Ui Jun Park

Risk factors for early recurrence after surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND/AIMS Early recurrence (ER) after liver resection is one of the most important factors impacting the prognosis and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to identify the factors associated with ER after curative hepatic resection for HCC. METHODS From the July 2000 to July 2006, 144 patients underwent hepatic resection for HCC at a single institution. After excluding those with ruptured HCC, combined or mixed HCC, and who died during admission, 116 patients were analyzed. Patients with ER (defined as within 1 year) were compared with those who remained free of disease for more than 1 year. Various clinical characteristics including tumor and operative factors were evaluated to determine the factors predicting postoperative ER using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS ER occurred in 51 patients (44%). In the univariate analysis, tumor size (P=0.001), microvascular invasion (P=0.003), portal vein invasion (P=0.001), TNM stage (P=0.010), serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (P=0.002) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P=0.011), and operative time (P=0.033) were significantly associated with ER. AFP and AST were the independent predictors of ER in the multivariate analysis (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Preoperative serum AFP and AST levels were the independent risk factors for ER after surgical resection for HCC. Close postoperative surveillance is recommended for early detection of recurrence and additional treatments in patients with these factors.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Lower Extremity Deep Vein Thrombosis: Korean Practice Guidelines

Lower extremity deep vein thrombosis is a serious medical condition that can result in death or major disability due to pulmonary embolism or post-thrombotic syndrome. Appropriate diagnosis and treatment are required to improve symptoms and salvage the affected limb. Early thrombus clearance rapidly resolves symptoms related to venous obstruction, restores valve function and reduces the incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome. Recently, endovascular treatment has been established as a standard method for early thrombus removal. However, there are a variety of views regarding the indications and procedures among medical institutions and operators. Therefore, we intend to provide evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis by multidisciplinary consensus. These guidelines are the result of a close collaboration between interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons. The goals of these guidelines are to improve treatment, to serve as a guide to the clinician, and consequently to contribute to public health care.

DELirium Prediction Based on Hospital Information (Delphi) in General Surgery Patients

AbstractTo develop a simple and accurate delirium prediction score that would allow identification of individuals with a high probability of postoperative delirium on the basis of preoperative and immediate postoperative data.Postoperative delirium, although transient, is associated with adverse outcomes after surgery. However, there has been no appropriate tool to predict postoperative delirium.This was a prospective observational single-center study, which consisted of the development of the DELirium Prediction based on Hospital Information (Delphi) score (n = 561) and its validation (n = 533). We collected potential risk factors for postoperative delirium, which were identified by conducting a comprehensive review of the literatures.Age, low physical activity, hearing impairment, heavy alcoholism, history of prior delirium, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, emergency surgery, open surgery, and increased preoperative C-reactive protein were identified as independent predictors of postoperative delirium. The Delphi score was generated using logistic regression coefficients. The maximum Delphi score was 15 and the optimal cut-off point identified with the Youden index was 6.5. Generated area under the (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.911 (95% CI: 0.88–0.94). In the validation study, the calculated AUC of the ROC curve based on the Delphi score was 0.938 (95% Cl: 0.91–0.97). We divided the validation cohort into the low-risk group (Delphi score 0–6) and high-risk group (7–15). Sensitivity of Delphi score was 80.8% and specificity 92.5%.Our proposed Delphi score could help health-care provider to predict the development of delirium and make possible targeted intervention to prevent delirium in high-risk surgery patients.

