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Background: The short- and long-term results from several reports suggest that laparoscopic surgery (LAP) for elderly patients is expected to reduce the risk of complications due to its minimal invasiveness, However, little is known about the effect of LAP on long-term prognosis aside from cancer. Patients and Methods: Eighty-five cases over 80 years old with colorectal cancer whose primary lesions were resected consecutively were enrolled. Risk factors for complications were searched using categorized clinicopathological factors. The factors for death unrelated to cancer were analyzed in patients by excluding cancer-related death. Results: Incidence of all complications, those of Clavien–Dindo grade 2 or more, and surgical site infection were significantly lower in LAP-treated patients (p=0.0343, p=0.0015 and p=0.0015, respectively). By multivariate analysis, LAP (odds ratio=0.19, 95% confidence intervaI=0.05-0.75, p=0.0177) and no pulmonary dysfunction (odds ratio=0.24, 95% confidence intervaI=0.06-0.96, p=0.0441) were significantly associated with reduced risk of complications of Clavien–Dindo grade 2 or more. LAP, no pulmonary dysfunction and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1 were also significantly associated with reduced risk for death from non cancer-related causes. Additionally, LAP was significantly associated with improved survival excluding cancer-related death in patients with pulmonary dysfunction (p=0.0020) or with poor performance status (p=0.0412). Conclusion: These results suggest that fewer complications and non cancer-related deaths were achieved in very elderly patients with colorectal cancer when treated by LAP.

Introduction Because splenic metastasis from colorectal cancer is usually a result of metastasis from widely disseminated disease, cases with resectable isolated splenic metastasis are uncommon. Case presentation We report here a case of synchronous isolated splenic metastasis from cecal cancer that was treated with sequential laparoscopic splenectomy after short-term observation following laparoscopic ileocecal resection. Both postoperative courses were uneventful, allowing the patient to be discharged early. Two years have passed, without recurrence, since the second operation. Conclusions There are very few case reports on synchronous isolated splenic metastasis from colorectal cancer. Sequential laparoscopic resection might contribute to obtaining an uneventful postoperative course, especially in elderly patients such as ours.

Incidence of infusion related reaction (IR) is more common with cetuximab (Cmab) than with panitumumab (Pmab). Although little is known about rechallenge IR with monoclonal antibodies, we experienced a successful rechallenge to Cmab after IR to Pmab. A 67-year-old female patient was scheduled for chemotherapy with mFOLFOX6 plus Pmab against unresectable advanced rectal cancer in the hope of tumor shrinkage. On the first administration of Pmab, she complained of dyspnea with shortness of breath and wheezing, even after premedication with steroids and antihistamines. Her reaction was judged as Grade 2 IR to Pmab. For the next course, we tried Cmab. No IRs were observed. Since then, she has undergone seven further courses of treatment, followed by surgical resection. The patient benefited from administration of Cmab after experiencing IR to Pmab, suggesting this treatment to be an option for patients of this type who experience IR to Pmab.

BACKGROUND/AIM Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) treatment outcomes in elderly patients have been reported to be acceptable, but the eligibility criteria are not clear. To elucidate the importance of PD in octogenarians in particular, we set five eligibility criteria for elderly patients based on preoperative cardiac and pulmonary function, nutritional status, daily activity status, and psychological independence status for the first time and evaluated prospectively whether the validity of patient selection was adaptable. PATIENTS AND METHODS The study population consisted of 222 patients with pancreaticobiliary cancer aged over 70 years. The patients were divided into two groups: 192 patients as septuagenarians and 30 as octogenarians. Postoperative morbidity and long-term outcome were compared between the two groups, and prognostic factors relating to survival time were identified. RESULTS Octogenarians had a significantly higher frequency of two or more comorbidities (p

BACKGROUND In decompensated liver cirrhosis, hypoalbuminemia still persists even after they have been treated with branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) granules. We prospectively evaluated whether BCAA enriched nutrient switched from BCAA granules would increase the serum albumin level, and consequently extend the survival time after hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment. METHODS This study included 77 patients treated for liver cirrhosis with HCC. After the nutritional assessment, all patients initially received BCAA granules. In patients with unchanged or decreased serum albumin levels, BCAA granules were discontinued and BCAA enriched nutrient was started. Transcatheter arterial chemembolization (TACE) for HCC were performed in those with an improved Child-Pugh score. RESULTS TACE were performed following the aggressive intervention with BCAA nutritional education in 54 of 77 (70.1%) patients. Finally, survival time was significantly extended in the TACE group (P