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Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are mesenchymal tumors that originate from interstitial cells of Cajal or their stem cell-like precursors. Generally, GISTs have specific c-KIT gene mutations. The incidence of GISTs is estimated to be 10 to 20 cases/one million individuals, and GISTs typically affect people over 50 years of age. The majority of GISTs are solitary. However, multifocal GISTs have been observed, especially in children. We report on two unusual adult cases of double GISTs that were treated by laparoscopic surgery. The first patient presented a polypoid mass of the fundus and a second isolated smaller tumor in the posterior wall of the lesser curvature of the stomach. A histopathological examination confirmed that both tumors were GISTs and were c-KIT-positive. A total laparoscopic gastrectomy was performed. In the second patient, GISTs were identified at the level of the fundus and the greater curvature of the stomach. A laparoscopic partial sleeve gastrectomy was performed. Both surgeries were successful with no complications or relapses at three to five years following surgery.

Aim: To compare the open and laparoscopic Hartmann's reversal in patients first treated for complicated diverticulitis., Methods: Forty-six consecutive patients with diverticular disease were included in this retrospective, single-center study of a prospectively maintained colorectal surgery database. All patients underwent conventional Hartmann's procedures for acute complicated diverticulitis. Other indications for Hartmann's procedures were excluded. Patients underwent open (OHR) or laparoscopic Hartmann's reversal (LHR) between 2000 and 2010, and received the same pre- and post-operative protocols of cares. Operative variables, length of stay, short- (at 1 mo) and long-term (at 1 and 3 years) post-operative complications, and surgery-related costs were compared between groups., Results: The OHR group consisted of 18 patients (13 males, mean age ± SD, 61.4 ± 12.8 years), and the LHR group comprised 28 patients (16 males, mean age 54.9 ± 14.4 years). The mean operative time and the estimated blood loss were higher in the OHR group (235.8 ± 43.6 min vs 171.1 ± 27.4 min; and 301.1 ± 54.6 mL vs 225 ± 38.6 mL respectively, P = 0.001). Bowel function returned in an average of 4.3 ± 1.7 d in the OHR group, and 3 ± 1.3 d in the LHR group (P = 0.01). The length of hospital stay was significantly longer in the OHR group (11.2 ± 5.3 d vs 6.7 ± 1.9 d, P < 0.001). The 1 mo complication rate was 33.3% in the OHR (6 wound infections) and 3.6% in the LHR group (1 hemorrhage) (P = 0.004). At 12 mo, the complication rate remained significantly higher in the OHR group (27.8% vs 10.7%, P = 0.03). The anastomotic leak and mortality rates were nil. At 3 years, no patient required re-intervention for surgical complications. The OHR procedure had significantly higher costs (+56%) compared to the LHR procedure, when combining the surgery-related costs and the length of hospital stay., Conclusion: LHR appears to be a safe and feasible procedure that is associated with reduced hospitality stays, complication rates, and costs compared to OHR.

Background: Roux-en-Y anastomosis is the standard of care for biliary reconstruction. Yet, a direct bilio-biliary anastomosis preserves the normal sphincter mechanism and endoscopic access to the biliary tree for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction is widely used in liver transplantation. The objective of this study was to analyze the feasibility and results of duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction in the setting of complex hepatic resection with limited biliary confluence involvement., Methods: We identified patients from our prospectively maintained database that underwent major hepatic resection and bile duct resection with a concomitant direct duct-to-duct biliary anastomosis. Postoperative oncological and functional biliary outcomes were analyzed., Results: Ten patients were studied. In 9 cases, a biliary stent was left in place to decompress the anastomosis. Two patients developed a biliary fistula: one resolved spontaneously and the other required percutaneous drainage and an endoscopic biliary stent. This latter patient (the only nonstented patient) also developed a biliary stricture that was treated endoscopically. With a mean follow-up of 22 months, no other biliary-related complications were recorded. No patients had a recurrence at the biliary reconstruction site only. In the setting of multifocal hepatic recurrence presenting with jaundice, two patients were palliated by interventional endoscopy., Conclusions: For hepatectomy requiring a short resection of the bile duct or for high bile duct injury during complex hepatectomy, a tension-free, well-vascularized duct-to-duct reconstruction over a stent is a suitable option that offers good oncological clearance of the bile duct and satisfactory functional results.

Pancreatitis is a diffuse systemic immuno-inflammatory response to a localized process of auto-digestion within the pancreatic gland, caused by premature activation of proteolytic digestive enzymes. According to the ATLANTA criteria (1992) we recognized a mild and a severe acute pancreatitis (SAP ) . Mortality rate in SAP account up to the 20 percent and most complications and deaths are due to an inflammatory immune response to pancreatic necrosis and/or infection. Patients affected by SAP rapidly incur accelerated catabolism and thus nutritional support is essential, especially in the earliest period of the disease. Recent observations show that the route of nutritional support may also affect disease severity and its course. In this view several important questions about nutritional support need to be addressed : indication , timing, enteral vs parenteral and composition . With this review we analyze the state-of-the-art and we present a decisional flow chart to better manage the nutritional support in SAP.

