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Barrett's oesophagus (BE) is a premalignant condition that can progress to oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Endoscopic surveillance aims to identify potential progression at an early, treatable stage, but generates large numbers of tissue biopsies. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) mapping was used to develop an automated histology tool for detection of BE and Barrett's neoplasia in tissue biopsies. 22 oesophageal tissue samples were collected from 19 patients. Contiguous frozen tissue sections were taken for pathology review and FTIR imaging. 45 mid-IR images were measured on an Agilent 620 FTIR microscope with an Agilent 670 spectrometer. Each image covering a 140 μm × 140 μm region was measured in 5 minutes, using a 1.1 μm 2 pixel size and 64 scans per pixel. Principal component fed linear discriminant analysis was used to build classification models based on spectral differences, which were then tested using leave-one-sample-out cross validation. Key biochemical differences were identified by their spectral signatures: high glycogen content was seen in normal squamous (NSQ) tissue, high glycoprotein content was observed in glandular BE tissue, and high DNA content in dysplasia/adenocarcinoma samples. Classification of normal squamous samples versus 'abnormal' samples (any stage of Barrett's) was performed with 100% sensitivity and specificity. Neoplastic Barrett's (dysplasia or adenocarcinoma) was identified with 95.6% sensitivity and 86.4% specificity. Highly accurate pathology classification can be achieved with FTIR measurement of frozen tissue sections in a clinically applicable timeframe.

Staging esophageal cancer provides a standardized measure of the extent of disease that can be used to inform decisions about therapy and guide prognosis. For esophageal cancer, the treatment pathways vary greatly depending on stage of disease, and accurate staging is therefore crucial in ensuring the optimal therapy for each patient. For early esophageal cancer (T1 lesions), endoscopic resection can be curative and simultaneously gives accurate staging of depth of invasion. For tumors invading the submucosa or more advanced disease, comprehensive investigation is required to accurately stage the tumor and assess suitability for curative resection. A combined imaging approach of computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) offers complementary diagnostic information and gives the greatest chance of accurate staging. Staging laparoscopy can identify peritoneal disease and small superficial liver lesions that could be missed on CT or PET, and alters management in up to 20 % of patients. Optical diagnostic techniques offer the prospect of further extending the possibilities of endoscopic staging in real time. Optical coherence tomography can image superficial lesions and could provide information on depth of invasion for these lesions. Real-time lymph node analysis using optical diagnostics such as Raman spectroscopy could be used to support immediate endoscopic therapy without waiting for results of cytology or further investigations.

Endoscopic surveillance remains the core management of non-dysplastic Barrett's oesophagus, although questions regarding its efficacy in reducing mortality from oesophageal adenocarcinoma have yet to be definitively answered, and randomised trial data are awaited. One of the main goals of current research is to achieve risk stratification, identifying those at high risk of progression. The recent British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidelines on surveillance have taken a step in this direction with interval stratification on clinicopathological grounds. The majority of Barrett's oesophagus remains undiagnosed, and this has led to investigation of methods of screening for Barrett's oesophagus, ideally non-endoscopic methods capable of reliably identifying dysplasia. Chemoprevention to prevent progression is currently under investigation, and may become a key component of future treatment. The availability of effective endotherapy means that accurate identification of dysplasia is more important than ever. There is now evidence to support intervention with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for low-grade dysplasia (LGD), but recent data have emphasised the need for consensus pathology for LGD. Ablative treatment has become well established for high-grade dysplasia, and should be employed for flat lesions where there is no visible abnormality. Of the ablative modalities, RFA has the strongest evidence base. Endoscopic resection should be performed for all visible lesions, and is now the treatment of choice for T1a tumours. Targeting those with high-risk disease will, hopefully, lead to efficacious and cost-effective surveillance, and the trend towards earlier intervention to halt progression gives cause for optimism that this will ultimately result in fewer deaths from oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Introduction: Totally extra-peritoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair allows identification and repair of incidental non-inguinal groin hernias. We assessed the prevalence of incidental hernias during TEP inguinal hernia repair and identified the risk factors for incidental hernias., Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing TEP repair from May 2005 to November 2012 were the study cohort. Inspection for ipsilateral femoral, obturator and rarer varieties of hernia was undertaken during TEP repair. Patient characteristics and operative findings were recorded on a prospectively collected database., Results: A total of 1,532 TEP repairs were undertaken in 1,196 patients. Ninety-three patients were excluded due to incomplete data, leaving 1,103 patients and 1,404 hernias for analyses (1,380 male; 802 unilateral and 301 bilateral repairs; median age, 59 years). Among the 37 incidental hernias identified (2.6% of cases), the most common type of incidental hernia was femoral (n=32, 2.3%) followed by obturator (n=2, 0.1%). Increasing age was associated with an increased risk of incidental hernia, with a significant linear trend (p<0.01). The risk for patients >60 years of age was 4.0% vs 1.4% for those aged <60 years (p<0.01). Incidental hernias were found in 29.2% of females vs 2.2% of males, (p<0.0001). Risk of incidental hernia in those with a recurrent inguinal hernia was 3.0% vs 2.6% for primary repair (p=0.79)., Conclusions: Incidental hernias during TEP inguinal hernia repair were found in 2.6% of cases and, though infrequent, could cause complications if left untreated. The risk of incidental hernia increased with age and was significantly higher in patients aged >60 years and in females.

Under-representation of ethnic minority groups in bariatric surgery rates has been reported in the USA. Ethnic minorities form 7.9 % of the UK population, but comparable data on provision of bariatric surgery for these groups have not previously been reported in the UK. We calculated an estimate of rates of bariatric surgery amongst ethnic groups in the UK and Ireland using data from the National Bariatric Surgery Registry and census data from the UK and Ireland. The number of procedures recorded per 1,000 morbidly obese patients was 5.2 for Caucasian patients, 5.2 for Asian patients and 5.2 for Black patients. The identical rates across different ethnic groups suggest that bariatric services are provided equitably in the UK, with ethnic minority groups achieving equal access.