Piotr Błasiak

Retrosternal goiter located in the mediastinum: surgical approach and operative difficulties

Most retrosternal goiters are situated in the anterior mediastinal compartment, but according to the literature, 10-15% are located in the posterior mediastinum. Although most of the anterior mediastinal goiters can be removed by a transcervical approach, posterior mediastinal goiters may require additional extracervical incisions. We report the case of a huge posterior mediastinal goiter extending from the neck retrotracheally beyond the aortic arch and azygous vein with crossover from the left to the right side and ending at the level of the lower part of the left cardiac atrium, nearly reaching the diaphragm. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice in such cases. We performed an operation using a transcervical and right thoracotomy approach. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of the large goiter. The patient recovered well and was discharged in 1 week.

Surgical Correction of Pectus Excavatum by the Nuss Procedure: A 15-Year Experience Study

Pectus excavatum is the most common congenital deformity of the chest. The Nuss procedure is minimally invasive surgical correction of this defect, using retrosternal metal bars. The purpose of the present study was to describe a 15-year experience with the Nuss surgery, and to evaluate the long-term clinical results of the procedure. We retrospectively evaluated 239 patients, aged 14-34, who underwent the Nuss surgery in the years 2002-2016. Postoperative complications were observed in 40/236 (16.9%) patients. The most common complication was pneumothorax in 14/239 patients. Less common were the following: wound infection in 4, pleural effusion in 3, allergy to nickel in 1, lung atelectasis in 1, and ventricular failure in 1 patient. Three patients were treated because of severe postoperative pain, and in one case the implant had to be removed. Postoperative complications associated with the number of bars inserted, but not with the patient age or gender. A satisfactory and long lasting corrective effect of surgery was observed in 231/239 (96.7%) of patients. There was no perioperative mortality. We conclude that the Nuss surgery is a safe surgery that demonstrates excellent and long-lasting esthetic results, with a low risk of severe complications.

Assessment of adequacy of intraoperative nodal staging and factors influencing the lack of its compliance with recommendations in the surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Background Adequate pathological status of lymph nodes sampled during resection of NSCLC determines prognosis and decides on further therapeutic actions. The areas of analysis are the factors affecting evaluation of pN accuracy, and the convergence of recommendations with actual intraoperative sampling of lymph nodes. Methods The data of 3,215 patients with NSCLC consecutively operated with the intention of radical resection in 2007-2017, were analyzed. Accuracy of nodal sampling and influencing factors were compared with Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) guidelines, which recommend that to confirm pN0 status at least six lymph nodes/stations free of the disease must be removed. Three should be sampled from mediastinum (including subcarinal) and three from N1 stations. Results A significant number of patients were found to have an adequate staging, especially after 2009, in terms of recommended quantity of nodes/nodal stations (P<0.0001). Age ≥64 (P=0.048), left side (P<0.0001), sublobar resection (P<0.0001), T1 tumors (P=0.019) are the factors affecting inadequacy of staging. Patients with inaccurate staging were found to have a considerably lower pN1 (7.2% vs.15.9%, P<0.001) and pN2 (9.7% vs.13.4%, P<0.001) status. Survival of patients with inadequate staging were found to be significantly worse (P=0.0002), which resulted in worse survival of those patients in stage I (P=0.00004), stage II (P=0.023) and stage III (P=0.031) of NSCLC. Conclusions UICC recommendations led to an increased adequacy of nodal sampling. The factors affecting insufficient number of sampled nodes include advanced age, left side, sublobar resections and T1 stage. Inaccuracy of intraoperative nodal staging results in incorrect prognosis.

Electroporation with Cisplatin against Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: In Vitro Study on Human Primary Cell Culture

Despite the rapid progression of cancer pharmacotherapy, the high drug resistance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) makes it one of the most lethal malignancies. Therefore, there are high expectations associated with experimental therapies, such as electrochemotherapy (ECT). This technique involves the application of short electric pulses to induce transitional permeabilization of the cellular membrane, thus enhancing drug molecules influx. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of electroporation with cisplatin (CisEP) on the primary culture of human PDA cells from lung metastases—their survival and stress response. Considering the growing importance of various research models, two established human PDA cell lines, EPP85-181P (sensitive to daunorubicin) and EPP85-181RDB (resistant to daunorubicin), were utilized as a reference control. Cisplatin revealed higher cytotoxicity towards established cell lines. Following CisEP application, we observed a significant decrease of cells viability in the primary culture model. After CisEP therapy, an increased immunoreactivity with SOD-2 and Casp-3 antibodies was noticed. In conclusion, we discovered that electroporation can enhance the cytotoxic effect of cisplatin in pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. This effect was evident for cells from the primary culture. The obtained results confirm the importance of primary cells models in studies on the efficacy of experimental cancer therapies.

