[Efficacy and safety of administration of low-dose unfractionated heparin (LDUH) for the prevention of pulmonary thromboembolism after surgery for lung cancer; the long term outcome].

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of the administration of low-dose unfractionated heparin(LDUH)for the prevention of pulmonary thromboembolism after lung cancer surgery. We operated on 206 patients with primary lung cancer for 8 years;128 males and 78 females, mean age:69.9±8.8 years. All patients were administrated LDUH 5,000 units every 12 hours from the operation day until the day when the patient could walk around the floor. No patients suffered from clinical pulmonary thromboembolism in this period. The duration of treatment was 4.6±2.6 days and the chest tube duration was 5.4±3.0 days. We experienced post-operative intra-thoracic bleeding in 2 patients during the previous 4 years. Based on this experience, we introduced new eligibility criteria;we discontinued LDUH administration on the operation day if diffuse adhesion in the thoracic cavity was observed at operation or intraoperative blood loss was over 500 ml. The dose of LDUH was decreased to 2,500 unit every 12 hours if the postoperative bleeding was over 400 ml on the operation day or the patient's body weight was less than 40 kg. After introduction of the new criteria, no severe bleeding complications occurred during the latter 4 years.

Treatment of concomitant gastric varices in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma at a single Japanese institute.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients often have esophagogastric varices due to portal hypertension by chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis. Surgical treatment for gastric varices is necessary when the patient undergoes hepatic resection for HCC, simultaneously. We examined the clinical demographics, surgical records and outcome in 7 patients undergoing both hepatectomy and Hassab's operation (=decongestion of upper gastric veins and splenectomy) between 1994 and 2007. All patients had HCC, including chronic injured liver diseases. Preoperative liver functions were well preserved in all patients. Right hepatectomy was performed in two patients and limited resections in 5. Three patients had postoperative complications and the in-hospital death by hepatic failure was observed in one. Four patients had tumor recurrence within one year and 3 were dead, while, two patients had long-term survival with or without recurrence of HCC. Following Hassab's operation, gastric varices dramatically disappeared. Portal hypertension and hypersplenism were significantly improved. Simultaneous operation with Hassab's procedure and hepatectomy is useful and can be safely performed in HCC patients with gastric varices.