Incidental papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: is completion surgery required?

BACKGROUND

The indications for completion surgery in patients with thyroid papillary microcarcinoma (PMC), incidentally found in thyroids removed for benign conditions, remains a subject of debate.

METHODS

In a retrospective, transversal, cohort study of 187 incidental PMCs, found during histological examination of the thyroid gland in 2168 patients operated for benign thyroid conditions, we evaluated the influence of initial and completion surgery on pathological features associated to local recurrence and cancer-related mortality.

RESULTS

In the patients with almost total or total thyroidectomy at the first operation, lymphadenectomy of lymph nodes with features suggestive of malignancy on postoperative ultrasound resulted in a statistically significant (p 0.01) increase of node positive patients in pathological examination. Completion surgery in 38 out of 42 patients who underwent less than a total thyroidectomy doesn't result in a significant increase of tumor size, number, multifocality, bilaterality, invasion or nodal metastases. There were no significant differences in postoperative complications between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with less than total thyroidectomy and incidentally found PMC in resection specimens, 1-5 mm in greatest dimension and without extrathyroidal extension, completion surgery was not followed by a significant increase of pathological features associated to cancer related morbidity and mortality.

[The role of laparoscopic peritoneal cytology in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer]

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent gastro-intestinal neoplasia. The prognosis of this disease is correlated with tumor stage, surgery being the only method which offers an important improvement in survival rate. Even after curative intent surgery, some patients develop peritoneal carcinomatosis, being the most frequent modality of relapse in these cases. Performing peritoneal cytology during diagnostic laparoscopy, especially in T3 cases, might modify therapeutic strategy of those cases.

[Serial repeated laparatomy in severe trauma]

Multivisceral trauma and exanguinating hemorrhage lead to hypothermia, coagulopathy and acidosis. Formal resections and reconstructions in these unstable patient is often result in irreversible physiologic insult. For the patients with life-threatening injuries the staged control and repair of injuries may be a saving surgical strategy. The initial phase of "damage control" involves an abbreviated laparotomy, which entails temporary hemorrhage control, perfusion of vital organs and avoidance of enteric or urinary spillage. The surgical procedure is rapidly terminated, with emphasis on a temporary physiologic equilibrium rather than anatomic integrity. That is, the damage control surgery represents an extension of resuscitation phase of trauma in the operating room. The second therapeutic phase involves standard resuscitation and control of hypothermia, coagulopathy and acidosis, combined with surveillance and management of the abdominal compartment syndrome. The last phase involves the definitive repair of all temporized injuries, homeostasis, vascular reconstruction and abdominal wall repair.

[Acute intra-abdominal hypertension and "abdominal compartment syndrome"]

The acute intra-abdominal hypertension causes profound physiologic abnormalities, both within and outside the abdomen. Just as in compartment syndrome in the extremities, gut mucosal ischemia begins long before clinical signs are evident, explaining the name of "abdominal compartment syndrome" given to the acute, markedly increased intra-abdominal pressure. The abdominal compartment syndrome was initially described in patients with severe abdominal injuries and massive transfusions and crystalloid infusions, caused by the closure of fascia or skin under tension, the use of bulky abdominal packs to control diffuse bleeding, the massive bowel distension and edema, and the continued bleeding into the abdominal cavity. Intra-abdominal pressure can be monitored by measuring the urinary bladder pressure with a manometer, connected to the transurethral Foley catheter, with the symphysis pubis as the zero point. A persistent elevation of the intra-abdominal pressure beyond 20-25 cmH2O, with significant respiratory, hemodynamic and renal dysfunction is an indication for abdominal decompression, before the manifestations of abdominal compartment syndrome became clinically evident. The mortality in patients with abdominal compartment syndrome is over 40%, even when adequately treated.