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Enhances the Expression of Genes Encoding Antioxidant Enzymes and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Related Proteins in Rat Skeletal Muscle

Purpose: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC), including remote IPC (rIPC) and direct IPC (dIPC), is a promising method to decrease ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. This study tested the effect of both rIPC and dIPC on the genes for antioxidant enzymes and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related proteins. Materials and Methods: Twenty rats were randomly divided into the control and study groups. In the control group (n=10), the right hind limb was sham-operated. The left hind limb (IscR) of the control group underwent IR injury without IPC. In the study group (n=10), the right hind limb received IR injury after 3 cycles of rIPC. The IscR received IR injury after 3 cycles of dIPC. Gene expression was analyzed by Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction from the anterior tibialis muscle. Results: The expression of the antioxidant enzyme genes including glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) 1 and catalase (CAT) were significantly reduced in IscR compared with sham treatment. In comparison with IscR, rIPC enhanced the expression of GPx, SOD2, and CAT genes. dIPC enhanced the expression of SOD2 and CAT genes. The expression of SOD2 genes was consistently higher in rIPC than in dIPC, but the difference was only significant for SOD2. The expression of genes for ER stress-related proteins tended to be reduced in IscR in comparison with sham treatment. However, the difference was only significant for C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP). In comparison with IscR, rIPC significantly up-regulated activating transcription factor 4 and CHOP, whereas dIPC up-regulated CHOP. Conclusion: Both rIPC and dIPC enhanced expression of genes for antioxidant enzymes and ER stress-related proteins.

Comparison of clinical outcomes between ABO-compatible and ABO-incompatible spousal donor kidney transplantation

Background Kidney transplantation (KT) is the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease patients. The spouse is a major donor in living KT. Clinical outcomes of spousal donor KT are not inferior to those of living related donor KT. In this study, we compared clinical outcomes between ABO-compatible (ABOc) and ABO-incompatible (ABOi) spousal donor KTs. Methods Thirty-two cases of spousal donor KT performed from January 2011 to August 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Twenty-one ABOc KTs and 11 ABOi KTs were performed. We investigated patient survival, graft survival, acute rejection, graft function, and complications. Results During follow-up, patient and graft survival rates were 100% in both groups. There were no significant differences in the incidence of delayed graft function, acute rejection, and the change in graft function between the 2 groups. Medical and surgical complications were not significantly different between the groups. Conclusion The clinical outcomes of ABOc and ABOi spousal donor KTs were equivalent. In ABOi KT, an emotionally motivated spousal donor KT may be a good alternative to the problem of the absolute shortage of kidney donations.

Improved severe hepatopulmonary syndrome after liver transplantation in an adolescent with end-stage liver disease secondary to biliary atresia

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a serious complication of end-stage liver disease, which is characterized by hypoxia, intrapulmonary vascular dilatation, and liver cirrhosis. Liver transplantation (LT) is the only curative treatment modality for patients with HPS. However, morbidity and mortality after LT, especially in cases of severe HPS, remain high. This case report describes a patient with typical findings of an extracardiac pulmonary arteriovenous shunt on contrast-enhanced transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and clubbing fingers, who had complete correction of HPS by deceased donor LT. The patient was a 16-year-old female who was born with biliary atresia and underwent porto-enterostomy on the 55th day after birth. She had been suffered from progressive liver failure with dyspnea, clubbing fingers, and cyanosis. Preoperative arterial blood gas analysis revealed severe hypoxia (arterial O2 tension of 54.5 mmHg and O2 saturation of 84.2%). Contrast-enhanced TEE revealed an extracardiac right-to-left shunt, which suggested an intrapulmonary arteriovenous shunt. The patient recovered successfully after LT, not only with respect to physical parameters but also for pychosocial activity, including school performance, during the 30-month follow-up period.

Living-Donor Liver Transplant With an Interposition Graft of the Inferior Vena Cava for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Beyond the Milan Criteria and Within the UCSF Criteria

Living-donor liver transplant for a big hepatocellular carcinoma located in the caudate lobe is challenging owing to dissemination of cancer cells during recipient hepatectomy. We report a case of living-donor liver transplant using the right side of the liver of a living donor combined with inferior vena cava interposition graft after en bloc resection of the liver and retrohepatic inferior vena cava for hepatocellular carcinoma in the caudate lobe. A 50-year-old man with chronic hepatitis B cirrhosis developed hepatocellular carcinoma in the caudate lobe and segment 5. The diameters of the masses were 4.5 cm and 2.5 cm. His model for end-stage liver disease score was 17, and he had a moderate amount of ascites. For the recipient hepatectomy, en bloc resection of the entire liver, including retrohepatic inferior vena cava and reconstruction of inferior vena cava with Dacron graft, were performed. We then performed a transplant of the right lobe taken from the living donor. This technique can be a new alternative curative treatment option for hepatocellular carcinoma located on the hepatocaval confluence or close to the inferior vena cava. We should evaluate the long-term safety for cancer recurrence and infection of an artificial vascular graft in the milieu of immunosuppression after liver transplant.

