Pancreatic cancer is a major problematic concern among all forms of gastrointestinal malignancies because of its poor prognosis. Although significant progress has been made in the surgical treatment in terms of increased resection rate and decreased treatment-related morbidity and mortality, the true survival rate still remains below 5% today. Surgical options for pancreatic cancer are based on the its unique anatomy and physiology, catastrophic tumor biology, experience of surgeon, and status of patients. Four main options exist for the surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer. These include standard "Whipple" pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), pylorus preserving PD (PPPD), distal pancreatectomy (left-side pancreatectomy), and total pancreatectomy according to the location of tumor. Portal vein involvement by tumor is regarded as an anatomical extension of disease, and en bloc resection of portal vein with tumor is recommended if technically feasible, which is stated in 2002 AJCC tumor staging for pancreatic cancer. In comparison of the survival rates between standard and extended resection of pancreatic head cancer, no significant survival benefit was demonstrated from the prospective reports. PPPD may be superior to standard PD in respect to nutrition and quality of life without any deleterious effect upon long term survival or tumor recurrence. New surgical treatment modalities including modified extended pancreatectomy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and radical antegrade modular distal pancreatectomy have been tried to improve the patients' survival. However, early diagnosis and treatment remain as key factors for the cure of pancreatic cancer irrespective of various surgical trials.
Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/mortality/pathology/*surgery ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Portal Vein/pathology/surgery ; Prognosis ; Survival Rate

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Portal Vein

OBJECTIVETo review the outcomes of living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) in treating 3 cases of cavernous transformation of portal vein (CTPV) with severe portal hypertension.

METHODSThree children (two boys and one girl) were presented to our hospital with recurring esophageal variceal bleeding, decompensating ascites, splenomegaly and refractory anemia. CTPV was confirmed by intravenous computed tomographic portography using a helical computed tomography scanner and 3-dimensional image reconstruction. LRLT were performed in these 3 patients from July 2006 to January 2007. The evaluation of the outcomes was made by referring to their clinical features and laboratory and imaging examination findings.

RESULTSAlthough one patient died from early graft thrombosis, the other two patients showed excellent prognoses. They lived and stayed well during a follow-up period of 12-14 months. Following the transplantations, there had been no esophageal variceal hemorrhage, the ascites disappeared and the portal hypertension vanished. Their hemoglobin, blood platelets count, and serum albumin reached normal values.

CONCLUSIONLRLT is an effective procedure in treating CTPV with severe portal hypertension. The reconstruction of the portal vein is the difficult part of the LRLT procedure.

Child ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; pathology ; surgery ; Liver Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Male ; Parents ; Portal Vein ; pathology ; Treatment Outcome

Child ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; surgery ; Liver Transplantation ; methods ; Living Donors ; Male ; Portal Vein ; pathology

Bile Duct Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; pathology ; surgery ; Hepatectomy ; methods ; Hepatic Artery ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; methods ; Portal Vein ; pathology ; surgery

OBJECTIVE: We wished to evaluate the effect of the Pringle maneuver (occlusion of both the hepatic artery and portal vein) on the pathologic changes in the hepatic vessels, bile ducts and liver parenchyma surrounding the ablation zone in rabbit livers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiofrequency (RF) ablation zones were created in the livers of 24 rabbits in vivo by using a 50-W, 480-kHz monopolar RF generator and a 15-gauge expandable electrode with four sharp prongs for 7 mins. The tips of the electrodes were placed in the liver parenchyma near the porta hepatis with the distal 1 cm of their prongs deployed. Radiofrequency ablation was performed in the groups with (n=12 rabbits) and without (n=12 rabbits) the Pringle maneuver. Three animals of each group were sacrificed immediately, three days (the acute phase), seven days (the early subacute phase) and two weeks (the late subacute phase) after RF ablation. The ablation zones were excised and serial pathologic changes in the hepatic vessels, bile ducts and liver parenchyma surrounding the ablation zone were evaluated. RESULTS: With the Pringle maneuver, portal vein thrombosis was found in three cases (in the immediate [n=2] and acute phase [n=1]), bile duct dilatation adjacent to the ablation zone was found in one case (in the late subacute phase [n=1]), infarction adjacent to the ablation zone was found in three cases (in the early subacute [n=2] and late subacute [n=1] phases). None of the above changes was found in the livers ablated without the Pringle maneuver. On the microscopic findings, centrilobular congestion, sinusoidal congestion, sinusoidal platelet and neutrophilic adhesion, and hepatocyte vacuolar and ballooning changes in liver ablated with Pringle maneuver showed more significant changes than in those livers ablated without the Pringle maneuver (p < 0.05) CONCLUSION: Radiofrequency ablation with the Pringle maneuver created more severe pathologic changes in the portal vein, bile ducts and liver parenchyma surrounding the ablation zone compared with RF ablation without the Pringle maneuver. Therefore, we suggest that RF ablation with the Pringle maneuver should be performed with great caution in order to avoid unwanted thermal injury.
Animals ; Bile Ducts/*pathology/surgery ; *Catheter Ablation ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hepatic Artery/*pathology/surgery ; Liver/*blood supply/pathology/*surgery ; Male ; Necrosis ; Portal Vein/pathology ; Rabbits

OBJECTIVETo analyze the R1 rate of the pancreatic head carcinoma resection specimens which delt with a unified protocol by two different R1 criteria.

