Objective:To investigate the safety and outcomes of associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:The clinical data of HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy at the University of Hongkong-Shenzhen Hospital from April 2014 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Of 57 HCC patients who were enrolled, there were 43 males and 14 females, aged (51±14) years old. According to the surgical method, the patients were divided into two groups: patients with pre-operative residual liver volume/standard liver volume <30% who underwent ALPPS procedure by anterior approach formed the study group ( n=20), and patients who underwent right hepatectomy with residual liver volume/standard liver volume ≥35% formed the control group ( n=37). Clinicopathological data and prognosis were reviewed and compared between the two groups. The patients were followed up via outpatient service and telephone. Results:There were more patients with well-moderately differentiated HCC in the study group than in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). All patients in the study group successfully completed two-step hepatectomy. Compared with the control group, the operative duration [644(535, 780) vs. 352 (269, 401) min], intraoperative blood loss [1 650 (1 338, 2 200) vs. 650 (500, 925) ml], and proportion of patients requiring blood transfusion (60.0% vs. 29.7%) were increased in the study group. The difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of grade III or higher complications between the study group and the control group [30.0% (6/20) vs. 18.9% (7/37), χ 2=0.91, P=0.341]. The 1-, 2- and 3-year overall survival rates were 90.0%, 63.8% and 46.4% respectively, and the corresponding tumor-free survival rates were 53.3%, 35.6%, and 35.6% respectively for the study group. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival rates were 71.4%, 63.4%, 51.7%, and tumor-free survival rates were 39.0%, 18.5%, 9.3% in the control group respectively. There was no significant difference in the postoperative survival rate and tumor-free survival rate between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusion:ALPPS was safe and feasible for treatment of right hepatocellular carcinoma with insufficient residual liver volume, and its survival outcomes was similar with one-stage right hepatectomy for HCC patients.

Objective To evaluate the molluscicidal effect of spraying 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules with drones against of Oncomelania hupensis snails in snail habitats in marshland areas. Methods From September to October, 2022, marshlands were sampled from Dantu District, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province as study areas, and assigned into four groups, of approximately 3 000 m² per group. In Group A, environmental cleaning was performed, followed by spraying 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules with knapsack sprayers at a dose of 40 g/m², and in Group B, 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules were sprayed with knapsack sprayers at a dose of 40 g/m² without environmental cleaning, while in Group C, environmental cleaning was conducted, followed by spraying 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules with drones at a dose of 40 g/m², and in Group D, 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules were sprayed with drones at a dose of 40 g/m² without environmental cleaning. Then, the study areas in each group were equally divided into six blocks, with Block 1 for baseline surveys and blocks 2 to 6 for snail surveys 1, 3, 5, 7, 14 days following chemical treatment. The mortality of snails and the reduction of the density of living snails were calculated. Results A total of 132 frames were surveyed during the period from September to October 2022, and the occurrence of frames with living snails and means density of living snails were 61.36% (81/132) and 1.58 snails/0.1 m², respectively. The overall mortality rates of snails were 43.02% (77/179), 38.69% (77/199), 47.78% (86/180) and 31.02% (58/187) 14 days following chemical treatment in groups A, B, C and D, respectively (χ² = 11.646, P < 0.05), and there were differences detected in the snail mortality between group A and D, and between groups C and D (both P_adjusted values < 0.05). The adjusted mortality rates of snails were 37.42%, 36.07%, 38.85% and 40.40% in groups A, B, C and D 14 days post-treatment, and the density of living snails decreased by 48.10%, 63.29%, 67.09% and 69.62% 14 days post-treatment relative to pre-treatment, respectively. Conclusions Chemical treatment with drones is feasible for O. hupensis snail control in marshland areas; however, the molluscicidal effect of spraying 5% niclosamide ethanolamine salt granules with drones is comparable to spraying chemicals manually in marshland areas regardless of environmental cleaning.