American journal of surgery
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Surgical education peer-reviewed publications have markedly increased over the last decade. The purpose of this study was to review the surgical education literature published over the last 10 years and address the following questions: What subjects in surgical education tend to be studied? What are the most to least commonly employed research designs and statistics? Has there been a change in how research data are collected? Where are these studies published? ⋯ An analysis of the surgical education literature demonstrates the growing emphasis on the use of educational research to explore relevant issues and problems. Descriptive research is most popular, with an increasing trend in experimental research. Publication of educational research in peer-reviewed surgical journals is becoming more popular. This study informs those interested in the surgical education research literature of current trends, and what they need to know for a more critical appraisal of this body of literature.
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Translocation of intestinal bacteria to mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) has been documented in humans under a variety of circumstances, yet its clinical significance remains to be established. The aim of this study was to correlate detectable translocation to MLNs of bacteria and endotoxin with local and systemic signs of inflammation. ⋯ Translocation to MLNs occurs in patients with cecal carcinoma. This, however, seems not to be of major clinical significance if no additional physiologic insults are encountered. Irrespective of the presence of bacteria, there are variations in inflammatory reactions between lymph nodes from one and the same patient, probably reflecting fluctuating response mechanisms to low-grade translocation.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Utility of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in differentiated thyroid carcinoma with negative radioiodine scans and elevated serum thyroglobulin levels.
This study aimed to determine the role of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in the follow-up of patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and iodine-131 ((131)I) ablation therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer and presented increased thyroglobulin levels with negative (131)I and thallium-201 ((201)Tl) scans. ⋯ This study indicates that the FDG-PET whole-body scan is a useful tool in the follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, negative (131)I and (201)Tl scans and elevated serum thyroglobulin levels. The FDG-PET scan detects metastatic disease in 60% of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, enabling surgical therapy to be performed on accessible lesions.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Interferon-based adjuvant chemoradiation therapy improves survival after pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Based on a 2-year survival of 43%, the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG) recommended adjuvant 5-FU-based chemoradiation for resected patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head. Here we report improved survival over the GITSG protocol with a novel adjuvant chemoradiotherapy based on interferon-alpha (IFNalpha). ⋯ With a limited number of patients, this phase II type trial suggests better survival in the interferon group as compared with the GITSG group even though the interferon group was associated with a more extensive tumor stage. The 2-year survival rate in the interferon group is the best published to date for resected pancreatic cancer. The interferon/cisplatin/5-FU-based adjuvant chemoradiation protocol appears to be a promising treatment for patients who have undergone PD for adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head.