Short- and long-term predictive power of the preoperative Geriatric Assessment components in older patients undergoing cholecystectomy.

<b><br>Introduction:</b> Increasing numbers of older patients will require laparoscopic cholecystectomies. Physicians may have doubts when qualifying these patients for elective surgeries since older age is considered a risk factor for complications. Determining biological age, using a Geriatric Assessment (GA), should be the key factor in the preoperative assessment.</br> <b><br>Aim:</b> The aim of this study was to determine which GA components and frailty alone are most useful for predicting postoperative outcomes in both short- and long-term follow-up.</br> <b><br>Materials and methods:</b> 219 consecutive patients aged ≥70 years underwent surgery and were followed up prospectively for 12 months. The preoperative GA consisted of functionality, physical activity, comorbidity, polypharmacotherapy, nutrition, cognition, mood, and social support domains. Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the predictive ability of GA.</br> <b><br>Results:</b> GA, frailty, and chronological age were not predictive of major 30-day morbidity. There were significantly more overall postoperative complications in the frail group than in the fit group (21% vs 4%), with mainly minor (Clavien-Dindo I, II) and medical (16 patients; 72.7%) complications. There were no significant differences in the rate of major and surgical complications (8 patients; 36.4%) between frail and fit patients. Only frailty was a predictor of 1-year mortality odd ratio 12.17 (2.47-59.94) P = 0.002.</br> <b><br>Conclusions:</b> Performing GA before elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies seems unnecessary for the evaluation of short-term outcomes but helpful for the assessment of long-term outcomes. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be safely performed also in older frail patients.</br>.

The significance of comorbidity burden among older patients undergoing abdominal emergency or elective surgery.

BACKGROUND: Comorbidities may cause complications in perioperative care and affect treatment outcomes of older patients. The study aim was to analyse comorbidity burdens with respect to their predictive power in outcome prediction in elderly qualified for abdominal elective or emergency surgery. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing major abdominal surgery between 2010 and 2017 at a secondary referral hospital were included in the retrospective study, for a total of 1586 patients. To explain the relationship between the comorbidity types and 30-day mortality and morbidity logistic regression analysis was performed. Morbidity was assessed using the Clavien-Dindo Score. Major complications were defined as a C-D score ≥ 3. We also presented the data concerning need for reoperation and ICU admission. RESULTS: 85.9% of patients had at least one comorbidity. In the group of emergency patients age and number of comorbidities were independent risk factors of 30-day mortality and major morbidity. In elective patients age, dementia (OR:3.52; 95%CI:1.35-9.20) and kidney disease (OR:1.64; 95%CI:1.04-2.57) were found to be independent risk factors of 30-day postoperative mortality. Age (1.04; 95%CI:1.00-1.08) and heart disease (OR:1.30, 95%CI:1.04-1.63) were found to be independent risk factors of 30-day major morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing elective surgery 30-day mortality and morbidity was associated with age. 30-day mortality, but not morbidity was associated with kidney disease and dementia. 30-day morbidity, but not mortality, was associated with heart disease.

Why do Polish medical students resign from pursuing surgical careers? A survey study.

<b>Background:</b> In recent years, the interest of Polish medical students in choosing a career in surgical subspecialties has been declining. In the face of a growing demand for surgical procedures it seems essential to find the reasons responsible for that situation. <br><b>Aim:</b> The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of interest in pursuing surgical careers among Polish medical students and to identify factors that may influence their decision. Material and methods: An anonymous questionnaire was distributed electronically among students from 11 different Polish medical universities. <br><b>Results:</b> We surveyed 595 individuals (190 male and 405 female). 48% of them declared interest in choosing surgical subspecialty as a career. The percentage of students who considered it before medical school was higher and reached almost 65%. Slight or no interest in surgery as a field of study (OR = 20.6), self-assessment of surgical predispositions as unsatisfactory (OR = 14.3), feeling unable to enter and accomplish surgical specialty (OR = 5.2), being discouraged by the partner (OR = 3.4), negative past experience with the surgical environment (OR = 3.2), not having a surgeon as a mentor (OR = 2.6), no authorship of journal articles or congress presentations (OR = 1.9) and first contact with the operating theatre >2nd year of study (OR = 1.9) were found to be the independent risk factors of abandoning a surgical career. <br><b>Conclusions:</b> Most medical students are interested in pursuing a surgical specialty at some time during their education. However, being discouraged by lifestyle issues, surgical training quality or experiencing gender discrimination, they often resign from such a career path.

