Activity

3 (range, 18-30) points with no significant difference in patients with primary or secondary tumors. The rate of complications in the present series was 45%. The most frequent complication was an infection in 10 patients (16.7%), followed by aseptic loosening in 7 patients (11.7%). Local recurrence of primary bone tumors occurred in three out of 44 patients (6.8%).

Modular bipolar tumor prosthesis has a good long-term functional result in both primary and secondary tumors of the proximal femur, with no significant effect of age, presence or absence of pathological fracture or femoral resection length on the functional outcome. It was found that the only statistically significant variable regarding the risk of infection is previous surgeries.

Level IV, retrospective case series.

Level IV, retrospective case series.The contradictory findings of recent prospective randomized controlled trials assessing the impact of percutaneous edge-to-edge repair in patients with functional or secondary mitral regurgitation have triggered a lively discussion about an “integrated” echocardiographic approach for grading severity of mitral regurgitation. In the MITRA-FR trial, the COAPT trial and the REDUCE-FMR trial echocardiographic assessment of the severity of mitral regurgitation was consistent with principles set forth by the current echocardiographic guidelines and analysed in its best settings by expert international leaders in the field of echocardiography. However, serious inconsistencies appeared in the presented echocardiographic assessments regarding cardiac output and regurgitant fraction. A new term “disproportionate functional mitral regurgitation” was introduced describing a situation where the increase of effective regurgitant orifice area exceeds the enlargement of the left ventricular end-diastolic volumes. Further discussion resulted in the idea of a “new conceptional framework” for distinguishing “proportionate” and “disproportionate” functional mitral regurgitation. see more The aim of this viewpoint is to dispute conclusions based on the term “disproportionate” mitral regurgitation. A “disproportionate” FMR is highly questionable because disproportionateness of flow in communication vessels cannot exist. In addition, a proposal of echocardiographic assessment based on a conventional comprehensive transthoracic echocardiography is given to avoid obvious hemodynamic contradictions.

Studies have shown differences in postoperative outcomes between two minimally invasive extraction methods for colorectal lesions-natural orifice specimen extraction surgery (NOSES) and conventional laparoscopic surgery (CLS). The aim of this study was to discover the major differences in NOSES and CLS to refine current practice.

Electronic databases were searched for articles comparing NOSES and CLS from inception till March 2020. Weighted mean differences (WMD) and odds ratio (OR) were estimated for continuous and dichotomous outcomes, respectively. Summary statistics were calculated using the DerSimonian and Laird random effects.

Twenty-one studies (15 on malignant disease, 4 on benign disease, 2 on both) were included in this meta-analysis, totalling 2378 patients (1079 NOSE, 1299 CLS). NOSE was associated with decreased intraoperative bleeding (WMD -10.652ml; 95% CI -18.818ml to -2.482ml; p < 0.001), pain score (WMD -1.520; 95% CI -1.965 to -1.076; p < 0.001), time to flatus (WMD -0.306days; site to better inform clinical practice.

Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) has become a widespread treatment option in patients affected by severe obesity. However, studies investigating the impact of the subsequent weight loss on the ventilatory response at rest and during physical exercise are lacking.

This is an observational study on 46 patients with severe obesity (76% females), comparing parameters of ventilatory function 1month before and 6months after SG. Patients were first evaluated by resting spirometry and subsequently with an incremental, maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) on treadmill.

The important weight loss of 26.35 ± 6.17% of body weight (BMI from 43.59 ± 5.30 to 32.27 ± 4.84kg/m

) after SG was associated with a significant improvement in lung volumes and flows during forced expiration at rest, while resting ventilation and tidal volume were reduced (all p ≤ 0.001). CPET revealed decreased ventilation during incremental exercise (p < 0.001), with a less shallow ventilatory pattern shown by a lower increase of breathing frequency (∆BF

p = 0.028) and a larger response of tidal volume (∆TV

p < 0.001). Furthermore, a concomitant improvement of the calculated dead space ventilation, VE/VCO

slope and peripheral oxygen saturation was shown (all p ≤ 0.002). Additionally, the increased breathing reserve at peak exercise was associated with a lower absolute oxygen consumption but improved exercise capacity and tolerance (all p < 0.001).

The weight loss induced by SG led to less burdensome restrictive limitations of the respiratory system and to a reduction of ventilation at rest and during exercise, possibly explained by an increased ventilatory efficiency and a decrease in oxygen demands.

The weight loss induced by SG led to less burdensome restrictive limitations of the respiratory system and to a reduction of ventilation at rest and during exercise, possibly explained by an increased ventilatory efficiency and a decrease in oxygen demands.

Fatigue affects 50% of primary biliary cholangitis patients and is severe in approximately 20%, significantly affecting quality of life. The pathogenesis of fatigue in primary biliary cholangitis is poorly understood. This study aimed to explore subgroups of fatigue to support targeting of selected groups in future clinical trials.

Data were derived from the UK-PBC cohort. Participants completed the PBC-40, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and Orthostatic Grading Scale for symptoms assessment. Fatigue and cognitive symptoms were regarded as clinically significant if they exceeded the previously defined cutoff for “moderate” symptom.

Of 2002, patients for whom full PBC-40, fatigue, and cognitive symptom domain scores were available, 1203 (60%) had significant fatigue and 730 (36%) had significant cognitive symptoms. Among the 1203 patients with significant fatigue, 663 (55%) also had significant cognitive symptoms (termed fatigue with cognitive symptoms) with a significant linear association between the fatigue and cognitive symptom severity.