 months in the PP arm (95% CI 21.9-29.9) (p 0.299); similarly, the estimated mean overall survival (OS) was 38.8 months (95% CI 33.4-44.2) in the RR arm and 48.2 months in the PP arm (95% CI 43.1-53.3) (p = 0.122). No statistically significant differences were found in terms of DFS and OS according to the mesocolic lymphnode status (p = 0.65 and p = 0.81, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the current study clearly supports evidence that survival rates are similar for patients who achieved optimal residual tumor (RT), independent to whether they had RR or PP.

A treatment selection protocol for recurrent ovarian cancer patients: the role of FDG-PET/CT and staging laparoscopy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the best diagnostic and staging strategy for recurrent ovarian cancer. METHODS: The negative predictive value, specificity, positive predictive value, sensitivity, and accuracy rates of the fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positive emission tomography computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) and staging laparoscopy in identifying surgically treatable/untreatable patients are assessed in a consecutive series of 70 recurrent ovarian cancer cases. Moreover, the diagnostic performance of each staging procedure in the evaluation of the number of nodules is analyzed. RESULTS: The negative predictive value of the FDG-PET/CT was 83.3%, whereas the positive predictive value was 76.9%. Specificity was 55.6%, whereas sensitivity was 93.0%. Accuracy rate was 78.6%. Negative predictive value, specificity, positive predictive value, sensitivity, and accuracy rate of staging laparoscopy were 88.9, 64.0, 80.8, 95.0 and 83.1%, respectively. Combined radiological and laparoscopic evaluation showed a negative predictive value of 88.9%, a specificity of 59.3%, a positive predictive value of 78.8%, a sensitivity of 95.3%, and an accuracy rate of 81.4%. The number of nodules identified by FDG-PET/CT corresponded in only 23 patients (40.3%) at laparotomy, whereas 15 of 30 patients were correctly diagnosed (50.0%) by staging laparoscopy. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of FDG-PET/CT and staging laparoscopy has a significant effect on the multimodal approach to the population of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Such techniques should be considered complementary, because of the potential of each one to identify a different setting of the disease.