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Air leakage represents a major problem in lung surgery. Absorbable fibrin sealant patch (AFSP), a collagen sponge coated with human fibrinogen and thrombin, can be used as an adjunct to primary stapling or suturing. This study compared the efficacy of AFSP with manual suturing after primary stapling.This was a prospective, multicenter, randomized study. Patients undergoing lobectomy, bilobectomy, anatomical segmentectomy for lung cancer or wedge resection for pulmonary metastasis with air leakage grade 1 or 2 according to Macchiarini scale after stapler suture were randomized to receive AFSP or standard surgical treatment (ST). The primary endpoint was the reduction of intraoperative air leakage intensity. Duration of postoperative air leakage and number of days until removal of last chest drain were secondary endpoints. Safety was recorded for all patients.A total of 346 patients were enrolled in 14 centres, 179 of whom received AFSP and 167 ST. Intraoperative air leak intensity was reduced in 90.5% of AFSP patients and 82% of ST patients (P=0.03). A significant reduction in postoperative air leakage duration was observed in the AFSP group (P=0.0437). The median number of days until removal of last drainage was 6 (3-37) in the AFSP group and 7 (2-27) in the ST (P=0.38). Occurrence of adverse events was comparable in both groups.AFSP was more efficacious than standard ST as an adjunct to primary stapling in reducing intraoperative air leakage intensity and duration of postoperative air leakage in patients undergoing pulmonary surgery. AFSP was well tolerated.

Background: Lymph node metastases are present in only about 15% of patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) and for this reason, the majority of these patients do not require lymphadenectomy. In Japan, EGC patients undergo less invasive treatment (endoscopic mucosal resection, wedge resection, laparoscopy). However, the indications for and results of these types of treatment are still uncertain. Methods: In a multicentre retrospective study, we analysed the clinicopathological data referring to 584 early gastric cancer patients who underwent D2 gastrectomy. A comparison was made between patients with and without lymph node metastases in relation to numerous preand postoperative variables. Long-term survival and risk factors for lymph node metastases were analysed. The primary aim was to compare our results with those of Western and Japanese authors; we also evaluated the possibility of identifying a subset of patients at low risk of lymph node metastases who may be candidates for endoscopic treatment. Results: The incidence of lymph node metastasis was 14.4%. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that submucosal infiltration, diffuse histotype, tumour size and Kodama Pen A type were all related to the presence of lymph node metastases. Patients with types I, IIa and IIb mucosal tumours did not present lymph node metastases. Postoperative mortality was 2.2%. Five-year survival in relation to lymph node groups was 95% in N0 patients, 77% in N1 patients and 60% in N2 patients (p = 0.0001, Japanese N-stage). The number of positive lymph nodes also had a prognostic value. Patients with three or fewer positive lymph nodes presented a better 5-year prognosis (83%) than those with more than three positive lymph nodes (48%) (p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Our study confirms that lymph node involvement is an extremely important prognostic factor. For this reason, the therapeutic strategy of our surgical units is as follows: 1) D2 gastrectomy is the standard treatment even in early gastric cancer (EGC); 2) endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) could be considered first in types I, IIa and IIb tumours that are diagnosed as limited to the mucosal layer.

Objectives: This study aimed to isolate and characterize stem/progenitor cells, starting from normal airway epithelia, obtained from human adults. Materials and methods: Cultures of multicellular spheroids were obtained from human lung tissue specimens after mechanical and enzymatic digestion. Tissue-specific markers were detected on their cells by immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent techniques. Ultrastructural morphology of the spheroids (termed as bronchospheres) was evaluated by electron microscopy, gene expression analysis was performed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, and gene down-regulation was analysed by an RNA interference technique. Results: Bronchospheres were found to be composed of cells with high expression of stem cell regulatory genes, which was not or was only weakly detectable in original tissues. Morphological analysis showed that bronchospheres were composed of mixed phenotype cells with type II alveolar and Clara cell features, highlighting their airway resident cell origin. In addition to displaying specific pulmonary and epithelial commitment, bronchospheres showed mesenchymal features. Silencing of the Slug gene, known to play a pivotal role in epithelial–mesenchymal transition processes and which was highly expressed in bronchospheres but not in original tissue, led bronchospheres to gain a differentiated bronchial/alveolar phenotype and to lose the stemness gene expression pattern. Conclusions: Ours is the first study to describe ex vivo expansion of stem/progenitor cells resident in human lung epithelia, and our results suggest that the epithelial–mesenchymal transition process, still active in a subset of airway cells, may regulate transit of stem/progenitor cells towards epithelial differentiation.