Improving outcome in patients undergoing liver surgery.

Liver surgery is associated with many factors, which may affect outcome. Preoperative assessment of patient's general condition, resectability, and liver reserve are paramount for success. The Child-Pugh score and other scoring systems only partially enables to assess the risk associated with liver surgery. The presence of portal hypertension per se is a major risk factor for hepatectomy. Intraoperatively, any attempts should be made to minimize blood loss. Low central venous pressure and inflow occlusion best prevent bleeding. Ischemic preconditioning and intermittent clamping are routinely applied in many centers to protect against long periods of ischemia, although the mechanisms of protection remain unclear. In this review we describe recent advances in activated pathways associated with protection against ischemia. Postoperatively, the best factor impacting on outcome probably resides in experienced medical care particularly in the intensive care setting. Currently, no drug or gene therapy approaches has reached the clinic. The future relies on new insight into mechanisms of ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Carcinoma of the papilla of Vater: are endoscopic appearance and endoscopic biopsy discordant?

Carcinoma of the papilla of Vater is classified as periampullary cancer representing 5% of all gastrointestinal tract malignancies. Early and accurate diagnosis is important for those patients with a tumor of the papilla, as the prognosis is more favorable than in other periampullary neoplasms. Endoscopically obtained biopsies from suspicious papillae can detect an early tumor, although even for skilled pathologists it is often difficult to differentiate carcinomas from noninvasive lesions on the basis of forceps biopsies. The purpose of this study was to assess the preoperative diagnostic accuracy of duodenoscopy appearance and biopsy in all cases with suspicion of tumor. Thirty patients with suspicion of carcinoma of the papilla of Vater and with final diagnosis established by pancreatoduodenectomy were included in this retrospective study. In each case, a comparison was made between endoscopic biopsy and duodenoscopic appearance. Duodenoscopic appearance sensitivity and accuracy for malignancy were 86% and 83%, respectively, whereas endoscopic biopsy sensitivity and accuracy were 65% and 67%, respectively. Although preoperative diagnosis of carcinoma of the papilla of Vater is useful for making therapeutic decisions, the diagnostic value of the endoscopic appearance was superior to endoscopic biopsy in this series.