Usefulness of scoring systems in outcome prediction for older cancer patients undergoing abdominal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Several postoperative outcome scoring systems have been developed and validated, combining both pre- and intraoperative factors. Among others are the Portsmouth Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (P-POSSUM), the Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress (E-PASS) and the Surgical Apgar Score combined with the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification (SASA). The aim of this study was to compare the above scoring systems in the prediction of 30-day postoperative outcome in older patients with cancer undergoing abdominal surgery. METHODS: Consecutive patients ≥70 years were prospectively enrolled. Pre- and intraoperative variables were used to calculate the scores, the ROC and perform logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 201 patients with a median age of 77 (range 70-93) years. The most common surgical procedure was for colorectal (75%), followed by gastric (10.4%) pancreas (7.0%), gall bladder (3.5%), small bowel (2.5%), and other (1.5%) types of cancer. All scores were independent predictors of 30-day postoperative mortality. In case of 30-day morbidity only SASA turned to be significant. The ROC curves were highly valid and area under the curve showed fair to good discriminatory ability (0.60-0.77) for 30-day postoperative mortality and fair (AUC 0.6) in case of SASA for the 30-day postoperative. CONCLUSION: The SASA, E-PASS, and P-POSSUM were confirmed to be predictive of 30-day postoperative mortality in older patients undergoing abdominal elective cancer surgery. Only SASA demonstrated as independent factor predicting postoperative 30-day major morbidity.

IgG4-related disease manifesting as an isolated gastric lesion- a literature review.

INTRODUCTION: IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a newly recognised disorder of unknown etiology and pathogenesis, characterised by dense IgG4+ cells infiltration and fibrosis. IgG4-RD can affect various organs, but gastrointestinal tract involvement is rare. First case of isolated gastric IgG4-RD reported in polish population was diagnosed in our Clinic and became the reason for conducting a literature review. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature review was performed using PubMed database. Eight studies of isolated gastric IgG4-RD, published between 2011 and 2017, and a case diagnosed by the authors were included. RESULTS: Three out of nine analysed patients had gastrointestinal complaints. In other cases lesions were detected accidentally. The majority of them were submucosal tumors while only one was a gastric ulcer. The most commonly affected was the stomach body. In all cases malignancy had been suspected, and the lesions were surgically removed. Diagnosis was based on the histopathology image and immunohistochemical staining. Only one patient had elevated IgG4 serum level. No case of recurrence or other organ involvement was reported. CONCLUSION: IgG4-related disease may manifest as an isolated gastric lesion and should be taken in consideration in differential diagnosis. Making an ultimate diagnosis without histopathological specimen examination seems to be difficult and can lead to misdiagnosis followed by inappropriate treatment. IgG4-RD responds well to steroid therapy. However, on this matter further studies are needed.

The Surgical Apgar Score predicts outcomes of emergency abdominal surgeries both in fit and frail older patients.

The Surgical Apgar Score (SAS) is a simple and rapid scoring system predicting postoperative mortality and morbidity. However, it remains unknown whether it might be useful in fit and frail older patients undergoing abdominal emergency surgery. METHODS: Consecutive patients ≥65 years, needing emergency abdominal surgery were enrolled in this prospective study. Additionally to the SAS, the G8 screening score was used to determine the frailty status. The logistic regression analysis was conducted investigating the association between the scores and 30-day postoperative outcomes. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 315 older patients (165 female, 150 male) with a median age of 77 (range 65-100) years old. The prevalence of frailty was 60.3%. The most frequent surgical indications were acute cholecystitis, followed by ileus, complicated diverticulitis, ulcer perforation, complication of gastric cancer and other causes. The decreasing SAS was significantly associated with the increasing likelihood of both 30-day postoperative major complications (p < 0.01) and death (p < 0.01) both in fit and frail older patients. Multivariate analyses have identified the G8, frailty screening test, and the SAS score as independent factors that predict postoperative adverse events. The model combining both scores increased the discriminatory ability for 30-day postoperative major morbidity and mortality. CONCLUSION: The SAS confirmed to be a simple and powerful predictor of 30-day postoperative morbidity and mortality both in fit and frail older patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. The department allocation algorithm based of the combination of the G8 and the SAS may be considered as an option to improve the outcomes of older patients undergoing abdominal emergency surgery.

Outcome of esophageal cancer in the elderly - systematic review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: As the population ages, the number of elderly patients with esophageal cancer increases. Esophageal cancer has a poor prognosis and is associated with decreased life quality. AIM: To review the literature about the outcome of esophageal cancer in patients over 65. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Articles published between January 2006 and November 2016 in the PubMed/Medline and ResearchGate databases were reviewed. Nineteen retrospective studies were included. RESULTS: Six thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine patients over 65 were analyzed. Thirty-day mortality ranges from 3.2% to 8.1%. Overall 5-year survival rates range from 0% to 49.2%, and the median survival rate ranges from 9.6 to 108.2 months. The incidence of complications in the surgery group ranges from 27% to 69%. Chemoradiotherapy grade ≥ 3 toxicity was observed in 22-36% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Chronological age seems to have little influence on outcome of esophageal cancer. Open esophagectomy seems to be the mainstay of treatment for patients with esophageal cancer, regardless of age. There is still high mortality and morbidity involved in this procedure. To reduce them, some less invasive methods are being trialed.