Early Improvement in Glycemic Metabolism after Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy in Obese Patients - A Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND: according to W.H.O. in 2014 more than 600 million adults were obese, (more than doubled since 1980), and face a major risk for the onset of metabolic syndrome, including T2DM. Due to the poor control of glycemic imbalance for the conservative treatment of T2DM, the metabolic surgery was able to gain an important role in modern management of T2DM, with significant reported improvements or remissions for these patients. OBJECTIVE: to study the effects of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on glycemic metabolism in obese patients, with or without T2DM. METHODS: 60 consecutive patients were included in a prospective study and were submitted to laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in Ponderas Hospital between February - March 2013. BMI, waist circumference and glycemic parameters were studied at the moment of entering the study, 10 days after surgery and at 6 months follow up. RESULTS: the glycemic control was significantly improved starting with postoperative day 10. Statistically significant improvements were noticed after six months postoperatively in BMI values (p 0,0001), waist circumference (p 0,0001), glycemic levels (p 0,0001), insulin (p 0,0001), C-peptide (p 0,0001) and HOMA. CONCLUSIONS: a rapid induced improvement of glucose metabolism in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients occurs before a significant weight loss (POD 10). At 6 months, when associated with an important weight loss, both diabetic and non-diabetic patients present a furthermore improvement in glycemic metabolism, that enables us to consider that sleeve gastrectomy is an efficient method for a sustained improvement in the metabolic status of patients with obesity. These beneficial changes that can explain the remission of T2DM can also explain the prevention of T2DM after metabolic surgery.

Total Pelvic Exenteration for Recurrent Endometrial Sarcoma - A Case Report.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas are rare gynecologic malignancies characterized by the presence of cells that resemble those of the endometrial stroma during the prolipferative phase of the menstrual cycle. They are classified as low grade or high grade tumors depending on the mitotic index, the second one being usually associated with poor prognosis and high recurrence rate. We present the case of a 46-year-old patient who was previously submitted to surgery for an endometrial stromal sarcoma followed by adjuvant radiotherapy; 18 months later she was diagnosed with a pelvic recurrence invading the urinary bladder trigone and the rectosigmoid so she was submitted to a total pelvic exenteration.

Total pelvic exenteration for pelvic recurrence after advanced epithelial ovarian cancer--A case report and literature review.

Ovarian cancer is an aggressive disease, which, although associated with a high rate of recurrence, seems to benefit most from iterative cytoreduction. Although the main patterns of its spreading are represented by peritoneal, lymphatic or hematogenous route, local recurrences might also be seen. Whenever pelvic recurrence develops, complete resections based on the ultraradical principles applied in resections for pelvic recurrences originating from cervical cancer, are useful. We present the case of a 56-year-old patient who was diagnosed with a pelvic recurrence invading both the urinary bladder and the anterior rectal wall two years and a half after a surgery for stage IIIC ovarian cancer.

Total Pelvic Exenteration for Recurrent Endometrial Sarcoma - A Case Report.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas are rare gynecologic malignancies characterized by the presence of cells that resemble those of the endometrial stroma during the prolipferative phase of the menstrual cycle. They are classified as low grade or high grade tumors depending on the mitotic index, the second one being usually associated with poor prognosis and high recurrence rate. We present the case of a 46-year-old patient who was previously submitted to surgery for an endometrial stromal sarcoma followed by adjuvant radiotherapy; 18 months later she was diagnosed with a pelvic recurrence invading the urinary bladder trigone and the rectosigmoid so she was submitted to a total pelvic exenteration.

Pelvic exenteration--reconsidering the procedure.

Pelvic exenteration remains one of the most destructive surgical procedures in gynecologic oncology, performed in patients with locally advanced malignancies who were considered for a long time as unresectable. However, for these patients, an aggressive surgical approach seems to be the only potential curative solution. This is a literature review of the most important studies, which analyzes the benefits and the secondary risks of this demanding procedure.

Intraoperative radiation therapy in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Although surgery is the only potential curative treatment, the overall survival results remain poor due to the high risks of recurrence, so scientists developed new aggressive adjuvant therapies. That is how the IORT appeared. IORT is a technique designed to provide a large radiation dose to a target tissue considered of being "at risk" to develop recurrence. In this review we resume recent publications which debate the use, efficacy and the overall survival after IORT.

