Annals of surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
TIPS versus peritoneovenous shunt in the treatment of medically intractable ascites: a prospective randomized trial.
We undertook a prospective randomized clinical trial comparing TIPS to peritoneovenous (PV) shunts in the treatment of medically intractable ascites to establish relative efficacy and morbidity, and thereby superiority, between these shunts. ⋯ TIPS and peritoneovenous shunts treat medically intractable ascites. Absence of ascites after either is uncommon. PV shunts control ascites sooner, although TIPS provides better long-term efficacy. After either shunt, numerous interventions are required to assist patency. Assisted shunt patency is better after TIPS. Treating medically refractory ascites with TIPS risks early shunt-related mortality for prospects of longer survival with ascites control. This study promotes the application of TIPS for medically intractable ascites if patients undergoing TIPS have prospects beyond short-term survival.
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Standard management of gallstone-associated acute pancreatitis calls for cholecystectomy to be performed during the same hospitalization after acute symptoms have subsided. However, infectious complications are common when cholecystectomy is performed sooner than 3 weeks after severe acute pancreatitis. Fluid collections, common in patients with moderate to severe acute pancreatitis, are additionally problematic. No previous study has examined the role of peripancreatic fluid collections and subsequent pseudocyst in outcomes after cholecystectomy in these patients. ⋯ Cholecystectomy should be delayed in patients who survive an episode of moderate to severe acute biliary pancreatitis and demonstrate peripancreatic fluid collections or pseudocysts until the pseudocysts either resolve or persist beyond 6 weeks, at which time pseudocyst drainage can safely be combined with cholecystectomy.
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To update the authors' experience with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) of the pancreas. ⋯ IPMNs continue to be recognized with increasing frequency. Five-year survival for those patients following resection of IPMNs with invasive cancer (43%) is improved compared with those patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in the absence of IPMN (averages 15%-25%). Survival following resection of IPMNs without invasive cancer (regardless of degree of dyplasia) is good, but recurrent disease in the residual pancreas suggests that long-term surveillance is critical. Based on the age at resection data, there appears to be a 5-year lag time from IPMN adenoma (63.2 years) to invasive cancer (68.1 years).
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To determine the identification of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer patients after intraoperative injection of unfiltered technetium-99m sulfur colloid (Tc-99) and blue dye. ⋯ Intraoperative subareolar injection of radioisotope rapidly drains to the SLNs and allows immediate staging of the axilla, avoiding the need to coordinate diagnostic services and a painful preoperative procedure.
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Radiation therapy is increasingly used as adjuvant treatment of many childhood and adult malignancies. Radiation-induced sarcoma is a well recognized if uncommon event. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence and long-term outcome for patients who develop radiation-induced sarcomas. ⋯ The increasing utilization of adjuvant radiation therapy, especially for early-stage breast cancer mandates long-term follow-up to detect radiation-induced sarcoma. Surgical resection remains the primary therapy, but 5-year survival remains approximately 40%.