Left-sided Group Research Articles

Primary resection and anastomosis without intraoperative colonic irrigation in left colonic cancer with complete obstruction

Objective To assess the value of primary resection and anastomosis without intraoperative irrigation in the patients with obstructive left colonic cancer. Method Between January 2000 and January 2008, 93patients underwent primary resection and anastomosis for colonic cancers were analyzed retrospectively. Primary resection and anastomosis without intraoperative colonic irrigation (decompression by manual defecation) was performed in 43 patients with obstructive left colonic caner and traditional left-sided colectomy in 50 cases without obstruction. Both groups of patients were comparable in terms of gender, nutritional status, underlaying disease, tumor location and stage, etc ( P = 0.83,0.13,0.29,0.51,0.38). The average age of the patients with colonic obstruction was significant older than that of the cases without obstruction (61.2 ± 8.6 vs. 58.1 ±7.8, P =0.010).The operative results were compared between patients with obstructive colonic cancer and cases without obstruction.Results The mean hospital stay of the primary anastomosis group and traditional left-sided colectomy group were (16.6±7.8) d and (12.4±5.4) d respectively, and the former was significant longer than the latter (P =0.002). The costs of hospitalization in the two groups were (50192.8 ± 39727.4) RMB and (46489.3 ±29543.1)RMB respectively (P = 0.04) . The morbidity and mortality in the two groups were 25.6% (11/43) vs. 18%(9/50) (P =0.375) and 2.3% (1/43) vs. 2.0% (1/50) (P =0.714) respectively, and there were no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions Primary resection and anastomosis without intraoperative colonic irrigation (decompression by manual defecation) compares favorably with traditional left-sided colectomy in safety and efficiency for left colonic cancer with obstruction. Key words: Colonic carcinoma; Intestinal obstruction; Treatment

Short-Term Outcome of Curative One-Stage Laparoscopic Resection for Obstructive Left-Sided Colon Cancers Followed by Stent Insertion: Comparative Study with Non-Obstructive Left-Sided Colon Cancers

Purpose: Laparoscopic surgery has been considered to be contraindicated for treating malignant colorectal obstruction. Stent insertion for obstructive colorectal cancer has recently allowed laparoscopic surgery to be performed by means of preoperative bowel decompression and bowel preparation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and the feasibility of a one-stage laparoscopic resection for obstructive left-sided colon cancer after stent insertion by comparing the results to those for nonobstructive left-sided colon cancer. Methods: Between May 2006 and January 2009, a laparoscopic colorectal operation was performed on 18 consecutive patients with obstructive left-sided colon cancer after placement of a self-expandable stent by one colorectal surgeon, and the results were compared retrospectively to those for 43 patients with non-obstructive left-sided colon cancer who had undergone a laparoscopic procedure with the same surgeon. The collected data were the clinicopathologic characteristics, the perioperative complications, the oncologic outcomes, the postoperative recovery results, and the survival rate. Results: The obstructive left-sided colon cancer group had significant benefits in retrieved lymph nodes (18.8 ±5.3 vs. 14.0± 8.7, P=0.036), and distal resection margin (5.5±3.0 cm vs. 3.6±2.4 cm, P=0.011). There were no significant differences in other clinicopathological characteristics and oncologic outcomes, including the overall 3-yr survival rate, between the two groups. Conclusion: Preoperative stent decompression followed by a laparoscopic colorectal resection is a safe and feasible option for treating obstructive left-sided colon cancer. A further large-scale prospective study should be performed to evaluate the long-term outcome of a one-stage laparoscopic resection using stent insertion in cases of obstructive left-sided colon cancer.

Cardiac Morbidity and Mortality After Breast Conservation Treatment in Patients with Early-Stage Breast Cancer and Preexisting Cardiac Disease

