Surgery
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Multicenter Study
Is DVT prophylaxis necessary for thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy?
Recent guidelines suggest pharmacologic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis in all patients undergoing major surgical procedures to minimize the risk of postoperative DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE). Pharmacologic DVT prophylaxis perioperatively might increase the risk of bleeding complications. Our goal was to study the risk/benefit ratio of DVT prophylaxis in patients who undergo thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy. ⋯ Patients who underwent thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy have a low incidence of developing DVT/PE complications and have a significantly greater risk of developing bleeding complications. Hence, we believe that DVT prophylaxis should be done at the discretion of the surgeon in select high-risk patients only.
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Prophylactic central lymph node dissection with total thyroidectomy (TT) for the treatment of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is controversial because of the possibility of increased morbidity with uncertain benefit. The purpose of this study is to determine whether prophylactic central neck dissection provides any advantages over TT alone. ⋯ The addition of routine central lymph node dissection to TT for the treatment of PTC upstages nearly one third of patients over the age of 45 thereby changing the dose of radioactive iodine ablative therapy, but does not change postoperative thyroglobulin levels after completion of radioiodine treatment.
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Freehand real-time elastography (RTE) has seldom been used to visualize abdominal organs due to their complicated structure and difficulty in freehand compression. We describe a novel, intra-operative imaging system for performing freehand RTE of the liver. ⋯ Our new RTE system facilitated the successful freehand RTE of liver lesions in an intra-operative setting, enabling "visual palpation" during liver surgery and serving as a supportive modality for B mode IOUS.
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Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) has been frequently used for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC). It is therefore important to establish criteria for evaluating the response to NACT based on survival analysis. ⋯ By determining the optimal cutoff value based on survival analysis, we evaluated patient responses to NACT using PET. Such evaluation could be valuable in formulating treatment strategies for ESCC.
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Effect of early plasma transfusion on mortality in patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The ratio of red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion to plasma (FFP) transfusion (PRBC:FFP ratio) has been shown to impact survival in trauma patients with massive hemorrhage. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the PRBC:FFP ratio on mortality for patients with massive hemorrhage after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA). ⋯ For RAAA patients requiring massive transfusion, more equivalent transfusion of PRBC to FFP (HIGH FFP) was independently associated with lower 30-day mortality. The lower incidence of colonic ischemia in the HIGH FFP group may suggest an additional benefit of early plasma transfusion that could translate into further mortality reduction. Analysis from this study suggests the potential feasibility for a more standardized protocol of initial resuscitation for these patients, and prospective studies are warranted to determine the optimum PRBC:FFP ratio in RAAA patients.