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BACKGROUND Thromboembolic complications are relatively common causes of increased morbidity and mortality in the perioperative period in liver transplant patients. Early postoperative portal vein thrombosis (PVT, incidence 2%-2.6%) and early hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT, incidence 3%-5%) have a poor prognosis in transplant patients, having impacts on graft and patient survival. In the present study, we attempted to identify the predictive factors of these complications for early detection and therefore monitor more closely the patients most at risk of thrombotic complications. AIM To investigate whether intraoperative thromboelastography (TEG) is useful in detecting the risk of early postoperative HAT and PVT in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). METHODS We retrospectively collected thromboelastographic traces, in addition to known risk factors (cold ischemic time, intraoperative requirement for red blood cells and fresh-frozen plasma transfusion, prolonged operating time), in 27 patients, selected among 530 patients (≥ 18 years old), who underwent their first LT from January 2002 to January 2015 at the Liver University Transplant Center and developed an early PVT or HAT (case group). Analyses of the TEG traces were performed before anesthesia and 120 min after reperfusion. We retrospectively compared these patients with the same number of nonconsecutive control patients who underwent LT in the same study period without developing these complications (1:1 match) (control group). The chosen matching parameters were: Patient graft and donor characteristics [age, sex, body mass index (BMI)], indication for transplantation, procedure details, United Network for Organ Sharing classification, BMI, warm ischemia time (WIT), cold ischemia time (CIT), the volume of blood products transfused, and conventional laboratory coagulation analysis. Normally distributed continuous data are reported as the mean ± SD and compared using one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Non-normally distributed continuous data are reported as the median (interquartile range) and compared using the Mann-Whitney test. Categorical variables were analyzed with Chi-square tests with Yates correction or Fisher’s exact test depending on best applicability. IBM SPSS Statistics version 24 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, United States) was employed for statistical analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS Postoperative thrombotic events were identified as early if they occurred within 21 d postoperatively. The incidence of early hepatic artery occlusion was 3.02%, whereas the incidence of PVT was 2.07%. A comparison between the case and control groups showed some differences in the duration of surgery, which was longer in the case group (P = 0.032), whereas transfusion of blood products, red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, and platelets, was similar between the two study groups. Thromboelastographic parameters did not show any statistically significant difference between the two groups, except for the G value measured at basal and 120’ postreperfusion time. It was higher, although within the reference range, in the case group than in the control group (P = 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). In addition, clot lysis at 60 min (LY60) measured at 120’ postreperfusion time was lower in the case group than in the control group (P = 0.035). This parameter is representative of a fibrinolysis shutdown (LY60 = 0%-0.80%) in 85% of patients who experienced a thrombotic complication, resulting in a statistical correlation with HAT and PVT. CONCLUSION The end of surgery LY60 and G value may identify those recipients at greater risk of developing early HAT or PVT, suggesting that they may benefit from intense surveillance and eventually anticoagulation prophylaxis in order to prevent these serious complications after LT.

Pancreatic cancer remains a significant and unresolved therapeutic challenge. Currently, the only curative treatment for pancreatic cancer is surgical resection. Pancreatic surgery represents a technically demanding major abdominal procedure that can occasionally lead to a number of pathophysiological alterations resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Systemic, rather than surgical complications, cause the majority of deaths. Because patients are increasingly referred to surgery with at advanced ages and because pancreatic surgery is extremely complex, anaesthesiologists and surgeons play a crucial role in preoperative evaluations and diagnoses for surgical intervention. The anaesthetist plays a key role in perioperative management and can significantly influence patient outcome. To optimise overall care, patients should be appropriately referred to tertiary centres, where multidisciplinary teams (surgical, medical, radiation oncologists, gastroenterologists, interventional radiologists and anaesthetists) work together and where close cooperation between surgeons and anaesthesiologists promotes the safe performance of major gastrointestinal surgeries with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. In this review, we sought to provide simple daily recommendations to the clinicians who manage pancreatic surgery patients to make their work easier and suggest a joint approach between surgeons and anaesthesiologists in daily decision making.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver tumor, and overall, it is one of the most frequent cancers. The association of HCC with chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis in particular, is well known, making treatment complex and challenging. The treatment of HCC must take into account the presence and stage of chronic liver disease, with the aim of preserving hepatic function that is often already impaired, the stage of HCC and the clinical condition of the patient. The different treatment options include surgical resection, transplantation, local ablation, chemoembolization, radioembolization and molecular targeted therapies; these treatments can be combined in various ways to achieve different goals. Ideally, liver transplantation is best treatment for early stage HCC on cirrhosis because it removes both the tumor and the chronic disease that produced it; however, the application of this powerful tool is limited by the scarcity of donors. Downstaging and bridging are different strategies for the management of HCC patients who will undergo liver transplantation. Several professionals, including gastroenterologists, radiologists and surgeons, are involved in the choice of the most appropriate treatment for a single case, and a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to optimize the outcome. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive description of the current treatment options for patients with HCC by analyzing the advantages, disadvantages and rationale for their use.