COMPRES: a prospective postmarketing evaluation of the compression anastomosis ring CAR 27(™) /ColonRing(™).

AIM: Preclinical studies have suggested that nitinol-based compression anastomosis might be a viable solution to anastomotic leak following low anterior resection. A prospective multicentre open label study was therefore designed to evaluate the performance of the ColonRing(™) in (low) colorectal anastomosis. METHOD: The primary outcome measure was anastomotic leakage. Patients were recruited at 13 different colorectal surgical units in Europe, the United States and Israel. Institutional review board approval was obtained. RESULTS: Between 21 March 2010 and 3 August 2011, 266 patients completed the study protocol. The overall anastomotic leakage rate was 5.3% for all anastomoses, including a rate of 3.1% for low anastomoses. Septic anastomotic complications occurred in 8.3% of all anastomoses and 8.2% of low anastomoses. CONCLUSION: Nitinol compression anastomosis is safe, effective and easy to use and may offer an advantage for low colorectal anastomosis. A prospective randomized trial comparing ColonRing(™) with conventional stapling is needed.

Single incision laparoscopic total abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis for synchronous colon cancer.

Single incision laparoscopy is currently performed mostly for basic laparoscopic procedures involving single abdominal quadrants. The aim of this case report is to show that single incision laparoscopic techniques can be utilized for complex abdominal laparoscopic procedures with a large target organ and a working space involving all quadrants of the abdominal cavity. A single incision laparoscopic total abdominal colectomy with an ileorectal anastomosis and intraoperative CO(2) colonoscopy was performed for a patient with synchronous adenocarcinoma of the cecum and the sigmoid colon. The patient was discharged home on postoperative day 4 and had no immediate postoperative complications. Single incision laparoscopy is feasible for complex colorectal procedures. Some of the techniques used may be adapted further to achieve colonic resection via a natural orifice in the future.

Coronary oxygen persufflation combined with HTK cardioplegia prolongs the preservation time in heart transplantation.

BACKGROUND: One of the most restricting factors remaining in heart transplantation is the limited myocardial ischemia time. A new approach towards the prolongation of this time is the combination of primary cardioplegic arrest followed by continuous coronary oxygen persufflation (COP) with gaseous oxygen. METHODS: This technique was applied in pig hearts, which we transplanted orthotopically after cardioplegic arrest by original (n = 5) and modified (addition of hyaluronidase: n = 11) Bretschneider HTK solution and 14 h of hypothermic preservation. Depending on the different preservation techniques, we created four groups: (1), original HTK (HTK), n = 5; (2), modified HTK (mHTK), n = 5; (3), modified HTK solution plus COP (mHTK + COP), n = 6; and (4), as a control five hearts were transplanted after cardioplegic arrest by the original HTK solution and a cold ischemia time of 3 h comparable to clinical routine procedure. RESULTS: After 14 h of preservation and orthotopic transplantation, cardiac functional recovery in mHTK + COP hearts was similar to control hearts, and improved compared to hearts of both other groups. Hemodynamics were significantly better in hearts preserved by mHTK + COP and in the control group compared to the HTK-hearts (P < 0.05), not significant compared to mHTK hearts (dp/dt(max) in % of preoperative +/- standard error of mean (SEM): mHTK + COP, 85 +/- 9; control, 85 +/- 10.5; mHTK, 59 +/- 14; HTK, 50 +/- 4). The cardiac output (CO) in % of preoperative was: mHTK + COP, 68 +/- 5.4; control, 64 +/- 4; mHTK, 44 +/- 2.7; HTK, 25 +/- 11. The ATP of left ventricular myocardium in mHTK + COP hearts at 14.7 +/- 1 micromol/g dry weight (DW) and in the control at 14.59 +/- 1.8 was higher compared to that in mHTK at 12.2 +/- 2.8 (P is non-significant (n.s.) versus mHTK + COP and control) and in HTK-hearts at 7.0 +/- 0.5 (P < 0.05 versus mHTK + COP and control). CK-MB in percent of CK showed no increase in either group. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that COP combined with a mHTK solution represents a potential alternative to complement currently used cold storage techniques for prolonged preservation periods.

Excellent recovery after prolonged heart storage by preservation with coronary oxygen persufflation: orthotopic pig heart transplantations after 14-hr storage.

BACKGROUND: Improvement of heart preservation is still the greatest challenge in preservation research. The unchanged severe restriction of acceptable storage periods of heart grafts since the beginning of clinical heart transplantation indicates that technical innovations are necessary if a substantial improvement is to be achieved. METHODS: Here, we present the results of hypothermic preservation using the innovative technique of coronary oxygen persufflation (COP). COP simply adds gaseous oxygen to hypothermic graft storage and requires only a "valve guard" for reversible closure of the aortic valve. Fourteen-hr preservation was followed by orthotopic transplantation and evaluations of functional as well as metabolic recovery. Mature pig hearts, a model with restricted preservation tolerance similar to the human heart, were used to guarantee the clinical relevance of this study. RESULTS: After 14-hr hypothermic storage, COP-preserved hearts were able to recover within 2 hr of cardiopulmonary bypass to a steady cardiovascular function without mechanical or pharmacologic support. The left ventricular pressure amplitude of mHTK-COP-preserved hearts as well as energy charge potential recovered to pregrafting values and the ventricular power output to 66%. Hearts simply stored in University of Wisconsin (UW), modified Bretschneider's histidine-tryptophan-ketoglurate (mHTK), or Euro-Flush with glutathione (EFG) solution had only limited recovery, with significantly lower ventricular power output of 18%, 29% or 30% of pregrafting controls on average. CONCLUSIONS: Fourteen-hr oxygenated pig heart preservation using COP results in optimal recovery. Storage preservation in solutions containing hyaluronidase (mHTK and EFG) results in higher recoveries as compared to UW solution, an effect that may support the excellent recovery after mHTK-COP preservation.