Single-incision laparoscopic surgery: an update of current evidence

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Robotic anterior resection in a patient with situs inversus: is it merely a mirror image of everything?

Situs inversus (SI) is a rare condition involving transposition of internal organs. In performing minimally invasive surgeries for these patients, exact mirror image of the usual technique may not be easily achieved, especially for right-handed surgeons. We describe a case of robotic anterior resection in a patient with rectal cancer and SI, illustrating the technique and how robotic system facilitates the procedure. A 59-year-old gentleman presented with altered bowel habit. Colonoscopy showed an obstructing tumour at 10 cm from the anal verge. Computed tomography did not show distant metastasis, but revealed the diagnosis of SI. Intraoperative laparoscopy revealed peritoneal metastasis. Total robotic, single docking, anterior resection was performed to palliate his obstructive symptoms. The operation lasted for 3 h and 24 min. Blood loss was 100 ml. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. The patient was discharged on day four. The final pathology was T3N2M1.postprin

Transperineal endoscopic drainage of a presacral and paraspinal abscess

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Laparoscopic colorectal resections with and without routine mechanical bowel preparation: a comparative study

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Alternatives to colonoscopy for population-wide colorectal cancer screening

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Identification of serum miR-139-3p as a non-invasive biomarker for colorectal cancer

Aberrant levels of circulating microRNAs are potential biomarkers for the early detection of colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to study miR-139-3p and miR-622 in serum as a non-invasive biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnosis. We applied quantitative polymerase chain reaction to determine the levels of miR-139-3p and miR-622 in 42 pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues, and in serum samples of 117 patients and 90 control subjects. Our results showed that miR-139-3p was silenced whereas miR-622 was overexpressed in colorectal cancer. Similarly, serum miR-139-3p level was significantly lower in colorectal cancer patients than in control subjects whereas miR-622 was more frequently detectable in patients. ROC analysis showed that AUC of miR-139-3p was 0.9935, with a sensitivity of 96.6% and specificity of 97.8%. Serum miR-139-3p level showed high sensitivity and specificity for both early and late stage CRCs and proximal and distal CRCs. Detectable serum miR-622 showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 63.5% for discriminating CRC patients, but the sensitivity dropped for late stage patients (72.7%). We also included analyses of the blood CEA level for comparing the diagnostic performance of these blood-based biomarkers. The median level in CRC patients (3.6 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that in control (1.8 ng/ml). The AUC value of CEA in diagnosing CRC patients was 0.7515. CEA showed a positive correlation with tumor stage and age of patients and its level was higher in male. Collectively, serum miR-139-3p has strong potential as a promising non-invasive biomarker in colorectal cancer detection.published_or_final_versio

Identification of microRNA 885-5p as a novel regulator of tumor metastasis by targeting CPEB2 in colorectal cancer

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The clinicopathological significance of miR-133a in colorectal cancer

This study determined the expression of microRNA-133a (MiR-133a) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and adjacent normal mucosa samples and evaluated its clinicopathological role in CRC. The expression of miR-133a in 125 pairs of tissue samples was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and correlated with patient's clinicopathological data by statistical analysis. Endogenous expression levels of several potential target genes were determined by qRT-PCR and correlated using Pearson's method. MiR-133a was downregulated in 83.2% of tumors compared to normal mucosal tissue. Higher miR-133a expression in tumor tissues was associated with development of distant metastasis, advanced Dukes and TNM staging, and poor survival. The unfavorable prognosis of higher miR-133a expression was accompanied by dysregulation of potential miR-133a target genes, LIM and SH3 domain protein 1 (LASP1), Caveolin-1 (CAV1), and Fascin-1 (FSCN1). LASP1 was found to possess a negative correlation (γ=-0.23), whereas CAV1 exhibited a significant positive correlation (γ=0.27), and a stronger correlation was found in patients who developed distant metastases (γ=0.42). In addition, a negative correlation of FSCN1 was only found in nonmetastatic patients. In conclusion, miR-133a was downregulated in CRC tissues, but its higher expression correlated with adverse clinical characteristics and poor prognosis. © 2014 Timothy Ming-Hun Wan et al.published_or_final_versio

Identification of serum miR-139-3p as a non-invasive biomarker for colorectal cancer

Aberrant levels of circulating microRNAs are potential biomarkers for the early detection of colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to study miR-139-3p and miR-622 in serum as a non-invasive biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnosis. We applied quantitative polymerase chain reaction to determine the levels of miR-139-3p and miR-622 in 42 pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues, and in serum samples of 117 patients and 90 control subjects. Our results showed that miR-139-3p was silenced whereas miR-622 was overexpressed in colorectal cancer. Similarly, serum miR-139-3p level was significantly lower in colorectal cancer patients than in control subjects whereas miR-622 was more frequently detectable in patients. ROC analysis showed that AUC of miR-139-3p was 0.9935, with a sensitivity of 96.6% and specificity of 97.8%. Serum miR-139-3p level showed high sensitivity and specificity for both early and late stage CRCs and proximal and distal CRCs. Detectable serum miR-622 showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 63.5% for discriminating CRC patients, but the sensitivity dropped for late stage patients (72.7%). We also included analyses of the blood CEA level for comparing the diagnostic performance of these blood-based biomarkers. The median level in CRC patients (3.6 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that in control (1.8 ng/ml). The AUC value of CEA in diagnosing CRC patients was 0.7515. CEA showed a positive correlation with tumor stage and age of patients and its level was higher in male. Collectively, serum miR-139-3p has strong potential as a promising non-invasive biomarker in colorectal cancer detection.published_or_final_versio