Author Archives: Hannah

Graft reconstruction in pancreaticoduodenectomy: outcomes and survival

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One discussion this week included use of prosthetic graft reconstruction …

Reference: Chu CK, et al. Prosthetic graft reconstruction after portal vein resection in pancreaticoduodenectomy: a multicenter analysis. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2010 Sep;211(3):316-324. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.04.005

Summary: Use of prosthetic grafts for reconstruction after portal vein (PV) resection during pancreaticoduodenectomy is controversial. This paper (by Emory authors) review 33 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) with vein resection and reconstruction using PTFE grafts between 1994 and 2009. Patient, operative, and outcomes variables were studied. Graft patency and survival were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier technique.

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Air cholangiogram as effective measure for postoperative biliary complications

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One discussion this week involved air cholangiograms.

Reference: Zimmitti G, et al. Systematic use of an intraoperative air leak test at the time of major liver resection reduces the rate of postoperative biliary complications. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2013 Dec;217(6):1028-1037. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2013.07.392.

Summary: Advances in surgical technique and better understanding of liver anatomy and physiology have facilitated a decrease in postoperative hepatic insufficiency rates and in perioperative blood transfusion needs. However, these improvements have not been paralleled by a decrease in the rate of postoperative bile leak, which remains the Achilles’ heel of liver resection. While in many cases a postoperative bile leak can be managed successfully with drainage and antibiotics, it almost always entails longer length of stay and increased hospital costs.

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Meta-analysis, systematic review of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors in respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis

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One discussion this week involved carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) in the setting of respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosisa.

Reference: Tanios BY, et al. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors in patients with respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Critical Care. 2018 Oct 29;22(1):275.  doi: 10.1186/s13054-018-2207-6

Summary: Metabolic alkalosis is common in patients with respiratory failure and may delay weaning in mechanically ventilated patients. Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (such as acetazolamide, methazolamide, and dichlorphenamide) block renal bicarbonate reabsorption, and thus reverse metabolic alkalosis. However, uncertainty remains about
their effects in the setting of respiratory failure with concurrent metabolic alkalosis on duration of hospitalization, mechanical ventilation (MV), or noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV), and mortality.

The objective of this systematic review is to assess the benefits and harms of carbonic anhydrase inhibitor therapy in patients with respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis.

Randomized clinical trials were included if they assessed at least one of the following outcomes: mortality, duration of hospital stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, adverse events, and blood gas parameters. Six eligible studies were identified with a total of 564 patients.

There were no definitive results for the effects of CAI therapy on clinically important outcomes such as mortality and duration of hospital stay in patients with respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis. The results suggest that CAI therapy may decrease the duration of mechanical ventilation. There was a trend towards increased incidence of adverse events in the CAI group; however, most of these adverse events were mild.

On the other hand, the results suggest that CAI therapy has favorable effects on arterial blood gas parameters (PaCO2, PaO2, bicarbonate and pH), with decreased PaCO2, increased PaO2, and, as expected, decreased bicarbonate and pH levels.

Conclusion

In patients with respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis, carbonic anhydrase inhibitor therapy may have favorable effects on blood gas parameters. The authors note that this analysis did not provide conclusive results for clinically important outcomes.

In mechanically ventilated patients, carbonic anhydrase inhibitor therapy may decrease the duration of mechanical ventilation. A major limitation was that only two trials assessed this clinically important outcome.

Ureteral catheters and injury during colectomy: A NSQIP study

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One discussion this week included ureteral injuries during colectomy.

Reference: Coakley KM, et al. Prophylactic ureteral catheters for colectomy: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-based analysis. Diseases of the Colon and Rectum. 2018 Jan;61(1):84-88. doi:10.1097/DCR.0000000000000976.

Summary: Despite improvement in technique and technology, using prophylactic ureteral catheters to avoid iatrogenic ureteral injury during colectomy remains controversial. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate outcomes and costs attributable to prophylactic ureteral catheters with colectomy. Conducted at a signle tertiary care center, the authors pulled clinical data, 2012-2014, from ACS NSQIP database.

A total of 51,125 patients were identified with a mean age of 60.9 ± 14.9 years and a BMI of 28.4 ± 6.7 k/m; 4.90% (n = 2486) of colectomies were performed with prophylactic catheters, and 333 ureteral injuries (0.65%) were identified.