Impact of Tibial Runoff on Outcomes of Endovascular Treatment for Femoropopliteal Atherosclerotic Lesions

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of tibial runoff on outcomes of femoropopliteal interventions for atherosclerotic lesions. Methods: A retrospective review of 243 endovascular procedures for femoropopliteal atherosclerotic lesions on 243 limbs of 197 patients was performed. Results: The distribution rates of good tibial runoff (runoff score <7) and poor tibial runoff (runoff score ≥7) were 37.0% and 63.0%, respectively. In the poor tibial runoff group, the patients were older (P = .019), and the proportion of male was lower (P = .014). There was a significantly higher proportion of rest pain or tissue loss (P < .001), and the prevalence of stroke (P = .031) and renal insufficiency (P = .005) was significantly higher in the poor runoff group. After femoropopliteal intervention, the amputation-free survival (P = .03) and freedom from ischemia (P = .003) were significantly lower in the poor runoff group. The interventions targeting below-the-knee (BTK) lesions performed concomitantly for critical limb ischemia or tissue loss with poor tibial runoff did not show a significant advantage in terms of freedom from ischemia; however, minor trends of longer lasting freedom from ischemia were observed when BTK intervention was combined. Conclusion: The patients with poor runoff showed significantly lower amputation-free survival and freedom from ischemia. In poor tibial runoff limbs with critical limb ischemia or tissue loss, BTK intervention did not demonstrate additional significant beneficial outcomes; however, there was a minor trend of longer lasting freedom from ischemia after concomitant BTK intervention.

Effects of Phased Education on Attitudes toward Organ Donation and Willingness to Donate after Brain Death in an Asian Country

Background This study aimed to investigate the effects of phased education on attitudes toward organ donation and willingness to donate after brain death. Material and Methods A survey using a questionnaire to examine attitudes toward organ donation was conducted on the families of patients admitted to a surgical intensive care unit between March 1 2014 and September 30 2016. Results Ninety-two people voluntarily participated in this survey. Before undergoing education, 75.0% had positive attitudes toward organ donation, 60.9% were willing to donate from their own bodies, and 38.0% were willing to donate from family members. After education, these figures increased to 92.4%, 80.4%, and 56.5%, respectively. Before education, there was significant difference in consistency between people’s attitudes toward and willingness to donate their own organs (79.3%) versus donating from family members (54.3%) (p < 0.001). With phased education, these percentages increased from 79.3% to 85.9% with regard to donating from one’s own body, and from 54.3% to 64.1% with regard to donating from family members. Conclusions Phased education was effective overall, but it had a limited effect on change of practice toward donating organs from family members. It increased the consistency between people’s attitudes toward and willingness to donate from themselves and from family members.

Ultrasound-Guided Direct Needle Engagement for Flush-Occluded Superficial Femoral Artery

Flush ostial occlusion of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) is challenging for endovascular treatment. Neither ipsilateral nor contralateral access is easy. The drawback of ipsilateral common femoral artery (CFA) access is that the CFA is too short for catheter manipulation and sheath engagement. Contralateral retrograde CFA access could have merit, but it has the drawback of poor pushability and torquability in the manipulation of devices. The most challenging part of flush ostial occlusion is the difficulty of wire engagement into the SFA orifice. We describe a case of successful treatment of a flush-occluded long SFA lesion using ultrasound-guided direct ipsilateral ostial access.