Multiple visceral resection after locoregional recurrence of signet ring cell gastric cancer -- case report and literature review.

Recurrence is the most important cause of treatment failure in patients with advanced gastric cancer, even after curative surgery. Surgery plays an important role in these patients,even in cases of multivisceral involvement. In selected cases good biological resources - surgery is the only viable choice to prolong survival. This report describes the case of a 41 year-old patient presenting a locoregional recurrence with multiple visceral involvement at 15 months after radical subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection for antral gastric cancer.

A case report of pancreatic transection by blunt abdominal trauma.

Posttraumatic pancreatic rupture is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Various management strategies are described, but due to the relative rarity of this pathology no standards exist. We reported a 21 years old male with post traumatic complete rupture of the pancreatic isthmus,devascularization lesion of descending duodenum, right renal artery posttraumatic thrombosis and left lobe of the liver laceration. Laparotomy for hemostasis was initially performed in a different hospital and the patient was then referred to us.Pancreaticoduodenectomy and right nephrectomy were performed. Postoperatively the patient had a pancreaticojejunal anastomosis fistula spontaneously resolved at 45 days.Pancreaticoduodenectomy can in selected cases be a solution in pancreatic trauma.

Segmentary ureteral resection followed by ureteroneocystostomy associated with radical hysterectomy and partial cystectomy in a patient with bulky residual disease after chemoirradiation for invasive cervical cancer--a case report.

Cervical cancer represents the second most frequent malignancy in women worldwide, a significant number of cases still being diagnosed in an advanced stage of the disease. In some of these cases, local invasion is already present at the moment of diagnosis and even if neo-adjuvant chemoirradiation is performed in some patients, it persists at the moment of surgery. In these cases, more aggressive surgical procedures are needed in order to obtain a good control of the disease. The case of a 50-year-old patient diagnosed with locally advanced cervical cancer invading the right ureter is presented, in whom this aspect was present even after neo-adjuvant chemoirradiation and in whom a total radical hysterectomy with bilateral en bloc adnexectomy with partial cystectomy and the invaded zone of the right ureter was performed. The ureter was then mobilized and reimplanted in the urinary bladder through a neocystostomy. The postoperative course was uneventful.

First year experience of robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery with 153 cases in a general surgery department: indications, technique and results.

BACKGROUND: Robotic surgery was developed in response to the limitations and drawbacks of laparoscopic surgery. Since 1997 when the first robotic procedure was performed various papers pointed the advantages of robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, this technique is now a reality and it will probably become the surgery of the future. The aim of this paper is to present our preliminary experience with the three-arms "da Vinci S surgical system", to assess the feasibility of this technique in various abdominal and thoracic procedures and to point out the advantages of the robotic approach for each type of procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 18 January 2008 and 18 January 2009 153 patients (66 men and 87 women; mean age 48,02 years, range 6 to 84 years) underwent robotic-assisted surgical procedures in our institution; we performed 129 abdominal and 24 thoracic procedures, as follows: one cholecystectomy, 14 myotomies with Dor fundoplication, one gastroenteroanastomosis for unresectable antral gastric cancer, one transthoracic esophagectomy, 14 gastrectomies, one polypectomy through gastrotomy, 22 splenectomies,7 partial spleen resections, 22 thymectomy, 6 Nissen fundoplications, one Toupet fundoplication, one choledocho-duodeno-anastomosis, one drainage for pancreatic abscess, one distal pancreatectomy, one hepatic cyst fenestration, 7 hepatic resections, 29 colonic and rectal resections, 5 adrenalectomies, 12 total radical hysterectomies and pelvic lymphadenectomy, 3 hysterectomies with bilateral adnexectomy for uterine fibroma, one unilateral adnexectomy, and 2 cases of cervico-mediastinal goitre resection. RESULTS: 147 procedures were robotics completed , whereas 6 procedures were converted to open surgery due to the extent of the lesion. Average operating room time was 171 minutes (range 60 to 600 minutes, Median length of stay was 8,6 days (range 2 to 48 days). One system malfunctions was registered. Post-operatory complications occurred in 14 cases. There were no deaths. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary experience suggests that robotic surgery is feasible and worth of clinical application. The best indications for robotic surgery are the procedures that require a small operating field, a fine a precise dissection (suitable for pelvic and gastric lymphadenectomy, nerve sparing in total mesorectal excision) and safe intracorporeal sutures.