METHODSBetween November 2011 and October 2013, a unified pathological protocol was prospectively used to handle 70 consecutive pancreatioduodenectomy specimens for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Apart from the pancreatic transection margin, the bile duct and stomach/jejunum margins, different colors were used to stain the anterior surface, the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) groove margin, the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) margin, and the posterior surface. Axial slicing technique was used to dissect the pancreatioduodenectomy specimens.

RESULTSAmong the 70 patients, 3, 30 and 37 patients were classified as well, moderately and poorly differentiated respectively;7, 15 and 48 patients were classified as pT1, pT2 and pT3 respectively.Forty patients (57.1%) had metastases in regional lymph nodes (pN1) , and 16 patients (22.9%) had metastases in para-aortic nodes.Resection of the portal vein and/or the superior mesenteric vein was performed in 13 patients (18.6%) .When applying the UICC criteria, 26 cancer resections were classified R1 (37.1%) , 33 margins were turned out to be R1. The SMV groove margin and SMA margin were infiltrated in 13 specimens (13/33, 39.4%) respectively.When applying the Royal College of Pathologist's criteria, 39 cancer resections were classified R1 (55.7%) , 51 margins were turned out to be R1. The SMV groove margin and SMA margin were infiltrated in 18 (18/51, 35.3%) and 19 (19/51, 37.3%) specimen respectively.Until April 2014, the median follow-up was 18(range 6-42) months.

CONCLUSIONSApplying the unified protocol for pancreatic head ductal adenocarcinoma specimens results in an significant R1 rate of the resection margins, and the R1 rate is related to the R1 criterion. The SMV groove margin and SMA margin are the two most frequent sites of R1.

Adenocarcinoma ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal ; pathology ; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; surgery ; Pancreas ; pathology ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; pathology ; Portal Vein ; surgery

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of portal vein microscopic and macroscopic tumor thrombi on post-operation patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODSThree thousand three hundred and forty eight HCC patients were retrospectively reviewed, which were divided into no portal vein tumor thrombi (PVTT), microscopic PVTT and macroscopic PVTT groups according to the pathology, effects of portal vein microscopic and macroscopic tumor thrombi on post-operation patients's survival were studied by univariate analysis and overall survival was evaluated in each group.

RESULTSHazard ratio (HR) of portal vein microscopic tumor thrombi and macroscopic tumor thrombi was 1.421 and 3.136 respectively; The overall 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-year cumulative survival rate was 85.97%, 62.78%, 49.88% and 35.42% respectively, and mean time for survival was 59.7 months in group without PVTT, while 74.42%, 51.66%, 39.25% and 27.28% respectively and mean time for survival 39.1 months in group with microscopic PVTT, 52.59%, 25.97%, 20.42% and 11.33% respectively and mean time for survival 13.5 months in group with macroscopic PVTT.

CONCLUSIONSPVTT was an important prognostic factor for survival in post-operation patients with HCC while macroscopic PVTT was more danger than microscopic PVTT. The period of microscopic PVTT was the landmark affecting post-operation survival.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Portal Vein ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

The creation of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is a widely performed technique to relieve portal hypertension, and to manage recurrent variceal bleeding and refractory ascites in patients where medical and/or endoscopic treatments have failed. However, portosystemic shunt creation can be challenging in the presence of chronic portal vein occlusion. In this case report, we describe a minimally invasive endovascular mesocaval shunt creation with transsplenic approach for the management of recurrent variceal bleeding in a portal hypertension patient with intra- and extrahepatic portal vein occlusion.
Adolescent ; Chronic Disease ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices/complications ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices/diagnostic imaging ; Esophageal and Gastric Varices/therapy ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/complications ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/diagnostic imaging ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage/therapy ; Humans ; Jejunum/pathology ; Portacaval Shunt, Surgical ; Portal Vein/diagnostic imaging ; Portal Vein/pathology ; Portal Vein/surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome ; Venous Thrombosis/complications ; Venous Thrombosis/diagnostic imaging ; Venous Thrombosis/therapy

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of targeted argon-helium cryoablation on portal region of the liver in dogs by observing the pathological changes in the first-order branches of the Glisson ductal system.

METHODSTwelve healthy dogs underwent percutaneous targeted argon-helium cryoablation of the liver and sacrificed at 3 and 28 days after the cryoablation to observe the pathological changes in target area for cryoablation and the first-order branches of the Glisson ductal system.

RESULTSNo obvious damage was not found in the vascular wall of the portal vein by gross or microscopic observation, but the liver tissue in the vicinity of the blood vessels showed total necrosis. In spite of the injuries of different degrees in the first-order bile duct system after argon-helium cryoablation, no severe damages such as perforation or full-thickness necrosis occurred in bile duct wall, and most of the injuries were temporary and reversible. The size of the ablated area on day 28 was significantly reduced as compared with that on day 3 following the cryoablation (P<0.05). In the acute stage after the cryoablation (1-3 days), ALT and AST levels increased significantly in (P<0.05) but recovered 1-4 weeks later (P>0.05). The cryoablated area was basically consistent with the pathological area that underwent necrosis (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONTargeted argon-helium cryoablation can cause total destruction of the liver tissue around the blood vessel without damaging the vascular walls of the portal vein. Argon-helium cryoablation induces relatively minor injuries to the bile duct of hepatic portal section and does not obviously damage the liver function, and the scope of tissue necrosis can be estimated according to the size of frozen area observed. Argon-helium cryoablation is a safe and minimally invasive operation with reliable therapeutic effect.

Animals ; Argon ; Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic ; pathology ; Cryosurgery ; adverse effects ; methods ; Dogs ; Female ; Helium ; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental ; surgery ; Male ; Portal Vein ; pathology ; Random Allocation