RESUMO
Periampullary neoplasms are a heterogeneous group of tumors arising within 2 cm of the ampulla of Vater. Neuroendocrine tumors can originate throughout the entire body, from neuroendocrine cells. These neoplasms exhibit deep differences, according to their origin and biological behavior. We describe a case of a 79-year-old man who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater after proper staging. At gross histology, an incidental pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor was also documented. Despite two synchronous neoplasms, the patient survived 34 months with no evidence of recurrence at follow-up. The synchronous presence of a second primitive tumor in patients affected by a neuroendocrine tumor is reported in the literature; incidence is variable and the most common site is the gastrointestinal tract. Diagnostic workup for ampullary neoplasms includes abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). These investigations infrequently may detect subcentimetric lesions. We believe this case is currently extremely rare. Preoperative diagnosis of synchronous PanNET would not have changed our approach since surgical therapy represents the gold standard in resectable ampullary neoplasms, and it has a primary role in the prognosis of the present patient.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The identification of psychological risk factors is important for the selection of patients before spinal surgery. Moreover, the effect of surgical decompression in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) on psychological outcome is not previously well analyzed. AIM OF PAPER: to investigate clinical and psychological outcome after surgery for LSS and the effect of depressive symptoms and anxiety on the clinical outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 25 patients with symptomatic LSS underwent decompressive surgery with or without spinal stabilization were prospectively enrolled in this observational surgery. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) was used to assess global psychological distress with a summary score termed Global Severity Index (GSI) and single psychological disorders including depression (DEP) and anxiety (ANX). The clinical outcome of surgery was evaluated with the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and visual analogue scale (VAS) pain assessment. RESULTS: Compared with baseline, there was a statistically significant improvement in VAS, ODI and GSI after surgery (p<0.05) in all patients. Univariate analysis revealed that patients with high GSI and anxiety and depression scores had significantly higher ODI and VAS scores in the follow-up with a bad outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery for spinal stenosis was effective to treat pain and disability. In this prospective study baseline global psychological distress, depression and anxiety were associated with poorer clinical outcome.
