Takashi Akai

Surgical advantages of gastric SMTs by laparoscopy and endoscopy cooperative surgery.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The treatment of gastric submucosal tumors (SMTs) is strictly surgical and enucleation of the tumor or wedge resection of the stomach is efficient to achieve R0 resection. Laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery (LECS) can be safely performed with adequate cutting lines. This study describes the initial 16 cases treated by LECS and evaluates the advantages by LECS for gastric SMTs retrospectively. METHODOLOGY Sixteen patients with gastric SMT underwent LECS from June 2007 to December 2010, their surgical data, clinical characteristics and surgical specimens of SMTs were compared. The surgical specimens of 9 gastric SMTs treated by laparoscopic wedge resection (LWR) were compared as a control. RESULTS The median (range) length of operation time, blood loss, hospital stay after surgery were minutes 172 (115- 220), <5mL (<5-115) and 10 days (6-17), respectively. The median (range) ratio of the longest diameter of the tumor divided by the longest diameter of the surgical specimen in LECS and LWR were 0.86 (0.625-1.0) and 0.69 (0.44-1.0), respectively (p=0.0189, Wilcoxon rank sum test). CONCLUSIONS LECS minimizes the surgical specimen while still providing sufficient surgical margins to successfully cure gastric SMTs.

Salivary amylase activity is useful for assessing perioperative stress in response to pain in patients undergoing endoscopic submucosal dissection of gastric tumors under deep sedation

BackgroundAlthough endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for patients with gastric tumors under the conditions of unconsciousness is considered to be minimally invasive, no objective assessment of the perioperative stress of ESD has yet been conducted. Today, stress levels can be easily and objectively assessed by monitoring salivary amylase activity (sAMY). We evaluated the perioperative changes in the sAMY in patients undergoing ESD and identified the causes of such changes.MethodsA total of 40 patients with gastric cancers/adenomas removed by ESD under general anesthesia (GA; n = 20) and under deep sedation (DS; n = 20) were enrolled. sAMY was measured using the enzyme analysis equipment, sAMY Monitor (NIPRO, Osaka, Japan) during the perioperative period of the ESD. Also, all patients were interviewed to determine their subjective stress level, using a questionnaire asking “How did you feel during ESD?”, with the choice of responses ranging from “did not wake up at all” to “I was awake and ESD was extremely stressful”.ResultsThe sAMY of the DS group increased soon after the start of ESD. Meanwhile, that of the GA group decreased just after the ESD started and was maintained at a stable level throughout the ESD. In response to the stress level questionnaire, all of the patients in the GA group and a majority of the patients in the DS group responded, “did not wake up at all”.ConclusionSympathetic agitation, expressed as an increase of sAMY, was absent in the GA group. Meanwhile, in the DS group, some patients showed high levels of sAMY which went down following the administration of an analgesic agent, thus suggesting that pain caused an elevation in the level of the stress and thereby induced an increase in sAMY. The measurement of sAMY is therefore considered to be useful for the assessment of analgesic status under DS.

Early primary duodenal carcinoma arising from Brunner’s glands synchronously occurring with sigmoid colon carcinoma: Report of a case

We herein report a case of early primary duodenal carcinoma arising from Brunner’s glands synchronously occurring with sigmoid colon carcinoma. A 65-year-old man with a 5-year history of diabetes mellitus and benign prostatic hypertrophy was admitted to our hospital to undergo a resection of sigmoid colon carcinoma in December 2000. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, which was performed as routine preoperative screening, revealed an elevated submucosal-tumor-like lesion with a shallow central depression in the anterior wall of the duodenal bulb. A partial duodenectomy with a partial gastrectomy including No. 5 and No. 6 lymph node dissection and a sigmoidectomy were thus performed. The patient’s postoperative course was uneventful. The histopathology of the resected duodenal specimen revealed the tumor to be an adenocarcinoma arising from Brunner’s glands. The patient has remained diseasefree and has shown no relapse for 6 years postoperatively. Because duodenal carcinoma arising from Brunner’s glands is very rare, we report our case with a review of 25 similar documented cases.