Background This study was undertaken to determine the risk of late cardiac morbidity and mortality in patients with preexisting cardiac disease treated with contemporary radiation techniques for early-stage breast cancer. Patients and Methods Medical records were reviewed for 41 patients with early-stage breast cancer and a history of myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure (CHF), and/or coronary artery disease before radiation therapy. Data were recorded on baseline cardiac disease and tumor characteristics, cardiac morbidity during and after treatment, and survival status of each patient. Patients were stratified for right-versus left-sided breast cancer and compared. Results There was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) between the right-and left-sided groups (log-rank test; P = .19). The left-sided group had a higher incidence of cardiac deaths (right side, 2 of 26 [9%]; left side, 4 of 15 [27%]; hazard ratio, 4.2; P = .08) 10 years after treatment, including deaths secondary to myocardial infarction, CHF, or coronary artery disease. On the other hand, the right-sided group had a higher proportion of deaths secondary to breast cancer (right, 8 of 26 [31%]; left, 2 of 15 [13%]) and non–breast cancer/noncardiac causes (right, 7 of 26 [27%]; left, 1 of 15 [7%]). Conclusion Although OS was similar in both groups, radiation was associated with a higher incidence of cardiac death in patients with left-sided breast cancer. Efforts should be made to minimize cardiac exposure and also to promote more vigilant risk factor modification in this group of women.

Left‐Sided microsatellite unstable colorectal cancers show less frequent methylation of hMLH1 and CpG island methylator phenotype than right‐sided ones

We compared the methylation status of several loci between right-sided and left-sided colorectal cancers (CRCs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first to report that left-sided CRCs show significantly less frequent methylation at several loci and CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) than right-sided ones. MSI CRC occurs in 10-20% of unselected series of patients with CRC. Somatic hMLH1 promoter methylation is reported to cause MSI in sporadic cases. Many researchers report that MSI CRCs are more frequently located in the right-side colon than MSS CRCs. Though the number is very small, some MSI CRCs are located in the left-side colorectum. We focused on the existence of left-sided MSI CRCs and investigated whether they arise through hMLH1 methylation as they do in right-sided ones. Thirty-eight sporadic MSI CRCs were included in the study. The methylation status of the promoter of hMLH1, p16, MINT1, 2 and 31 were examined and the proportions of methylated samples for each locus were compared. The left-sided group showed significantly less frequent methylation in hMLH1, p16, MINT1, 2 and 31. The frequency of CIMP+ samples in the left-sided group was significantly lower than the right-sided group. Left-sided MSI CRCs show significantly less frequent methylation of hMLH1. They also showed significantly less frequent occurrence of CIMP+ than right-sided ones. It is possible that left-sided MSI CRCs differ from the right-sided ones in the way of acquiring MSI.

Neuropsychological tests with lateralizing value in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy: Reconsidering material-specific theory

To assess the ability of neuropsychological tests to determine the side of seizure onset for preoperative assessment in patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. Twenty-nine consecutive patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), in whom the epileptogenic focus was clearly identified and localized to either the right or left hemisphere. Patients underwent a full neuropsychological assessment as part of their pre-surgical investigation, including the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and a variety of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) and Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WMS-III) subtests. Two multivariate analyses of variance were carried out to assess differences on memory and language measures between groups according to side of epileptogenic focus. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to find the sets of tests that best predicted the side of seizure onset (determined by EEG and MRI). Memory multivariate analysis of variance failed to show significant differences between the right- and left-sided groups. Among language measures, only the BNT revealed significant differences between the groups. The neuropsychological measures that best predicted the side of seizure onset were the BNT and Visual Reproduction II. Language measures predict the side of seizure focus better than memory measures. The results of this study in a sample of drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients challenge the memory material-specific theory for the side of seizure focus.

A PET study exploring the laterality of brainstem activation in migraine using glyceryl trinitrate

Migraine is a common disabling condition likely to be associated with dysfunction of brain pathways involved in pain and other sensory modalities. A cardinal, indeed signature, feature of the disorder that led to its name is that the pain may be lateralized. H(2)15O-labelled PET was used to study 24 migraineurs and eight healthy controls. The migraineurs were divided into three groups according to the site of their headache: right, left or bilateral. In each group, a migraine was induced using a glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) infusion. The subjects were scanned at predefined points: pre-infusion, during GTN, during migraine and post-migraine. SPM99 software was used to analyse the data. Significant brainstem activation was seen in the dorsal lateral pons (P < 0.05 after small volume correction) during the migraine state versus the pain-free state when comparing migraineurs with controls. When each group was analysed separately, to investigate laterality, it was found that the dorsal pontine activation was ipsilateral in the right-sided and left-sided groups and bilateral in the bilateral headache group with a left-sided preponderance. Consistent with previous work, the activation persisted after pain was controlled by sumatriptan. These results suggest that lateralization of pain in migraine is due to lateralized brain dysfunction.

