Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
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J. Gastrointest. Surg. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyEndoscopic intraoperative anastomotic testing may avoid early gastrointestinal anastomotic complications. A prospective study.
Gastrointestinal anastomotic complications represent serious events; methods to evaluate anastomotic integrity seem to be suboptimal. Since endoscopic intraoperative anastomotic testing allows direct visualization of anastomosis, complication rates may be theoretically reduced by the use of this technique. ⋯ Endoscopic anastomotic testing was a safe and reliable method to assess integrity of gastrointestinal anastomoses, to correct any defect under direct visualization, and to avoid early complications. However, this method seemed inadequate to predict late anastomotic complications.
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J. Gastrointest. Surg. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyAnalysis of 6,747 pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors for a proposed staging system.
Currently, no reasonable staging system exists for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) to guide treating physicians. The aim of this study was to devise a staging system of relevant prognostic factors to better predict overall survival in PNET. ⋯ Incorporation of this newly developed staging system into clinical practice will improve the ability to predict prognosis and aid in stratification of patients for clinical trials.
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J. Gastrointest. Surg. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyPerioperative mortality after non-hepatic general surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis: an analysis of 138 operations in the 2000s using Child and MELD scores.
Despite of advances in modern surgical and intensive care treatment, perioperative mortality remains high in patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing nonhepatic general surgery. In the few existing articles, mortality was reported to be as high as 70% in patients with poor liver function (high Child or model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score). Since data are limited, we analyzed our recent experience with cirrhotic patients undergoing emergent or elective nonhepatic general surgery at a German university hospital. ⋯ Our results demonstrate that perioperative mortality remains high in patients with liver cirrhosisundergoing general surgery, especially in emergent situations. Patients with poor liver function and/or need for blood transfusions even had a very high mortality. In our experience, the Child score (together with other variables) independently correlates with perioperative mortality in emergent operations whereas the MELD score was inferior in predicting the outcome.