Pancreatoduodenectomy currently represents the treatment of choice for resectable pancreatic and periampullary malignant tumours, symptomatic chronic pancreatitis, duodenal cystic dystrophy, large adenomas, diverticula and benign periampullary tumours. Pancreato-jejunostomy failure remains the main complication following pancreatoduodenectomy, even leading to death. To improve the safety of this anastomosis, a modified technique of pancreato-jejunal anastomosis with posterior double-layer suture and Wirsung duct evagination is proposed. We report our experience in eight consecutive patients (4 females, 4 males; average age 66, range 57-74) undergoing Traverso-Longmire pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy using Wirsung duct evagination and posterior double-layer suture technique. There was no mortality; the post-operative recovery was uneventful with no pancreatic anastomotic leakage. The mean post-operative stay was 15 days (range 12-19). This proposed procedure could be considered an additional opportunity in the performance of a pancreato-enteric anastomosis, yielding good results and preserving from post-operative pancreatic ductal obstruction.

Background: There has been little focus lately on operative techniques for full graft liver transplantation, and the standard technique is unclear., Methods: An internet survey addressing the key technical issues was e-mailed to programme directors., Results: Responses were obtained from 93 out of 128 (73%) directors contacted. Programmes performed a median of 60 (8-240) transplants per year. Maximum mean cold time of 13 ± 3 h and maximum median steatosis of 40% (15-90%) were tolerated. The inferior vena cava was preserved by 48% of centres all the time and 43% selectively. European centres used temporary portacaval shunting (42%) four times more often than USA programmes. Venous bypass was always used when not preserving the inferior vena cava by less than 25%, and used selectively by approximately 40% of centres. Portal vein anastomosis with room for expansion (88%), graft hepatic artery to native gastroduodenal/common hepatic artery bifurcation (57%) and bile duct-to-duct (47%) were the favoured techniques., Discussion: A standard international operative technique for deceased donor liver transplantation does not exist, although there is a trend towards inferior vena cava preservation. Donor selection criteria were more homogenous across programmes. As suggested by the high response rate, there likely exists interest to investigate technical variations on an international scale., (© 2011 International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.)

Background/purpose: Liver transplantation (LT) is the best theoretical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) fulfilling the Milan criteria (TNM stages 1-2). However, LT is limited by organ availability and tumor progression on the waiting list. Liver resection (LR) may represent an alternative in these patients. The aim of this study is to report the results of LR in transplantable patients., Patients: From 1990 to 2007, 274 patients underwent liver resection for HCC. Sixty-seven (24%) met the Milan criteria on pathologic study of the specimen. Ten were TNM stage 1 and 57 stage 2 and all had chronic liver disease. There were 56 men and 11 women with a mean age of 63. LR included 12 major hepatectomies, 14 bisegmentectomies, 14 segmentectomies, and 27 nonanatomic resections. Thirty-seven resections were performed through a laparoscopic approach and there were only 8 open resections since 1998., Results: Three patients died postoperatively (4.5%), none after laparoscopic resection. Morbidity rate was 34%. After a mean follow-up of 4.8 years, 36 patients (54%) developed intrahepatic tumor recurrence. Twenty-eight (77%) were again transplantable of which 16 (44%) were transplanted. Two additional patients underwent pre-emptive LT (ie before recurrence). When considering 44 patients <65 years at the time of resection (ie upper age limit for LT), the rates of recurrence, transplantable recurrence, and intention to treat salvage transplantation (patients with transplantable recurrence actually transplanted) were 59%, 80%, and 61%, respectively. Overall and disease free 5-year survival rates were 72% and 44%, respectively. Survival was not influenced by TNM stage 1 or 2, AFP level, tumor differentiation, or the presence microscopic vascular invasion. Survival after salvage LT was 70% and 87% when calculated from the date of LT and LR, respectively., Conclusion: LR for small solitary HCC in compensated cirrhosis yields an overall survival rate comparable to upfront LT. Despite a significant recurrence rate, close imaging monitoring after resection allows salvage LT in 61% of patients with recurrence on intention to treat analysis.

Morgagni hernia is a rare cause of diaphragmatic hernia. There are few reports of laparoscopic repair in the literature. Tension-free hernia closure with synthetic mesh reduces recurrence but occasionally results in complications, such as visceral stricture, erosion or perforation. We report a case of successful laparoscopic repair of a very large symptomatic Morgagni hernia in a 78-year-old patient, treated by positioning a gradually resorbable mesh made from porcine SIS (Surgisis Soft Tissue Graft device--Cook Inc, Bloomington, Ind). After surgery, the patient reported an immediate, marked improvement in clinical symptoms. During the postoperative course, pleural and pericardial leakage occurred. The pleural leakage was immediately drained with thoracentesis, and the pericardial leakage was treated conservatively. No other complications occurred after patient discharge. One year later, the patient was in very good general condition. No recurrence was documented with abdominal CT scan, which also demonstrated connective tissue proliferation that was progressively replacing the prosthesis. Laparoscopic repair is a safe, efficacious procedure for the treatment of diaphragmatic hernia, and presents all the advantages of minimally invasive surgery. The use of new types of material featuring marked biocompatibility and gradual reabsorbability characteristics offers considerable benefits.

Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas account for only a small percentage of pancreatic tumours. They include mucinous cystic tumours, which have a higher incidence in females in their forties or fifties. Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas can present in a benign, borderline or malignant form. These tumours have a natural evolution from a benign (mucinous cystadenoma) to a malignant form (cystadenocarcinoma). It is not always easy to diagnose cystic tumours, including mucinous cystic tumours of the pancreas, and the final diagnosis is often reached only after the surgical procedure, which is the gold standard treatment of this disease. We present the case of a 56-year-old woman affected by a mucinous cystic tumour of the body-tail of the pancreas, who underwent distal splenopancreasectomy. She was discharged on postoperative day 12. After an 18-month followup, she is in good general condition and disease-free.

Enteral nutrition can be administered via a nasogastric tube or, in selected patients, via a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. In patients with neurogenic dysphagia, the choice of nutritional administration, and above all the timing, are crucial. Our aim was to retrospectively assess the impact of new guidelines for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy insertion adopted since January 2002 and compare them with our previous experience. From January 1992 to June 2007, 285 gastrostomies (168 M, 117 F) were positioned in our institute. We analysed 232 patients (139 M, 93 F) in whom a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was applied for neurogenic dysphagia: Group A (from January 1992 to December 2001) consisting of 174 patients; Group B (from January 2002 to June 2007) consisting of 58 patients. The percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was positioned in all the cases with neurogenic dysphagia after a period of not less than 3 weeks of nutrition by nasogastric tube. A total of 6 major complications (2.3 %) occurred, almost all in group A. The mortality rate (3 patients, 2%) correlated with the complications in group A. In cases of neurogenic dysphagia we believe that greater methodological rigour in the multidisciplinary decision-making process, and a period of about 6-8 weeks' nutrition by nasogastric tube after the acute neurological damage may be useful to ensure a better prognostic evaluation of the patient and hence of the indications for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.

This study addresses the problem of the best treatment for chronic unilateral obstructive lesions of the aorto-iliac arterial axis. After making a review of the literature, some considerations are made. In recent years this disease has increasingly been treated by endovascular methods with dilation (angioplasty) and stents. However, the classic indications (short stenotic obstruction), supported by national and international guidelines, are being continually widened by operators acquiring growing skills with this method. Nevertheless, no long term studies have demonstrated a clear superiority, in severe cases, of endovascular methods over traditional surgical methods (by-pass), as regards either long term results or costs. Among the traditional methods, many surgeons prefer the femoro-femoral by-pass to the orthopic aorto-femoral by-pass, particularly because of its lesser invasiveness. However, it should be noted that comparisons of the two methods have yielded results in favour of the orthotopic procedure, above all about long term results.

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of simultaneous splenic lymphangioma and non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma with liver and bone marrow involvement arising in a 69-year-old woman suffering from chronic hepatitis C infection treated with laparoscopic splenectomy followed by polychemotherapy. After 22 months from surgical treatment, the patient is alive without signs of residual disease. According to our experience, laparoscopic splenectomy followed by polychemotherapy seems to be an effective treatment for simultaneous splenic lymphangioma and non-Hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma.

Introduction: The systemic circulation of patients with liver failure is characterized by low vascular resistance and a compensatorily increased cardiac output. In addition, some patients show functional loss of the autoregulation system for cerebral blood flow, creating enhanced risk during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), a possible cause of the high incidence of central nervous system complications after OLT., Patients and Methods: Sixteen consecutive patients undergoing OLT were enrolled and characterized by the Child-Pugh (CTP), the MELD, and the HCC-adjusted-MELD score before surgery. OLT was performed with the "piggyback" technique. Brain perfusion and oxygenation was monitored by NIRO300 by Hamamatsu. This instrument detects concentration changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHbO(2)), deoxygenated hemoglobin (DeltaHHb), and total volume of hemoglobin (DeltaHbT). It also calculates the tissue oxygenation index (TOI), namely HbO(2)/HbT expressed as a percentage, and the tissue hemoglobin index (THI)., Results: The lowest levels of brain perfusion were recorded at the washout, DeltaHbO(2) = -13.95 (-20/-5.3) micromol L(-1) and TOI = 51.5 (35.2/70.7)%, while immediately after, at reperfusion, the highest peaks were observed: DeltaHbO(2) was 0.16 (16.9/13) micromol L(-1); DeltaHbT was 1.1 (22.3/11.8) mumol L(-1); and TOI was 73.6 (78.1/65.3)%., Conclusions: Patients with more severe liver deficiency scores showed higher levels of brain perfusion and oxygenation during surgery. Both the MELD and the CTP score predict alterations in brain perfusion.