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Highlights • Duodenal diverticulum is present in 5–22% of population. • Complicated diverticulum can lead to perforation, bleeding, obstruction, pancreatitis. • Pancreatoduodenectomy is an option when all other surgical approaches are not usable., Introduction Duodenal diverticula are quite prevalent in general population, seen on up to 5% of radiology studies and up to 22% of autopsy examinations. Presentation of the case 70 years old female was admitted to the hospital with epigastric pain, fevers and elevated white cell count. Abdominal CT scan demonstrated evidence of perforated duodenal diverticulitis which failed to improve with IV antibiotics. Emergent pancreatoduodenectomy was performed with full recovery and uncomplicated hospital stay. Discussions Conservative therapy with antibiotics and bowel rest is successful in majority cases of perforation. Failure of conservative therapy demands surgical management. Variety of surgical approaches ranging from simple diverticulectomy to segmental resection, duodenal exclusion/bypass to pancreatoduodenectomy are available. Conclusion Pancreatoduodenectomy is an option when complicated duodenal diverticulum is not resolved with conservative or interventional therapy.Pancreatoduodenectomy is an option when complicated duodenal diverticulum is not resolved with conservative or interventional therapy. This report has been written in concordance with the SCARE criteria Agha et al. [1].

Background Elevated levels of norepinephrine (NE) have been reported in recipients of small-for-size liver (SFS) grafts in the perioperative period. The aim of the study is to test the hypothesis that although circulating catecholamines are elevated in recipients of SFS grafts, they are not the primary agents responsible for the hepatic artery (HA) vasospasm. Methods Female porcine recipients receiving a 20% ( n = 10) partial liver graft were compared with a control group, using 60% partial liver transplanted grafts ( n = 9). Hepatic blood flow (PVF, HAF) and levels of plasma catecholamines (epinephrine and NE) were measured at designated time points through postoperative day (POD) 7. Phentolamine (PA), an α-adrenergic blocker, was administered at doses of 1 to 112.5 ug/kg/min through an indwelling HA to the recipients of 20% group on POD1 ( n = 5). Results In the 20% group following reperfusion, HA vasospasm was found at 10, 60, and 90 min, and persisted on POD 3 and POD 7. Plasma NE levels increased after reperfusion in 20% and 60% groups and peaked at 6 h with 10- to 13-fold increased levels compared with baseline. In the 20% group, NE levels remained elevated up to POD 7. PA infusion at low (1–10 ug/kg/min) and high (12.5–112.5 ug/kg/min) doses did not reverse the reduced HAF observed in 20% group recipients. Conclusion Elevated serum NE does not appear to be the primary factor mediating HA vasospasm in the porcine SFS graft.

The aim of the study is to define the role of the HABR in the pathophysiology of the SFS liver graft and to demonstrate that restoration of hepatic artery flow (HAF) has a significant impact on outcome and improves survival. Nine pigs received partial liver allografts of 60% liver volume, Group 1; 8 animals received 20% LV grafts, Group 2; 9 animals received 20% LV grafts with adenosine infusion, Group 3. HAF and portal vein flow (PVF) were recorded at 10 min, 60 min and 90 min post reperfusion, on POD 3 and POD 7 in Group 1, and daily in Group 2 and 3 up to POD 14. Baseline HAF and PVF (ml/100 g/min) were 29 +/- 12 (mean +/- SD) and 74 +/- 8 respectively, with 28% of total liver blood flow (TLBF) from the HA and 72% from the PV. PVF peaked at 10 mins in all groups, increasing by a factor of 3.8 in the 20% group compared to an increase of 1.9 in the 60% group. By POD 7-14 PVF rates approached baseline values in all groups. The HABR was intact immediately following reperfusion in all groups with a reciprocal decrease in HAF corresponding to the peak PVF at 10 min. However in the 20% group HAF decreased to 12 +/- 8 ml/100 g/min at 90 min and remained low out to POD 7-14 despite restoration of normal PVF rates. Histopathology confirmed evidence of HA vasospasm and its consequences, cholestasis, centrilobular necrosis and biliary ischemia in Group 2. HA infusion of adenosine significantly improved HAF (p < .0001), reversed pathological changes and significantly improved survival (p = .05). An impaired HABR is important in the pathophysiology of the SFSS. Reversal of the vasospasm significantly improves outcome.