  • Prophylactic ureteral catheters were most commonly used for diverticular disease (42.2%; n = 1048), with injury occurring most often during colectomy for diverticular disease (36.0%; n = 120).
  • Univariate analysis of outcomes demonstrated higher rates of ileus, wound infection, urinary tract infection, urinary tract infection as reason for readmission, superficial site infection, and 30-day readmission in patients with prophylactic ureteral catheter placement.
  • On multivariate analysis, prophylactic ureteral catheter placement was associated with a lower rate of ureteral injury (OR = 0.45 (95% CI, 0.25-0.81)).
  • Additional research is needed to delineate patient populations most likely to benefit from prophylactic ureteral stent placement.

Liver transplantation in alcoholic liver disease: is a period of sobriety necessary?

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One discussion this week included early liver transplantation in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD).

Reference: Godfrey EL, Stribling R, Rana A. Liver transplantation for alchoholic liver disease: an update. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2019 Feb;23(1):127-139. doi: 10.1016/j.cld.2018.09.007.

Summary (quoted from the article): ALD, a major cause of global morbidity and mortality, is expected to continue to increase in the global health burden. Although several new therapies have become available for other causes of liver disease, very few effective therapies exist for ALD other than liver transplantation. To ensure good outcomes and appropriate allocation of scarce donated organs, stringent selection criteria must be used to determine who is eligible to receive a graft, and effective, integrated alcohol use treatment must be used to prevent relapse.

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A review of ICPN (by Emory pathologists!)

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One discussion this week included ICPN.

Reference: Adsay V, et al. Intracholecystic papillary-tubular neoplasms (ICPN) of the gallbladder (neoplastic polyps, adenomas, and papillary neoplasms that are ≥1.0 cm): clinicopathic and immunohistochemical analysis of 123 cases. The American Journal of Surgical Pathology. 2012 Sep;36(9):1279-1301.

Summary (from the abstract):  In this study, 123 GB cases that have a well-defined exophytic preinvasive neoplasm measuring ≥1 cm were analyzed. The patients were predominantly female (F/M=2:1) with a mean age of 61 y and a median tumor size of 2.2 cm. Half of the patients presented with pain, and in the other half the neoplasm was detected incidentally. Other neoplasms, most being gastrointestinal tract malignancies, were present in 22% of cases. Gallstones were identified in only 20% of cases. Radiologically, almost half were diagnosed as “cancer,” roughly half with polypoid tumor, and in 10% the lesion was missed.

Pathologic Findings 

  1. The predominant configuration was papillary in 43%, tubulopapillary in 31%, tubular in 26%.
  2. Each case was assigned a final lineage type on the basis of the predominant pattern (>75% of the lesion) on morphology, and supported with specific immunohistochemical cell lineage markers. The predominant cell lineage could be identified as biliary in 50% (66% of which were MUC1), gastric foveolar in 16% (all were MUC5AC), gastric pyloric in 20% (92% MUC6), intestinal in 8% (100% CK20; 75% CDX2; 50%, MUC2), and oncocytic in 6% (17% HepPar and 17% MUC6); however, 90% of cases had some amount of secondary or unclassifiable pattern and hybrid immunophenotypes.
  3. Of the cases that would have qualified as “pyloric gland adenoma,” 21/24 (88%) had at least focal high-grade dysplasia and 18% had associated invasive carcinoma. Conversely, 8 of 47 “papillary adenocarcinoma”-type cases displayed some foci of low-grade dysplasia, and 15/47 (32%) had no identifiable invasion.
  4. Overall, 55% of the cases had an associated invasive carcinoma (pancreatobiliary type, 58; others, 10). Factors associated significantly with invasion were the extent of high-grade dysplasia, cell type (biliary or foveolar), and papilla formation. Among systematically analyzed invasive carcinomas, tumoral intraepithelial neoplasia was detected in 6.4% (39/606).
  5. The 3-year actuarial survival was 90% for cases without invasion and 60% for those associated with invasion. In contrast, those associated with invasion had a far better clinical outcome compared with pancreatobiliary-type GB carcinomas (3-yr survival, 27%), and this survival advantage persisted even with stage-matched comparison. Death occurred in long-term follow-up even in a few noninvasive cases (4/55; median 73.5 mo) emphasizing the importance of long-term follow-up.

Conclusion

Tumoral preinvasive neoplasms (≥1 cm) in the GB are analogous to their pancreatic and biliary counterparts (biliary intraductal papillary neoplasms, pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, and intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasms). They show variable cellular lineages, a spectrum of dysplasia, and a mixture of papillary or tubular growth patterns, often with significant overlap, warranting their classification under 1 unified parallel category, intracholecystic papillary-tubular neoplasm. Intracholecystic papillary-tubular neoplasms are relatively indolent neoplasia with significantly better prognosis compared with pancreatobiliary-type GB carcinomas. In contrast, even seemingly innocuous examples such as those referred to as “pyloric gland adenomas” can progress to carcinoma and be associated with invasion and fatal outcome.