Preoperative sarcopenia is a negative predictor for enhanced postoperative recovery after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

PURPOSE: Sarcopenia is common in pancreatic cancer patients. Considering the growing adoption of standardized protocols for enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), we examined the clinical impact of sarcopenia in pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) patients in a 5-day accelerated ERAS program, termed the Whipple Accelerated Recovery Pathway. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of patients undergoing PD from 2017 through 2020 on the ERAS pathway. Preoperative computerized tomographic scans taken within 45 days before surgery were analyzed to determine psoas muscle cross-sectional area (PMA) at the third lumbar vertebral body. Sarcopenia was defined as the lowest quartile of PMA respective to gender. Outcome measures were compared between patients with or without sarcopenia. RESULTS: In this 333-patient cohort, 252 (75.7%) patients had final pathology revealing pancreatic or periampullary cancer. The median age was 66.7 years (16.4-88.4 years) with a 161:172 male to female ratio. Sarcopenia correlated with delayed tolerance of oral intake (OR 2.2; 95%CI 1.1-4.3, P = 0.03), increased complication rates (OR 4.3; 95%CI 2.2-8.5, P < 0.01), and longer hospital length of stay (LOS) (P < 0.05). Preoperative albumin levels, BMI, and history of pancreatitis were also found to correlate with LOS (P < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis found low PMA, BMI, and male gender to be independent predictors of increased LOS (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Sarcopenia correlated with increased LOS and postoperative complications in ERAS patients after PD. Sarcopenia can be used to predict poor candidates for ERAS protocols who may require an alternative recovery protocol, promoting a clinical tier-based approach to ERAS for pancreatic surgery.

Intraoperative Cytologic Sampling for Resected Pancreatic and Periampullary Adenocarcinoma with Implications for Locoregional Recurrence-Free Survival.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma recurrence after surgical resection may be affected by the shedding of malignant epithelial cells during surgical dissection and that this may have implications for disease recurrence and survival. STUDY DESIGN: In this ongoing, investigator-initiated prospective randomized controlled trial, patients with pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma were randomized intraoperatively, postresection into 3 study arms: peritoneal lavage using 10 L normal saline or distilled water, or control group with no lavage. Peritoneal fluid was sampled for cytologic analysis (cytospin, cellblock, immunohistochemistry-Ber-EP4 antibody) at 4 stages: (1) abdominal entry pre-dissection, (2) resection bed after tumor extirpation, (3) ex vivo resected specimen, and (4) resection bed postlavage. RESULTS: Between April 2016 and May 2018, 193 patients who underwent randomization for the study also underwent the described cytologic sampling. Of these, 167 patients (86.5%) were ultimately found to have pancreatic or periampullary adenocarcinoma. Before dissection (1) on cytospin analysis, 4.9% were positive, which rose to 10.2% intraoperatively (2), 16.7% ex vivo (3), and decreased to 4.3% (4) after lavage. Lymph node metastasis, margin involvement, and perineural invasion did not correlate with locoregional recurrence (LR). Tumor cells in the ex vivo cytospin (3) correlated with LR (odds ratio 3.8 [95% CI 1.6 to 9.2], p = 0.005) and LR disease-free survival (p = 0.007). Cox regression analysis revealed ex vivo cytospin positivity to be strongly associated with poorer LR disease-free survival (hazard ratio 2.26 [95% CI 1.16 to 4.42], p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Cytologic sampling from ex vivo specimen irrigation after surgical resection of pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma may have implications for LR, survival, and treatment, suggesting a possible cancer cell shedding phenotype.

Nina Braunwald: The First Female Cardiothoracic Surgeon.

Dr Nina Braunwald is celebrated for her work as the first female cardiothoracic surgeon and her key role in the design and implementation of the first prosthetic mitral valve. She began her residency at Bellevue Hospital in 1952, a time in the United States where the scope of women's work was limited. Once her training took her to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), her historic flexible leaflet valve was developed and Dr Braunwald paved an innovative step toward the advanced prostheses of today. Afterward, she was recognized by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery in 1963. Her extensive research and educational passion for cardiothoracic surgery led to numerous publications, a leadership role with the NIH, and associate professorship at University of California San Diego and Harvard; leaving behind a significant legacy to be memorialized in awards and fellowships to women in academic cardiac surgery. Her work inspired continued evolution of the prosthetic valve and countless women to pursue surgery as a career before passing away in 1992, leaving behind a new generation of women surgeons. Despite her successful career, she was never promoted to full professor by her academic institutions.

Low diagnostic yield in follow-up MR imaging in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage with a negative initial MRI.

PURPOSE: Follow-up MRI/MRA is historically obtained as outpatient when patients with a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) have an initial MRI/MRA that is negative for an underlying structural lesion. However, the utility of repeating MR imaging in a delayed fashion remains uncertain. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 396 patients with spontaneous ICH admitted at our institution between 2015 and 2017 and selected those whose initial MRI/MRA was negative for an underlying structural lesion and those who underwent follow-up MR imaging in a delayed fashion. RESULTS: A total of 113 patients met the study criteria. The average age of those with negative follow-up MRI/MRA was 65.0 ± 12.6 (IQR: 55.0-74.0) years old. None of the 113 patients with a negative inpatient MRI/MRA had an underlying structural lesion on follow-up MRI/MRA (0%, 95% CI 0.0-0.032, p < 0.001). The mean time of the follow-up imaging from the initial study was 105.7 days (median: 62 days; IQR: 42.5-100.5). Of the 113, 83 (73.5%) underwent follow-up MRI with and without gadolinium, while 30 (26.5%) patients did not receive gadolinium. CONCLUSION: Delayed follow-up MRI in patients with a negative initial MRI/MRA for workup of spontaneous ICH was not diagnostic in any of the patients included in the study. Our study suggests that a routine follow-up MRI for this patient population is not necessary.