Rapid diagnosis of micrometastasis of gastric cancer using reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification

Methods to detect metastases in biopsy specimens with certain rapidity and accuracy are essential to performing tailor-made surgeries for solid malignancies. Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) reaction is a novel technique for detecting mRNA expression of target sequences with high sensitivity and rapidity, even from crude samples without RNA purification. Applicability to detect lymph node (LN) micrometastasis of gastric cancer was tested. Total of 26 LNs were retrieved from 10 patients with primary gastric cancer. Each LN was serially sectioned, and every set of three serial sections were tested for routine histopathological (H&E) and immunohistochemical examination with anti-cytokeratin antibodies (IHC), and RT-LAMP analysis targeted cytokeratin 19 mRNA. Results from H&E/IHC and RT-LAMP analysis were compared in each set of sections. All the sections of those containing metastatic lesions equivalent to a volume of overt metastasis (maximum diameter>2 mm), 90% of those containing micrometastasis (between 2 and 0.2 mm) and 83% of those containing isolated tumor cells (<0.2 mm) were detectable using this procedure. Total analysis from lysates of clinical specimens required<75 min. This new technique is suggested to be an alternative to rapid diagnosis of micrometastasis based on conventional histopathological analysis.

Survival predictors of patients with primary duodenal adenocarcinoma.

This single-institution experience retrospectively reviewed the outcomes in 21 patients with primary duodenal adenocarcinoma. Twelve patients underwent curative surgery, and 9 patients underwent palliative surgery at the Chiba University Hospital. The maximum follow-up period was 8650 days. All pathologic specimens from endoscopic biopsy and surgical specimens were reviewed and categorized. Twelve (57.1%) patients underwent curative surgery (R0): 4 pancreaticoduodenectomies (PD), 4 pylorus-preserving PDs (PpPD), 2 local resections of the duodenum and 2 endoscopic mucosal resections (EMR). Palliative surgery was performed for 9 patients (42.9%) following gastro-intestinal bypass. The median cause-specific survival times were 1784 days (range 160-8650 days) in the curative surgery group and 261 days (range 27-857 days) in the palliative surgery group (P = 0.0003, log-rank test). The resectability of primary duodenal adenocarcinoma was associated with a smaller tumor size, a lower degree of tumor depth invasiveness, and less spread to the lymph nodes and distant organs.

Monitoring salivary amylase activity is useful for providing timely analgesia under sedation

AIM To detect the criteria and cause of elevated salivary amylase activity (sAMY) in patients undergoing endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) under sedation. METHODS A total of 41 patients with early gastric cancer removed via ESD under deep sedation (DS) were enrolled. The perioperative sAMY, which was shown as sympathetic excitements (SE), was measured. The time at which a patient exhibited a relatively increased rate of sAMY compared with the preoperative baseline level (IR, %) ≥ 100% (twice the actual value) was assumed as the moment when the patient received SE. Among the 41 patients, we focused on 14 patients who exhibited an IR ≥ 100% at any time that was associated with sAMY elevation during ESD (H-group) and examined whether any particular endoscopic procedures can cause SE by simultaneously monitoring the sAMY level. If a patient demonstrated an elevated sAMY level above twice the baseline level, the endoscopic procedure was immediately stopped. In the impossible case of discontinuance, analgesic medicines were administered. This study was performed prospectively. RESULTS A total of 26 episodes of sAMY eruption were considered moments of SE in the H-group. The baseline level of sAMY significantly increased in association with an IR of > 100% at 5 min, with a significant difference (IR immediately before elevation/IR at elevation of sAMY = 8.72 ± 173/958 ± 1391%, P < 0.001). However, effective intervention decreased the elevated sAMY level immediately within only 5 min, with a significant difference (IR at sAMY elevation/immediately after intervention = 958 ± 1391/476 ± 1031, P < 0.001). The bispectral indices, systolic blood pressure and pulse rates, which were measured at the same time, remained stable throughout the ESD. Forceful endoscopic insertion or over insufflation was performed during 22 of the 26 episodes. Release of the gastric wall tension and/or the administration of analgesic medication resulted in the immediate recovery of the elevated sAMY level, independent of body movement. CONCLUSION By detecting twice the actual sAMY based on the preoperative level, the release of the gastric wall tension or the administration of analgesic agents should be considered.

Postoperative recurrence of an IPMN of the pancreas with a fistula to the stomach

We report on a case of a 74 year old man who was diagnosed with a recurrence of non-invasive carcinoma of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (non-invasive IPMN) by postoperative gastroscopy (GS). A pylorus preserving pancreatico duodenectomy for IPMN in the pancreatic head was performed. A histopathological study revealed non-invasive adenocarcinoma. At first, the local recurrence of the tumor around the superior mesenteric artery circumference was diagnosed and disappeared with gemcitabine. Later, the GS showed the elevated lesion with mucin hypersecretion in the remnant stomach. The lesion had a central dip and a fistula common to the pancreas was confirmed on fisterography. We diagnosed a recurrence of IPMN and administered chemotherapy again. However, he died of his original illness. There are no reports of postoperative recurrence of IPMN checked by GS. It should be remembered that the elevated lesion of the remnant stomach is considered as one of the recurrent patterns of IPMN.