Esophageal cancer is a growing problem in the United States. Surgical resection, often in combination with chemoradiotherapy, provides the only approach to offer a cure for these patients. Traditional open approaches are burdened by high levels of morbidity and mortality. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) has been proposed as an alternative approach. Although MIE is complex and perhaps more time-consuming, perioperative results are encouraging and generally trend toward fewer pulmonary complications, lower blood loss, shorter ICU stays, and shorter overall hospitalization durations.
Laparoscopic Gastric Wedge Resection for a GIST Vahagn G. Hambardzumyan, MD1; Martin Goodman, MD2 1Yerevan State Medical University, Heratsi Hospital Complex 2Tufts University School of Medicine
The stomach is involved in multiple common ailments, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastric ulcers, and cancer, the latter of which can take many forms. Originally, GISTs arise from the connective tissue, or stroma, of the stomach, rather than the lining, from which the more common and more deadly gastric adenocarcinoma finds its origin. However, over time, study revealed that GIST arises from a very specific cell, called the interstitial cells of Cajal, that are responsible for the timing of contraction in the stomach and small intestine. GIST masses generally behave more indolently than gastric adenocarcinoma, with distant or lymph node metastases a rare feature, although involvement of the liver and peritoneum has been described. Due to this indolent nature, certain masses, once they have been identified as GIST through endoscopic biopsy, are candidates for surveillance. However, larger masses (as identified through evidence of necrosis on imaging) and rapidly growing masses are treated primarily with surgical resection. While in the past surgical resection would have involved a large abdominal incision and a lengthy postoperative recovery, laparoscopic techniques have allowed gastric resection to become a short procedure necessitating only an overnight stay.
Hemithyroidectomy, or unilateral thyroid lobectomy, refers to removal of half the thyroid gland. The procedure is typically performed for suspicious thyroid nodules or small differentiated thyroid cancers based on biopsy via fine needle aspiration (FNA) and occasionally for symptomatic benign thyroid nodules.
At most institutions the operation can be completed safely in an outpatient fashion with patient discharge from the hospital the same day. It is typically performed via a transcervical collar incision, but endoscopic, transoral routes and remote access approach with robotic instrumentation have been described. The procedure involves mobilization of the thyroid lobe, ligation of thyroid vessels, preservation of parathyroids, protection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, and dissection away from the trachea. In this patient, a thyroid nodule was detected and found to have indeterminate features on biopsy via FNA. A hemithyroidectomy was then performed for diagnostic purposes.
Radical neck dissection was once the standard of care for the surgical management of patients with thyroid cancer and cervical lymph node metastases. However, due to the significant morbidity of this procedure, the development of cervical lymphadenectomy procedures that could provide oncologic cure while minimizing morbidity was undertaken by many surgeons. Such an investigation has led to the development of the modified radical neck dissection (MRND). Still, many institutions are not familiar with performing a comprehensive MRND in the setting of thyroid cancer metastatic to the lateral lymph node compartments. This article presents such an operation under general anesthesia.
Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. Transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) is a common urologic surgical procedure used to diagnose, stage, and treat bladder cancer. This article presents a patient who had multiple episodes of gross hematuria and was found to have multifocal bladder tumors. In this case, TURBT was performed to confirm the diagnosis of bladder cancer, remove all visible bladder tumors, and prevent further episodes of gross hematuria.
This case presentation involved a female patient with breast cancer who underwent a lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy using the Lumicell system for intraoperative detection of residual cancer. The aim was to detect residual tumor cells during the initial operation and avoid subsequent surgeries. This video provides a thorough presentation of lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy utilizing the Lumicell system to detect any remaining cancer during surgery. The video covers the entire process, from preoperative preparation to the final step of skin closure.
This video describes the surgical technique for an open duodenal resection and antrectomy, which was performed for a neuroendocrine tumor of the duodenal bulb. In this procedure, an upper midline laparotomy is first made, followed by mobilization of the distal stomach, duodenum, and head of the pancreas. Next is to Kocherize the duodenum, then ligate that right gastric artery and dissect the gastrohepatic ligament, followed by ligation of the right gastroepiploic vessels and taking down the gastrocolic ligament exposing the lesser sac. Once the structures are adequately mobilized, the first portion of the duodenum is dissected off of the head of the pancreas and transected with a TA stapler. The antrectomy is performed next, removing the specimen. For the reconstruction, a retrocolic end-to-side hand-sewn gastrojejunostomy was performed. This technique can be used for multiple indications, including peptic ulcer disease and other mass lesions of the antrum, pylorus, or duodenal bulb.
Bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) is a contemporary technique for remote-access thyroidectomy. BABA robotic thyroidectomy (RT) offers a number of benefits over other remote-access thyroidectomy techniques, such as provision of a three-dimensional symmetric view of bilateral thyroid lobes and optimal visualization of important anatomical landmarks, including the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), thyroidal vessels, parathyroid glands, and the trachea.
This educational video is a thorough demonstration of BABA RT performed on a young female patient diagnosed with a left-sided thyroid nodule in her early thirties. The thyroid fine needle aspiration biopsy of the 4-cm nodule was indeterminate. Additional molecular testing of the specimen had revealed one of the mutations associated with thyroid cancer. Therefore, a diagnostic thyroid lobectomy was planned. The patient had expressed a strong desire to avoid an obvious neck scar, and therefore, the BABA RT was offered.
Sphenoid wing meningiomas are typically benign, slow-growing tumors that may be identified incidentally on imaging or due to a symptomatic presentation from compression of a nearby structure. Located along the sphenoid wing, these tumors may infiltrate or compress the optic nerve, oculomotor nerve, cavernous sinus, or internal carotid artery, causing neurologic deficits such as visual disturbances, headache, paresis, and diplopia.
Surgical resection is considered the first-line treatment for a symptomatic meningioma, but is often challenging due to tumor proximity to these critical neurovascular structures. The most important prognostic factor for recurrence is the completeness of the surgical removal of the tumor, but this goal must be adapted to preserve neurologic function based on individual tumor location and invasion. Here we present a case of a 43-year-old patient diagnosed with a sphenoid wing meningioma after presenting with episodic difficulty speaking and aura-like symptoms who underwent total neurosurgical resection of the tumor via craniotomy.
Partial Glossectomy Liana Puscas, MD, MHS1; C. Scott Brown, MD1; Vahagn G. Hambardzumyan, MD2 1Duke University Medical Center 2Yerevan State Medical University, Heratsi Hospital Complex
In this clinical case, a patient presented with a well-circumscribed lesion on her tongue, causing interference with eating as it grew. Despite its benign appearance, an initial in-office biopsy was performed and metastatic breast cancer was found.
Jaw and oral cavity involvement by metastatic disease is very rare, occurring in less than 1% of all oral malignancies. In this video, a partial glossectomy was performed to remove the lesion.