Metachronous Lung Cancer: Clinical Characteristics and Effects of Surgical Treatment

The occurrence of a second lung tumor after surgical removal of lung cancer usually indicates a lung cancer metastasis, but sometimes a new lesion proves to be a new primary lung cancer, i.e., metachronous lung cancer. The goal of the present study was to conduct a clinical evaluation of patients with metachronous lung cancer and lung cancer metastasis, and to compare the early and distant outcomes of surgical treatment in both cancer types. There were 26 age-matched patients with lung cancer metastases and 23 patients with metachronous lung cancers, who underwent a second lung cancer resection. We evaluated the histological type of a resected cancer, the extent of thoracosurgery, the frequency of early postoperative complications, and the probability of 5-year survival after the second operation. The findings were that metachronous lung cancer was adenocarcinoma in 52% of patients, with a different histopathological pattern from that of the primary lung cancer in 74% of patients. In both cancer groups, mechanical resections were the most common surgery type (76% of all cases), with anatomical resections such as segmentectomy, lobectomy, or pneumectomy being much rarer conducted. The incidence of early postoperative complications in metachronous lung cancer and lung cancer metastasis (30% vs. 31%, respectively) and the probability of 5-year survival after resection of either cancer tumor (60.7% vs. 50.9%, respectively) were comparable. In conclusion, patients undergoing primary lung cancer surgery require a long-term follow-up due to the risk of metastatic or metachronous lung cancer. The likelihood of metachronous lung cancer and pulmonary lung cancer metastases, the incidence of postoperative complications, and the probability of 5-year survival after resection of metachronous lung cancer or lung cancer metastasis are similar.

Evaluation of prognostic factors in the surgical treatment of pulmonary metastases

Aim of the study The resection of pulmonary metastases is a routine practice of thoracic surgery wards; however, clear protocols or prognostic factors defining the surgical treatment criteria are still not available. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prognostic factors associated with long-term survival in a group of patients who underwent resection of pulmonary metastases. Material and methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on a group of 250 patients admitted to the Wrocław Thoracic Surgery Centre for radical resection of pulmonary lesions in the years 1996–2010. Results The patients included in the study (n = 250) underwent 339 thoracotomies in total. The overall five-year survival was 52.8%. The univariate data analysis showed that the survival rate was significantly better in patients subjected to more than one thoracotomy (p = 0.01674). Among the other data, such as sex, tumour histology, disease-free interval (DFI) ≤ 12 and > 12 months, DFI ≤ 36 and > 36 months, age, number of tumours identified in CT and number of tumours subject to resection, operated side, resection type, radicality of resection, extent of lymphadenectomy, and adjuvant therapy, no statistical significance was observed in univariate and multivariate analysis (p > 0.05). Conclusions Outcomes of re-metastasectomy are satisfactory if patients meet the baseline criteria for surgical treatment. None of the evaluated factors potentially influencing the patient survival was demonstrated to have any prognostic value. Further research, including the biology of tumours with pulmonary metastases, is necessary to select the group of patients that will benefit most from surgical treatment.

Stage IIIa cancer of the right lung ingrowing via right lower pulmonary vein to the left heart atrium.

Computed tomography is performed in every patient before lung tumour resection. The presented case realises how important it is to perform this study with contrast. In a 75-year-old male we detected a tumour ingrowing from the right lung through the right lower pulmonary vein into the left atrium of the heart. The patient was qualified for primary sternotomy with extracorporeal circulation and resection of the intracardiac part of the tumour. In the second stage, right-sided thoracotomy was performed, and right lower lung lobectomy was done. Mixed heterogeneous lung cancer was diagnosed (squamous cell and non-small cell endocrine) in stage IIIa. The perioperative period was uncomplicated. The patient, due to renal failure, was not eligible for adjuvant chemotherapy. If the patient were qualified for lobectomy based directly on computed tomography without contrast, there would have been a high risk of perioperative death due to embolic incidents and heart failure. Effective multidisciplinary collaboration allowed us to avoid this sort of complication.