Impact of anaemia at discharge following colorectal cancer surgery.

Objectives: Preoperative anaemia is common in patients with colorectal cancer and increasingly optimised prior to surgery. Comparably little attention is given to the prevalence and consequences of postoperative anaemia. We aimed to investigate the frequency and short- or long-term impact of anaemia at discharge following colorectal cancer resection.

Factors Predicting Operative Difficulty of Laparoscopic Total Mesorectal Excision.

Background: Laparoscopic total mesorectal excision is a challenging procedure requiring high-quality surgery for optimal outcomes. Patient, tumor, and pelvic factors are believed to determine difficulty, but previous studies were limited to postoperative data.

Objective: This study aimed to report factors predicting laparoscopic total mesorectal excision performance by using objective intraoperative assessment.

Clinical Evaluation of Intraoperative Near Misses in Laparoscopic Rectal Cancer Surgery.

Objective: To investigate the frequency, nature, and severity of intraoperative adverse near miss events within advanced laparoscopic surgery and report any associated clinical impact.

Background: Despite implementation of surgical safety initiatives, the intraoperative period is poorly documented with evidence of underreporting. Near miss analyses are undertaken in high-risk industries but not in surgical practice.

IGFBP-3 can either inhibit or enhance EGF-mediated growth of breast epithelial cells dependent upon the presence of fibronectin.

Progression of breast cancer is associated with remodeling of the extracellular matrix, often involving a switch from estrogen dependence to a dependence on EGF receptor (EGFR)/HER-2 and is accompanied by increased expression of the main binding protein for insulin-like growth factors (IGFBP-3). We have examined the effects of IGFBP-3 on EGF responses of breast epithelial cells in the context of changes in the extracellular matrix. On plastic and laminin with MCF-10A normal breast epithelial cells, EGF and IGFBP-3 each increased cell growth and together produced a synergistic response, whereas with T47D breast cancer cells IGFBP-3 alone had no effect, but the ability of EGF to increase cell proliferation was markedly inhibited in the presence of IGFBP-3.

Male mammary fistula complicating senescent gynecomastia.

Mammary fistulas occurring in males are extremely rare, the first being described in 1974 by Tedeschi et al. (1). Our detailed review of the world literature has revealed a total of just 20 cases of mammary fistulas in males; a total which includes three cases of mammary fistulas in infants and three cases associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.