Clinical Research Directory

Effects of HIPEC on Postoperative Bowel Motility and Complications

This retrospective cohort study was conducted at our institution, involving patients with gastric cancer, appendiceal mucinous neoplasm, or colon cancer who underwent CRS with or without HIPEC between January 2017 and December 2023. Patient selection criteria would include all the following: 1) Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score \>50; 2) stage T4b (American Joint Committee on Cancer \[AJCC\] 8th edition stage) or peritoneal metastasis was confirmed during or after surgery; 3) life expectancy \>3 months; 4) peripheral white blood cell count ≥3,500/mm3 and platelet count ≥80,000/mm3; and 5) acceptable liver, renal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and coagulation function, and other major organ functions were able to endure a major operation. The exclusion criteria were defined as follows: 1) Performance of emergency surgery due to intestinal obstruction or perforation; 2) a history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); 3) two or more independent surgical procedures on the gastrointestinal tract; and 4) who received postoperative enema. Patients were divided into two groups based on the treatment strategy: (1) surgery alone (No-HIPEC group); (2) surgery combined with HIPEC (HIPEC group).

High-resolution PET-CT Specimen Imaging for the Perioperative Visualization of Resection Margins

These are patients in whom a benign or malignant tumor was recorded requiring surgery. During that surgery, the surgeon will cut away the tumor as part of the treatment of the disease. In this process, it is important that the tumor is removed correctly and completely. To verify that the correct tissue was completely removed, the tissue is examined microscopically. However, a microscopic analysis takes a relatively long time and the result is not known until a few days after the surgery is completed. If that microscopic analysis should eventually reveal that the tumor was not completely removed, additional treatment is usually necessary. An assessment of the excised tissue during surgery would allow additional tissue to be excised in the same operation if necessary. Thus, in this way, additional treatments can also be avoided. This could lead to shorter treatment time and less emotional strain for the patient, as well as lower costs. To date, however, there are no effective techniques to do this. PositronEmissionTomography (PET) imaging can be used to image the tumor that needs to be excised. To do this, a tracer must be administered through the blood before the operation. This tracer is a slightly radioactive substance that can be detected by the PET camera even at low concentrations. This technique is already routinely used in the hospital to detect cancer or inflammatory tissue in the body. During this study, however, it's not the intention to look at the tumor while it is still in the patient's body, but rather after it has been cut out of the patient's body by the surgeon. To do this, the piece of tissue cut away will be scanned using a specially designed PET-CT scanner. The overall goal of this study is to gain additional knowledge. More specifically, the investigators wish to determine which medical conditions may benefit from high-resolution PET-CT specimen imaging.