Importance Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most commonly diagnosed mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. The risk of recurrence following surgical resection of GISTs is typically reported from the date of surgery. However, disease-free survival (DFS) over time is dynamic and changes based on disease-free time already accumulated following surgery. Objectives To assess the comparative performance of established GIST recurrence risk prognostic scoring systems and to characterize conditional DFS following surgical resection of GISTs. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective cohort study of 502 patients who underwent surgery for a primary, nonmetastatic GIST between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2012, at 7 major academic cancer centers in the United States and Canada. Main Outcomes and Measures Disease-free survival of the patients was classified according to 5 prognostic scoring systems, including the National Institutes of Health criteria, modified National Institutes of Health criteria, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center GIST nomogram, and American Joint Committee on Cancer gastric and nongastric categories. The concordance index (also known as the C statistic or the area under the receiver operating curve) of established GIST recurrence risk prognostic scoring systems. Conditional DFS estimates were calculated. Results Overall 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year DFS following resection of GISTs was 95%, 83%, and 74%, respectively. All the prognostic scoring systems had fair prognostic ability. For all tumor sites, the American Joint Committee on Cancer gastric category demonstrated the best discrimination (C = 0.79). Using conditional DFS, the probability of remaining disease free for an additional 3 years given that a patient was disease free at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years was 82%, 89%, and 92%, respectively. Patients with the highest initial recurrence risk demonstrated the greatest increase in conditional survival as time elapsed. Conclusions and Relevance Conditional DFS improves over time following resection of GISTs. This is valuable information about long-term prognosis to communicate to patients who are disease free after a period following surgery.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Adjuvant imatinib therapy improves recurrence-free and overall survival following surgery for patients with high-risk GIST; however, the factors associated with use of adjuvant imatinib therapy are unclear, and adherence to adjuvant imatinib has not been investigated. We sought to determine the clinicopathologic predictors of therapy with adjuvant imatinib following surgical resection for GIST and to determine the utilization of adjuvant imatinib in patients who underwent surgical resection of primary GIST in 2009 or later as recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer network (NCCN) guidelines.A multi-institutional cohort including 171 patients who underwent surgery for primary GIST at seven high-volume cancer centers in the USA and Canada between January 2009-December 2012 was used in this study. Receipt of adjuvant imatinib therapy was ascertained, and factors associated with imatinib therapy were analyzed.Following surgery for primary GIST, tumor size (5.0 cm: ref; 5.0-9.9 cm: odds ratio (OR) 2.36, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.74-7.55;10.0 cm: OR 9.15, 95 % CI 2.28-36.75; p = 0.007), mitotic rate (≤5/50 mitoses per 50 high powered field [HPF]: ref; 6-10/50 HPF: OR 24.91, 95 % CI 3.64-170.35;10/50 HPF: OR 5.80, 95 % CI 3.64-170.35; p0.001), and neoadjuvant therapy (OR 9.52; 95 % CI 2.51-36.14; p = 0.001) were associated with receipt of adjuvant imatinib therapy. Overall, 75 % of patients received appropriate treatment, 23 % of patients were undertreated, and 2 % of patients were overtreated as compared to NCCN guidelines. Adjuvant imatinib therapy was administered in only 53 % of patients for which the NCCN guidelines recommended adjuvant therapy.The clinicopathologic factors associated with use of adjuvant imatinib therapy in patients following resection of primary GIST are consistent with established risk factors for recurrence. Adjuvant imatinib therapy remains underutilized in patients with intermediate and high-risk GIST and in patients who receive neoadjuvant therapy. Barriers to adjuvant imatinib therapy in this group of patients needs to be further explored.

PurposeTo assess the role of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in the initial evaluation and follow-up of incidental pancreatic cystic lesions (PCL).MethodsRetrospective analysis of patients with incidental PCL on imaging who were evaluated by EUS and had a minimal follow-up of 1 year.ResultsThere were 62 patients (40 females and 22 males). The mean patient age was 67.7 years (range, 30–89). The Median follow-up was 24 months (range, 12–72). The mean PCL size was 21.6mm. In all, 13 patients underwent surgery (20.9%). Diagnosis included a mucinous cystic tumour (7), mucinous adenocarcinoma (2), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (1) and a cystic neuroendocrine tumour (1). The overall malignancy rate among patients who underwent surgery was 15.3% (two patients). The mean carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level from PCL fluid analysis was also significantly higher in surgically treated group (7760) vs. the stable group (184.7) vs. the enlarging PCL group (361.1). A CEA level above 192ng/ml predicted mucinous PCL with a sensitivity of 90%.ConclusionsEUS with cystic fluid analysis can be successfully used to rule out pancreatic neoplasms and to follow-up incidentally discovered PCL.

Ganglioneuroma is a differentiated tumor of the sympathetic nervous system. We describe a case of retroperitoneal ganglioneuroma without vascular invasion that was resected using laparotomy access. We also provide a short review of the ganglioneuroma as a clinical entity.

Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors arising from the neural crest cells in the extra-adrenal location. Paragangliomas can be sporadic or associated with a range of endocrine and genetic syndromes in 25% to 30% of all cases. Specifically, succinate dehydrogenase gene mutations are involved in the development of paraganglioma syndromes type 1 through type 4. In this article, we will describe 2 cases of succinate dehydrogenase-associated familial paraganglioma syndrome and provide a review of the existing literature on the condition's etiologic factors, diagnosis, and management.

Primary vein leiomyosarcoma is rare type of a vascular sarcoma and arises from the spindle cells of the venous wall. The tumor may present difficulty of vascular reconstruction after en block resection. We present a case of internal iliac vein transposition for vascular reconstruction after resection of an external iliac vein leiomyosarcoma.To our knowledge, this is first report of the external iliac vein replacement with the ipsilaterally transposed internal iliac vein.