Verbal Fluency Declines After Pallidotomy: An Interaction Between Task and Lesion Laterality

Verbal fluency declines are commonly reported after pallidotomy in patients with Parkinson's disease. However, it is not clear whether there is an interaction between side of surgery and task format (lexical vs. semantic) or whether error rates (perseverations, intrusions, rule violations) increase after surgery. This study examined verbal fluency before and approximately 4 months after unilateral pallidotomy. The left and right pallidotomy groups were matched on key demographic, cognitive, and disease variables. Pallidotomy resulted in a decline in lexical but not semantic verbal fluency, and this decline was most evident in the left-sided surgery group. Error rates (perseverations, intrusions, and rule violations) were not affected by pallidotomy. Findings support the role of left frontal-basal ganglionic circuits in word retrieval processes and/or lexical search and access.

Assessment of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality after radiation therapy for early breast cancer.

To assess the risk of fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and radiation therapy (RT) for left-sided breast cancer. A hospital-based retrospective cohort linkage study of all breast cancer patients registered at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), Toronto, Canada, between 1982 and 1988 who were treated with postlumpectomy RT was performed. Available identifiers for the study cohort were linked to two province-wide health files: the Canadian Institute for Health Information Hospitalization File and the Ontario Mortality Database. Admissions to hospital for MI and deaths attributable to MI were identified. The relevant original health records were abstracted to verify the diagnosis of MI according to diagnostic criteria used in the World Health Organization multinational monitoring of trends and determinants in cardiovascular disease (MONICA) project. We compared incidence of MI in the study cohort with the general population and incidence of MI after therapy for left- versus right-sided breast cancer. A cohort of 2,128 patients was identified. The median length of follow-up was 10.2 years. The incidence of MI in the study cohort was comparable to that in an age-matched general population of women in Ontario. There were 70 coronary events among 56 patients after breast irradiation. According to MONICA criteria, 53 and six events were characterized as definite and possible MIs, respectively. Eleven events did not satisfy MONICA criteria for MI. Twenty-six patients treated for left-sided and 23 patients treated for right-sided breast cancer experienced at least one definite or possible MI (log-rank test, P =.66). There were eight fatal MIs among the left-sided group and six among the right-sided group. There was no excess of other cardiac diseases among patients who received left-sided radiotherapy compared to the right-sided group. We have found no evidence for excess morbidity and mortality from coronary artery disease among women treated with RT to the left breast after BCS at 10.2 years of follow-up. Longer follow-up is required to confirm that excess cardiac disease has been completely avoided.

Primary hemifacial spasm and arterial hypertension: a multicenter case-control study.

In a case-control study, the authors found that arterial hypertension occurred more frequently among 115 patients with primary hemifacial spasm than among 115 neurologic controls matched for age (+/-5 years), sex, and referral center. The association was not confounded by education level, smoking history, diabetes, or other diseases (adjusted OR 2.64; 95% CI 1.3 to 5.33, p = 0.007). Hypertension was significantly associated with the outcome in the left-sided group (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.4 to 11.5), but data concerning patients with right-sided spasm were inconclusive (OR 1.05; 95% CI 0.36 to 3.1). In our sample, hypertension either preceded or followed the onset of hemifacial spasm.

Simultaneous evaluation of left- and right-sided heart pumping function during dynamic leg exercise in patients with mild chronic congestive heart failure, with special reference to afterload and plasma noradrenaline.

