Minimally Invasive Surgical Approach for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma in a Patient with Previous Belsey Mark IV Fundoplication: A Case Report

Background: Historically, the management for recurrent or persistent Gastro-esophageal reflux disease included selective vagotomy and fundoplication. Despite these surgical interventions, the risk of Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and subsequent malignant transformation remains, requiring cancer resection surgery. We present a case of a patient with a gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma, who underwent a pediatric thoracotomy and Belsey Mark IV fundoplication, and was successfully treated by Laparoscopic Ivor-Lewis Esophagectomy (LILE). Case Presentation: This 64-year-old gentleman with BE and GEJ adenocarcinoma was previously deemed unsuitable for curative surgery due to clinical staging indicating a tumor length of 10cm and suspected invasion of the left pleura. Further staging by Endoscopic ultrasound indicated no evidence of pleural invasion with the distal esophageal thickening in keeping with his previous Belsey Mark IV fundoplication. He underwent neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and a subsequent LILE with complete laparoscopic reversion of the gastric fundoplication without injury to the gastroepiploic artery or fundus. There was sufficient preservation of conduit length to enable a tension free hand-sewn anastomosis with an uneventful post-operative recovery. Final histopathology confirmed ypT1 ypN0 moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma with R0 resection margins. The patient has completed 24 months of cancer recurrence free surveillance. Conclusion: We describe the successful management of a patient by LILE on a background of previous hiatal fundoplication surgery, previously refused curative surgery. We highlight the importance of EUS as a staging modality for such cases showing invasive disease to increase the final clinical staging accuracy. We suggest a minimally invasive approach may be utilized for successful re-do hiatal dissection as an alternative to a conventional open surgery.

Predominant role of gut-vagus-brain neuronal pathway in postoperative nausea and vomiting: evidence from an observational cohort study

Background Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) as a clinically most common postoperative complication requires multimodal antiemetic medications targeting at a wide range of neurotransmitter pathways. Lacking of neurobiological mechanism makes this ‘big little problem’ still unresolved. We aim to investigate whether gut-vagus-brain reflex generally considered as one of four typical emetic neuronal pathways might be the primary mediator of PONV. Methods Three thousand two hundred twenty-three patients who underwent vagus nerve trunk resection (esophagectomy and gastrectomy) and non-vagotomy surgery (hepatectomy, pulmonary lobectomy and colorectomy) from December 2016 to January 2019 were enrolled. Thirty cases of gastrectomy with selective resection on the gastric branch of vagus nerve were also recruited. Nausea and intensity of vomiting was recorded within 24 h after the operation. Results PONV occurred in 11.9% of 1187 patients who underwent vagus nerve trunk resection and 28.7% of 2036 non-vagotomy patients respectively. Propensity score matching showed that vagotomy surgeries accounted for 19.9% of the whole PONV incidence, much less than that observed in the non-PONV group (35.1%, P < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression result revealed that vagotomy was one of underlying factor that significantly involved in PONV (OR = 0.302, 95% CI, 0.237-0.386). Nausea was reported in 5.9% ~ 8.6% vagotomy and 12 ~ 17% non-vagotomy patients. Most vomiting were mild, being approximately 3% in vagotomy and 8 ~ 13% in non-vagotomy patients, while sever vomiting was much less experienced. Furthermore, lower PONV occurrence (10%) was also observed in gastrectomy undergoing selective vagotomy. Conclusion Patients undergoing surgeries with vagotomy developed less PONV, suggesting that vagus nerve dependent gut-brain signaling might mainly contribute to PONV.

