Minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy: mapping surgical maneuvers towards operative standardization.

AIM: To analyze the minimally invasive surgical maneuvers currently performed to remove pancreatic tail, with or without preservation of the spleen, for benign and borderline malignant neoplasms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We described operative steps and technical pitfalls encountered during laparoscopic and robotic distal pancreatectomy. The methodology of research focused on recruitment of evidence-based surgical strategies and critical analysis of modern minimally invasive techniques. RESULTS: Laparoscopic and robotic distal pancreatectomy have gradually accepted by pancreatic surgeons and clinical evidences document its growing interest. The choice of patient positioning, port placement, surgical dissection and operative techniques used for pancreatic parenchymal transection is not codified and changes according to personal preference. The technical variability in minimally invasive approach to pancreatic surgery strongly depends depends on surgeon's training and to limited application of these procedures in single institutions. CONCLUSIONS: Pancreatic surgeons worldwide accept laparoscopic and robotic distal pancreatectomy but the best intraoperative praxis is not defined in clinical routine. To date, the pancreatic resection adopts hybrid techniques and the conduction of minimally invasive resection depends to surgeon's experience, patient body habitus and location of pancreatic lesion. Although several technical variations have described, no standardization of the operative minimally invasive surgical method is convincingly built. KEY WORDS: Laparoscopy, Minimally invasive surgery, Pancreas, Robotic pancreatectomy.

Laparoscopic and open complete mesocolic excision with central vascular ligation for right colonic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective comparative study.

BACKGROUND: To examine the outcome of patients treated with complete mesocolic excision (CME) with central vascular ligation (CVL) after conventional and laparoscopic surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated stage I-IV colon adenocarcinoma patients treated by the same surgeon (L.M.) from 2013 to 2018. Postoperative complications, recurrences and survival are assessed. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients (M/F: 24/27) underwent laparoscopic right hemicolectomy with CME (L-CME) or open CME (O-CME) plus CVL. Tumour location was the caecum in 39.2% of cases, the transverse in 23.5%, the hepatic colonic flexure in 21.5%, and the ascending colon in 15.6%. Twenty-four patients underwent L-CME while 27 underwent O-CME. More than 15 harvested lymphnodes are reported in 74.1% of O-CME patients and in 66.7% of L-CME patients (p = 0.562). Postoperative complications occurred in 7 O-CME and 5 L-CME patients, respectively (p = 0.669). Three-year overall survival, including stage IV, was of 75% versus 77.8% for L-CME and O-CME patients, respectively, while for stage I-III, was of 88.9% vs. 80% in L-CME and O-CME, respectively (p = 0.440). The median follow-up was of 2.43 years. CONCLUSION: CME with CVL is a meticulous, complex but feasible technique. In our experience, oncological results in terms of recurrences and overall survival, after conventional and laparoscopic CME plus CVL, are comparable. Patients with stage I-III colon adenocarcinoma have a better prognostic trend especially when more than 15 lymphnodes are removed. The respect of oncological radicality and the correct indication to minimally invasive surgery are the undiscussed key outcome variables.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the anterior abdominal wall. A case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a rare mesenchymal neoplasm affecting soft tissues with a not well defined biological behavior. SFT occurs mostly in the pleura and the thorax, while extra-thoracic localization is uncommon and abdominal localization is very rare. Histologically, SFT is a well defined mass with splindle-cell proliferation in collagenous matrix with staghorn vascular network and CD34 reactive. CASE REPORT: A 64 years-old man with a history of recurrent gastric cancer previously treated with total gastrectomy, was admitted with contrast enhanced CT-scan diagnosis of a well demarcated oval mass of 4.8 cm with microcysts, vascularized in the arterial phase and with wash out in the tardive phase, located in the peritoneal side of right rectus abdominis muscle, suspected for metastatic gastric tumor. The patient underwent minilaparotomy and en-bloc excision of the lesion. Histologically the tumor was characterized by a hemangiopericitoma like growth pattern and the immunostaining was positive to CD34, CD99, BCL-2 and Vimentin. The definitive diagnosis was SFT with a proliferation index (Ki-67/MIB-1) <3%. In our case, chemotherapy was not indicated. At the 6-month follow-up, the patient is in good clinical conditions with no recurrence or metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: We reported a rare case of primitive SFT located in peritoneal side of the of right rectus abdominis muscle treated surgically, in a patient previously affected by gastric adenocarcinoma. In this case, SFT showed a benign behaviour during a short term follow-up. Dimensional pattern, histopathological features and curative surgery remain the most important indicators of clinical outcome. KEY WORDS: Abdominal wall, Hemangiopericitoma, SFT, Solitary fibrous tumorSpindle cell.