Choledochal cyst is a condition involving an abnormal dilation of the bile ducts, which can lead to various symptoms and comorbidities, including cancer. The treatment of choice for choledochal cyst is surgical correction including choledochal cyst excision and Roux-en-y hepaticoenterostomy. Minimal invasive methods like laparoscopic methods or robotic methods are used for surgical correction of choledochal cysts; however, it is still controversial which method is superior. A Korean company, LIVESMED, developed Artisential® , a laparoscopic surgical instrument that can overcome the drawbacks of laparoscopic methods. This article presents a case of the first Artisential® -performed surgical excision of a choledochal cyst and hepaticojejunostomy.

Choledochal cyst is a condition involving an abnormal dilation of the bile ducts, which can lead to various symptoms and comorbidities, including cancer. The treatment of choice for choledochal cyst is surgical correction including choledochal cyst excision and Roux-en-y hepaticoenterostomy. Minimal invasive methods like laparoscopic methods or robotic methods are used for surgical correction of choledochal cysts; however, it is still controversial which method is superior. A Korean company, LIVESMED, developed Artisential® , a laparoscopic surgical instrument that can overcome the drawbacks of laparoscopic methods. This article presents a case of the first Artisential® -performed surgical excision of a choledochal cyst and hepaticojejunostomy.

Choledochal cyst is a condition involving an abnormal dilation of the bile ducts, which can lead to various symptoms and comorbidities, including cancer. The treatment of choice for choledochal cyst is surgical correction including choledochal cyst excision and Roux-en-y hepaticoenterostomy. Minimal invasive methods like laparoscopic methods or robotic methods are used for surgical correction of choledochal cysts; however, it is still controversial which method is superior. A Korean company, LIVESMED, developed Artisential® , a laparoscopic surgical instrument that can overcome the drawbacks of laparoscopic methods. This article presents a case of the first Artisential® -performed surgical excision of a choledochal cyst and hepaticojejunostomy.

Choledochal cyst is a condition involving an abnormal dilation of the bile ducts, which can lead to various symptoms and comorbidities, including cancer. The treatment of choice for choledochal cyst is surgical correction including choledochal cyst excision and Roux-en-y hepaticoenterostomy. Minimal invasive methods like laparoscopic methods or robotic methods are used for surgical correction of choledochal cysts; however, it is still controversial which method is superior. A Korean company, LIVESMED, developed Artisential® , a laparoscopic surgical instrument that can overcome the drawbacks of laparoscopic methods. This article presents a case of the first Artisential® -performed surgical excision of a choledochal cyst and hepaticojejunostomy.

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the histologic presence of heterologous component as a prognostic factor in gynecologic carcinosarcoma through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were searched for publications. Studies that evaluated survival effect of sarcomatous component based on histology in human ovarian or uterine carcinosarcoma were included. Two authors independently reviewed the references based on eligibility criteria and extracted the data including primary tumor site, survival outcome, type of survival outcome, and proportion of each sarcomatous differentiation. The quality of each eligible study was assessed with Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of survival outcome for carcinosarcoma with or without heterologous component. Results: Eight studies including 1,594 patients were identified. Overall proportion of carcinosarcoma with heterologous component was 43.3%. Presence of heterologous component was associated with worse overall survival (HR=1.81; 95% CI=1.15–2.85) but not with pooled recurrence-free survival and disease-free survival (HR=1.79; 95% CI=0.85–3.77). Removing multivariate analysis studies, early-stage studies, ovarian tumor study, or studies with large number of patient samples did not affect the significance between heterologous component and overall survival. Conclusion Gynecologic carcinosarcoma is histologically a biphasic tumor which comprise of epithelial and mesenchymal components. Our study emphasizes pathologic evaluation of heterologous component as a prognostic factor in gynecologic carcinosarcoma when all stages were considered.

Background: Fusobacterium nucleatum has been identified to promote tumor progression in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, association between F. nucleatum and prognostic or clinicopathological features has been diverse among studies, which could be affected by type of biospecimen (formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded or fresh frozen [FF]). Methods: Articles were systemically reviewed for studies that included the correlation between F. nucleatum and prognosis or clinicopathological features in CRC. Results: Ten articles, eight studies with survival-related features involving 3,199 patients and nine studies with clinical features involving 2,655 patients, were eligible for the meta-analysis. Overall survival, disease-free survival, and cancer-specific survival were all associated with worse prognosis in F. nucleatum–high patients (p<.05). In subgroup analysis, only studies with FF tissues retained prognostic significance with F. nucleatum. In meta-analysis of clinicopathological variables, F. nucleatum level was associated with location within colon, pT category, MLH1 hypermethylation, microsatellite instability status, and BRAF mutation regardless of type of biospecimen. However, lymph node metastasis and KRAS mutation was only associated with F. nucleatum level in FF-based studies. Conclusions In conclusion, type of biospecimen could affect the role of F. nucleatum as a biomarker associated with clinicopathological features and prognosis.