Vagotomy and Parkinson disease

Objective:To examine whether vagotomy decreases the risk of Parkinson disease (PD).Methods:Using data from nationwide Swedish registers, we conducted a matched-cohort study of 9,430 vagotomized patients (3,445 truncal and 5,978 selective) identified between 1970 and 2010 and 377,200 reference individuals from the general population individually matched to vagotomized patients by sex and year of birth with a 40:1 ratio. Participants were followed up from the date of vagotomy until PD diagnosis, death, emigration out of Sweden, or December 31, 2010, whichever occurred first. Vagotomy and PD were identified from the Swedish Patient Register. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Cox models stratified by matching variables, adjusting for country of birth, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, vascular diseases, rheumatologic disease, osteoarthritis, and comorbidity index.Results:A total of 4,930 cases of incident PD were identified during 7.3 million person-years of follow-up. PD incidence (per 100,000 person-years) was 61.8 among vagotomized patients (80.4 for truncal and 55.1 for selective) and 67.5 among reference individuals. Overall, vagotomy was not associated with PD risk (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.78–1.17). However, there was a suggestion of lower risk among patients with truncal vagotomy (HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.55–1.09), which may be driven by truncal vagotomy at least 5 years before PD diagnosis (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.37–0.93). Selective vagotomy was not related to PD risk in any analyses.Conclusions:Although overall vagotomy was not associated the risk of PD, we found suggestive evidence for a potential protective effect of truncal, but not selective, vagotomy against PD development.

Diagnosis and Management of Benign Gastric and Duodenal Disease

The diagnosis of uncomplicated peptic ulcers is difficult to make on a solely clinical basis. Whereas radiographic upper gastrointestinal (UGI) series remain useful, endoscopy is the most accurate method of establishing the diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease. Laboratory tests play an important role in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Figures showing UGI series with double contrast and H. pylori organisms on gastric biopsy samples are provided. The improved medical management of peptic ulcer disease has decreased the need for surgical intervention, which is now largely reserved for urgent management of complications such as hemorrhage, bleeding, and perforation, or the management of obstruction from intractable disease. The appropriate extent of preoperative evaluation for a patient undergoing surgery for a benign gastroduodenal disorder is dictated primarily by the nature of the presenting problem. Endoscopy is the main diagnostic tool to identify the source of bleeding, and in many cases endoscopic therapy can control the bleeding. Angiographic transarterial embolization may be considered following failed endoscopic hemostasis, particularly in high-risk surgical patients. Operative planning is described. The steps of the operative technique, complications, and outcome evaluations are provided for the main surgical interventions for peptic ulcer disease, including vagotomy and pyloroplasty for bleeding duodenal ulcer; resection of bleeding gastric ulcer; omental patch for duodenal perforation (Graham patch); antrectomy; highly selective vagotomy; laparoscopic treatment of peptic ulcer disease; and duodenal diverticulectomy. Operative figures show a Kocher maneuver; omental patch; truncal vagotomy; highly selective vagotomy; Taylor procedure; Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty; Finney pyloroplasty; Billroth I and II antrectomy; Braun enteroenterostomy; and duodenal diverticulectomy. This review contains 15 figures, 2 tables, and 43 references.

Highly selective vagotomy and gastrojejunostomy in the treatment of peptic ulcer induced gastric outlet obstruction

Background/Aim. The incidence of peptic ulcer-induced gastric outlet obstruction is constantly declining. The aim of this study was to present our results in the treatment of gastric outlet obstruction with highly selective vagotomy and gastrojejunostomy. Methods. This retrospective clinical study included 13 patients with peptic ulcer - induced gastric outlet obstruction operated with higly selective vagotomy and gastrojejunostomy. A 3-year follow-up was conducted including clinical interview and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy on 1 and 3 years after the surgery. Results. The most common preoperative symptom was vomiting (in 92.3% of patients). The mean preoperative body mass index was 16.3 ? 3.1 kg/m2, with 9 patients classified preoperatively as underweight. There were no intraoperative complications, nor mortality. At a 3-year follow-up there was no ulcer recurrence. Delayed gastric emptying was present in 1, bile reflux in 2, and erosive gastritis in 1 patient. Two patients suffered from mild ?dumping? syndrome. Conclusion. Higly selective vagotomy combined with gastrojejunostomy is a safe and easily feasible surgical solution of gastric outlet obstruction induced by peptic ulcer. Good functional results and low rate of complications can be expected at a long-term follow-up.