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Background: Patients affected by ulcerative colitis (UC) often require surgery, involving two or three-stage procedures, including ileostomy creation. While ileostomy has some advantages, it can lead to complications, such as dehydration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a new individualized stoma-therapeutic-care-pathway (STCP) on dehydration-related readmissions. Secondary endpoints were stoma-related complications. Methods: The study compares two series of consecutive patients with UC undergoing diverting ileostomy during restorative ileo-pouch-anal-anastomosis. The STCP group consists of patients enrolled from January 2020 to December 2021 who followed the pathway. The older group was selected from 2015 to 2017 (control group). Clinical data were collected, including patient characteristics, hospital stay, complications, and readmissions. The study was approved by the local institutional review board. Results: Overall, 30-day dehydration-related readmission occurred in one (1.4%) versus nine (15.3%) patients in the STCP group versus control group, respectively (p = 0.005). In-hospital peristomal skin complications were significantly lower in STCP group (6 patients, 8.5%) versus control (35, 59.3%), as well as ostomy complications that occurred in 5 (7%) patients in the STCP group versus 8 (13.5%) in the control group (both p < 0.001). Ostomy complications reduced significantly in the STCP group after discharge (two patients, 2.8% versus eight, 13.5%), p = 0.001, and after 30-days (three patients, 4.2% versus five, 8.5%). Conclusions: This study underscores the effectiveness of STCP in reducing dehydration-related readmissions and stoma-related complications in patients with UC undergoing stoma creation. It emphasizes the significance of patient education, close follow-up, and multidisciplinary care. Further research and standardized stoma education are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) is usually a pre-terminal event in patients with ovarian cancer. However, because of the lack of data in literature, decisions around surgical intervention, non-resectional procedures, or medical treatment of MBO in patients with ovarian cancer cannot be lightly undertaken. We analyzed medical and surgical procedures, performance status, nutritional status, cachexia, and their prognostic value in this group of patients.Methods: We retrospectively selected all consecutive patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who received medical or surgical treatment for MBO between October 2008 and January 2014 at the Academic Department of Gynecological Oncology of Mauriziano Hospital of Turin (Italy).Results: We found 40 patients: 18 of them underwent medical treatment and 22 of them were submitted to surgery. In the group of surgery, the hospitalization was shorter (p 0.02), the pain reduction was more effective (p 0.001), the number of chemotherapy lines was higher (p 0.03), and re-obstruction was more rare (p 0.02). Between the two groups, we did not find any differences in post-palliation episodes of vomit (p 0.83), type of diet (p 0.34), ability to return home (p 0.72), and death setting (p 0.28). Median survival after palliation was longer in the group of surgery (p 0.025). Cachexia, low performance status, and poor nutritional status were significant predictors of worse survival after MBO, independently by the treatment.Conclusions: Surgery has to be considered in patients without serious contraindications; otherwise, a medical protocol, including antisecretory drugs, is the standard of care in frail patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The lymph node status is one of the strongest prognostic determinants in rectal cancers. After chemoradiotherapy (CRT), lymph nodes are difficult to detect. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of lymph node mapping in the mesorectum after CRT to analyze the pattern of metastasis spread and to assess the reliability of blue dye injection in sentinel lymph node detection. Method: Ten patients with cN+ mid/low RCs after CRT were prospectively enrolled. The protocol scheduled intraoperative blue dye injection, surgery, and specimen examination with fat clearance technique. The mesorectum was divided into three equal 'levels' (upper, middle, and lower); each level was divided into three equal 'sectors' (right anterolateral, posterior, and left anterolateral). Lymph nodes were defined 'small' if ≤5 mm. Results: Two hundred seventy-six lymph nodes were retrieved in ten patients; 76.5 % were small lymph nodes. Six patients were pN+ (33 metastatic lymph nodes, 76 % small); small lymph node analysis upstaged one patient from N0 to N1 and four patients from N1 to N2. Metastasis distribution across sectors was continuous, without 'skip sectors.' The blue dye detected the sentinel lymph node in all patients; in half of the cases, it was out of the tumor sector. Blue dye identified 69.7 % of metastatic lymph nodes; its sensitivity decreased together with the metastatic deposit size (84 % macrometastases, 28.6 % micrometastases, 0 % occult tumor cells; p = 0.004). Conclusion: The fat clearance technique should be the standard pathological examination in patients with RCs after CRT; N staging was improved by small lymph node identification. Lymph node metastases have a continuous spread through mesorectal sectors. Blue dye injection is effective in sentinel lymph node detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal diseases.Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken of all patients undergoing a laparoscopic colorectal procedure (LCP) for large bowel disease. All operations were performed by a single experienced team. Patients were divided chronologically into three consecutive groups (G1, G2, and G3). Data collection included the incidence and cause of both "proper" and "mandatory" conversions to laparotomy, the incidence and type of early and late postoperative complications, incidence of operative mortality, and the length of hospital stay. The incidences of conversion to laparotomy and of early and late postoperative complications were also determined as related to diagnosis, type of LCP attempted, and chronological group.Results: Between January 1996 and December 2001, a total of 108 patients (49 men and 59 women) with a mean age of 65.1 years underwent an LCP for colorectal disease. Proper conversion to open surgery was necessary in five patients (4.6%), whereas a mandatory conversion was needed in 10 with patients advanced cancer (9.2%). The overall morbidity rate was 11.9%. There were no anastomotic leaks. In two patients (1.85%) developed a complication requiring reoperation. Postoperative mortality was nil. Mean postoperative hospital stay was 7.2 days. The rates of conversion and of early and late complications decreased through the three chronological periods. No trocar site recurrences were observed in the cancer patients.Conclusion: Laparoscopic colorectal surgery performed in experienced centers is safe; the observed morbidity and mortality rates are low and acceptable and compare favorably to those observed after standard open surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]