We simultaneously measured increases in mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (delta PCW), mean right atrial pressure (delta RA), and cardiac index (delta CI) in response to dynamic leg exercise in 81 patients with mild congestive heart failure to clarify the relationship between the left-sided and right-sided pumping function of the heart. The ratio of delta CI to delta PCW was used as an index of left-sided heart performance and the delta CI/delta RA as an index of right-sided heart performance. We also determined systemic vascular resistance, as an index of afterload on the left heart; pulmonary vascular resistance, as an index of afterload on the right heart; and the plasma level of noradrenaline before and during dynamic leg exercise. Patients with delta CI/delta PCW > 0.181/ min/m2 per mmHg were regarded as having a well functioning left heart, and the patients with delta CI/delta PCW < or = 0.181/min/m2 per mmHg as having a poorly functioning left heart. Patients with delta CI/delta RA > 0.3111/min/m2 per mmHg were regarded as having a well functioning right heart, and those with delta CI/delta RA < or = 0.311/l/min/m2 per mmHg as having a poorly functioning right heart. Patients were classified into three groups: well functioning left and right heart (normal group; n = 40), poorly functioning left and right heart (bilateral group; n = 34), and poorly functioning left heart and well functioning right heart (left-sided group; n = 7). The systemic vascular resistance index decreased during leg exercise in all patients. The decrease was smaller in the bilateral group and the left-sided group than in the normal group. The pulmonary vascular resistance index increased during exercise in the bilateral group but was unchanged in the normal group and the left-sided group. The plasma level of noradrenaline increased during exercise in all patients, but the increase was greater in the bilateral and left-sided groups than in the normal group. Pretreatment with phentolamine, an alpha-adrenoceptor antagonist, inhibited the increase in the pulmonary vascular resistance index and restored the decrease in the systemic vascular resistance index during exercise in the bilateral group. Our results showed that systemic vascular resistance, which represents afterload on the left heart, increased in the presence of impaired left-sided heart pumping function and pulmonary vascular resistance, which represents afterload on the right heart, increased in the presence of impaired right-sided heart pumping function. The inhibited decrease in systemic vascular resistance and the increase in pulmonary vascular resistance during exercise were associated with alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated vasoconstriction caused by the increase in the plasma level of noradrenaline.

Laterality in somatization.

To identify whether there is a lateralized pattern in somatic symptoms related to emotional disturbances. Sixty-one patients with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and somatization disorders were examined for the lateralized distribution of somatic symptoms in the body and its relationship to the severity of anxiety and depression. The chief somatic symptoms presented significantly more on the left side than on the right side of the body. Headache and other forms of pain, especially, occurred more on the left side. There was no significant difference between left-sided and right-sided groups in demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, education level, diagnosis, and duration of illness. The scores on Hamilton's anxiety scale or Hamilton's depression scale were higher in the left-sided group than the right-sided group, although the difference was not statistically significant. These results suggest that the right hemisphere of the brain is more involved then the left with somatization symptom formation related to emotional disturbances.

Left sidedness and sleep difficulty: The alinormal syndrome

Four indexes of laterality: handedness, footedness, eyedness, and earedness, were assessed in a sample of 1274 subjects. Left- and right-sided groups were compared on two aspects of self-reported sleep difficulty: trouble falling asleep and frequent night wakenings. The incidence of sleep difficulty was found to be elevated in the left-sided groups. The results are discussed in terms of a possible complex of behavioral deviations from the statistical norm, called the alinormal syndrome.

EFFECT OF POSTURE DURING THE INDUCTION OF SUBARACHNOID ANALGESIA FOR CAESAREAN SECTION: Right v. Left Lateral

Thirty-five women scheduled for elective Caesarean section were randomly assigned to have subarachnoid analgesia induced in either the right or left lateral position. They were then turned supine with a wedge under the right hip. No patient in the right-sided group required further analgesia. Five patients in the left-sided group required postural manipulation to encourage the spread of analgesia and two required supplementary analgesia (P less than 0.01).

PROGRESSIVE CHANGES IN CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTION AFTER UNILATERAL HEART IRRADIATION.

Chronic heart failure was produced by giving 20,000 r Co60 irradiation to either the right or left ventricle in nine closed-chest animals. Measurements of right and left atrial pressures, arterial pressure, pulse rate, body weight, and blood volume were made before and after irradiation. The right and left atrial pressures rose progressively until death in three animals irradiated on the right side. In six animals irradiated on the left side, the left atrial pressure rose progressively, but the right atrial pressure either did not rise or rose only during the latter stages of failure. Declining arterial pressure and increasing pulse rate were common to both groups. Increases in blood volume were observed in all animals, but this increase was only significant in the group irradiated on the left side. At autopsy, 70–100% of the right ventricular muscle was damaged in dogs irradiated on the right side, and 40–70% of the left ventricle in dogs irradiated on the left side. Hydrothorax and liver congestion were found in the right-sided group and pulmonary congestion in the left-sided group.