Latest Updates

Periampury and Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

    • Patients with borderline resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma who are able to undergo successful resection may have survival comparable to patients with resectable disease.
    • For patients with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma, neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX may allow up to 61% of patients to undergo successful resection.
    • For patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma and a positive intraoperative frozen section, additional resection to achieve a negative neck margin after a positive frozen section may not be associated with improved overall survival.

Periampullary and Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

    • Patients with borderline resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma who are able to undergo successful resection may have survival comparable to patients with resectable disease.
    • For patients with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma, neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX may allow up to 61% of patients to undergo successful resection.
    • For patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma and a positive intraoperative frozen section, additional resection to achieve a negative neck margin after a positive frozen section may not be associated with improved overall survival.

Infectious Diseases / Infectious Pathogens: HIV Prevention

    • Treatment as prevention reduces the risk of HIV transmission by at least 96%.
    • Preexposure prophylaxis, either as oral or injectable formulations , may reduce the risk of HIV acquisition by more than 90% when taken with good adherence.
    • Postexposure prophylaxis reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by at least 80%.
    • Combination antiretroviral therapy reduces the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to less than 1%.
    • Risk reduction counseling and barrier protection remain important components of the HIV prevention toolkit.

Esophageal Disorders

    • POEM is an emerging therapy for achalasia that is a hybrid of surgical myotomy and pneumatic dilation.
    • One of the most important tools used to detect gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is ambulatory 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring; this is typically conducted using a catheter inserted through the nose. A wireless pH probe that can be attached to the esophageal lining is also available. Additional techniques for assessing GERD include ambulatory 24-hour bile monitoring and monitoring of multichannel intraluminal impedance, which can measure both acidic and nonacidic refluxates of liquid or gas consistencies.
    • One recently developed technique that can assess the presence or absence of reflux is the measurement of mucosal impedance to electric current. This technique may also be able to distinguish GERD from eosinophilic esophagitis.

Esophageal Disorders

    • POEM is an emerging therapy for achalasia that is a hybrid of surgical myotomy and pneumatic dilation.
    • One of the most important tools used to detect gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is ambulatory 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring; this is typically conducted using a catheter inserted through the nose. A wireless pH probe that can be attached to the esophageal lining is also available. Additional techniques for assessing GERD include ambulatory 24-hour bile monitoring and monitoring of multichannel intraluminal impedance, which can measure both acidic and nonacidic refluxates of liquid or gas consistencies.
    • One recently developed technique that can assess the presence or absence of reflux is the measurement of mucosal impedance to electric current. This technique may also be able to distinguish GERD from eosinophilic esophagitis.

Esophageal Disorders

    • POEM is an emerging therapy for achalasia that is a hybrid of surgical myotomy and pneumatic dilation.
    • One of the most important tools used to detect gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is ambulatory 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring; this is typically conducted using a catheter inserted through the nose. A wireless pH probe that can be attached to the esophageal lining is also available. Additional techniques for assessing GERD include ambulatory 24-hour bile monitoring and monitoring of multichannel intraluminal impedance, which can measure both acidic and nonacidic refluxates of liquid or gas consistencies.
    • One recently developed technique that can assess the presence or absence of reflux is the measurement of mucosal impedance to electric current. This technique may also be able to distinguish GERD from eosinophilic esophagitis.

Venous Thromboembolism

    • Updating consensus guideline recommendations up to January 2016      
    • Adding a duplex scan image showing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the diagnosis section
    • Adding a computed tomographic (CT) scan showing a pulmonary embolism (PE)
    • Showing the various types of approved inferior vena cava filters
    • Adding five separate flow-chart figures depicting a stepwise management algorithm for the evaluation and treatment of DVT and PE
    • Adding a section on catheter-associated upper extremity thrombosis
    • Adding a section on extended prophylaxis, the use of non–vitamin K antagonists, updates on stockings
    • Writing five new multiple-choice questions based on the review

Surgical Management of Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers

    • An interesting advance in the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma is the use of inhibitors of the sonic hedgehog pathway. The vast majority of basal cell carcinomas harbor genetic mutations in the hedgehog signaling pathway, which results in constitutive activation and basal cell proliferation.
    • SLNB is generally not recommended unless the lesion is between 0.75 and 1.0 mm, high risk based on histologic features (e.g., ulcerated or with > 1 mitoses/mm2), or inadequately staged (e.g., positive deep margin).
    • An important variable in the prognosis of melanoma is the thickness of the primary tumor as assessed using the Breslow system. Tumor thickness in the Breslow system is measured from the epidermal surface to the deepest point of the tumor with a calibrated ocular micrometer.
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