Background: The prognostic potential of Crohn-like lymphoid reaction (CLR) in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) has been investigated through the assessment of different criteria. Methods: The prognostic impact of CLR was investigated in 636 CRC patients to compare methods from previously published articles. These methods included CLR measured by number of lymphoid aggregates (LAs) (CLR count), LA size greater than or equal to 1 mm (CLR size), CLR density with a cutoff value of 0.38, and subjective criteria as defined by intense CLR. Results: In univariate survival analysis, CLR-positive CRC as defined by the four aforementioned methods was associated with better overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR], 0.463; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.305 to 0.702; p <.001; HR, 0.656; 95% CI, 0.411 to 1.046; p=.077; HR, 0.363; 95% CI, 0.197 to 0.669; p=.001; and HR, 0.433; 95% CI, 0.271 to 0.690; p<.001, respectively) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR, 0.411; 95% CI, 0.304 to 0.639; p<.001; HR, 0.528; 95% CI, 0.340 to 0.821; p=.004; HR, 0.382; 95% CI, 0.226 to 0.645, p=.004; and HR, 0.501; 95% CI, 0.339 to 0.741; p<.001, respectively) than CLR-negative CRC, regardless of criteria with the exception of OS for CLR density. In multivariate analysis, two objective criteria (CLR count and CLR density) and one subjective criterion (intense CLR) for defining CLR were considered independent prognostic factors of OS and DFS in CRC patients. Conclusions CLR has similar traits regardless of criteria, but CLR-positivity should be defined by objective criteria for better reproducibility and prognostic value.

Lipofibromatous hamartoma (LFH) is a rare tumor of the peripheral nerves, which usually involves the median nerve. The authors reported on two rare cases of carpal tunnel syndrome due to LFH of the median nerve. A 49-year-old female patient complained of the mass and symptoms consistent with LFH. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed typical LFH findings. The symptoms were successfully ameliorated with carpal tunnel release and external neurolysis. A 37-year-old female patient complained of weakening thumb abduction and the mass where the MRI showed atypical findings. Opponensplasty and debulking operations were performed after which thumb abduction was improved; however, neurological sequelae remained. LFH of the median nerve is managed on a case-by-case basis as treatment guidelines are not very clearly defined yet. However, the less invasive treatment such as carpal tunnel release and external neurolysis than more aggressive surgical treatment should be recommended as a treatment option.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the clinical manifestation and surgical results following operative treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome (CuTS) caused by anconeus epitrochlearis (AE) muscle.METHODS: Among 142 patients who underwent surgery for CuTS from November 2007 to October 2015, 12 were assigned to the AE group based on discovery of AE muscle; 130 patients were assigned to the other group. We analyzed retrospectively; age, sex, dominant hand, symptom duration, and weakness in hand. Severity of the disease was evaluated using the Dellon classification and postoperative symptom were evaluated using disability of arm shoulder and hand (DASH) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Surgery consisted of subfascial anterior transposition following excision of AE muscle.RESULTS: AE muscle was present in 8.5% of all patients, and was more common in patients who were younger and with involvement of their dominant hand; the duration of symptom was shorter in patients with AE muscle. All patients showed postoperative improvement in symptoms according to DASH and VAS scores.CONCLUSION: The possibility of CuTS caused by AE muscle should be considered when younger patients have rapidly aggravated and activity-related cubital tunnel symptoms with a palpable mass in the cubital tunnel area. Excision of AE muscle and anterior ulnar nerve transposition may be considered effective surgical treatment.
Arm ; Classification ; Cubital Tunnel Syndrome ; Hand ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder ; Ulnar Nerve

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have revealed that a small subset of Lynch syndrome-associated colorectal carcinomas (CRCs) is caused by a germline EPCAM deletion-induced MSH2 epimutation. Based on the finding of this genetic alteration, we investigated the implications of EPCAM expression changes in microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) CRCs. METHODS: Expression of EPCAM and DNA mismatch repair proteins was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 168 MSI-H CRCs. Using DNA samples of these tumors, MLH1 promoter methylation status was also determined by methylation-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction method (MethyLight). RESULTS: Among 168 MSI-H CRCs, complete loss (CL) and focal loss (FL) of EPCAM expression was observed in two (1.2%) and 22 (13.1%) cases, respectively. Both of the EPCAM-CL cases were found in MSH2-negative tumors without MLH1 promoter methylation. However, only nine of the 22 EPCAM-FL tumors had MSH2 deficiency. Of the 22 EPCAM-FL tumors, 13 showed MLH1 loss, and among them, nine cases were determined to have MLH1 methylation. EPCAM-FL was significantly associated with advanced stage (p=.043), distant metastasis (p=.003), poor differentiation (p=.001), and signet ring cell component (p=.004). CONCLUSIONS: Loss of EPCAM expression is differentially associated with clinicopathological and molecular features, depending on the completeness of the loss, in MSI-H CRCs.
Cellular Structures ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; DNA ; DNA Mismatch Repair ; Immunohistochemistry ; Methylation ; Microsatellite Instability ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction