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Background: The Updated Sydney System (USS) is used to evaluate chronic gastritis and chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) due to H. pylori infection. Here, we investigated USS scores and gastric juice pH levels in H. pylori infection-positive or -eradicated patients with remnant stomach after surgery., Methods: Gastric juice pH levels were measured using pH test-tape in 197 patients (112 H. pylori-positive and 85 H. pylori-negative after eradication) who had undergone distal gastrectomy and conventional H. pylori eradication therapy., Results: In H. pylori infection-positive remnant stomach cases, gastric juice pH showed a reverse correlation with pepsinogen I/II ratio, and H. pylori infection-negative patients following eradication showed associations with the degree of atrophy and intestinal metaplasia at both the anastomosis and in the corpus. Further, pH levels in these patients were normalized time depending after the eradication in the remnant stomach., Conclusions: Eradication therapy for the remnant stomach contributes to the possible improvement of stomach conditions by controlling the pH level of gastric juice. This effect will be protective against the risk of secondary stomach carcinogenesis in the remnant stomach.

Background: Controversy exists concerning the role of bile reflux and Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori) infection in the development of inflammation of the gastric remnant after gastrectomy. This study was designed to investigate association of bile reflux and H. pylori infection or both with inflammatory changes in the gastric remnant., Methods: A questionnaire on GI symptoms was returned by 200 gastrectomy patients, and 24-h bilirubin monitoring in the gastric remnant was performed on 55 patients with Bilitec 2000. Upper GI endoscopy evaluated reflux gastritis in the gastric remnant, and the presence of H. pylori infection and chronic, active inflammatory cellular infiltration in the biopsy specimens were examined microscopically with the updated Sydney system., Results: No difference in the incidence of GI symptoms was observed among individual gastrectomy patients. Bile reflux was lower in patients who had undergone a gastrectomy with jejunal interposition, a pylorus-preserving gastrectomy, and a gastrectomy with Roux-Y anastomosis than those who had undergone a Billroth-II (B-II) anastomosis ( P < 0.05). Endoscopy showed positive correlation between mucosal erythema and bile reflux ( P < 0.001). No correlation was observed between the mucosal erythema and chronic and active inflammatory cellular infiltration. Infection of H. pylori correlated with chronic and active inflammatory cellular infiltration ( P < 0.001). Bile reflux did not correlate with the severity of chronic and active inflammatory cellular infiltration or H. pylori infection., Conclusions: Bile reflux into the gastric remnant was observed by Bilitec 2000. Mucosal erythema and chronic, active inflammatory cell infiltration in the gastric remnant after gastrectomy may be caused by bile reflux or H. pylori infection, respectively.

Background/aims: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the characteristics, treatment, postoperative morbidity, mortality, and prognosis of early gastric cancer patients as well as the incidence of gastric remnant cancer after curative surgery based on an analysis of the surgical results of Nippon Medical School Hospital over the past 10 years (1991-2000)., Methodology: Out of 1057 patients with gastric cancer (all stages), 483 patients (301 males and 182 females; mean age 60.9 years) underwent surgery for early gastric cancer. Early gastric cancer, defined as that invading the m or sm layer regardless of lymph node metastasis, was classified according to the Japanese Classification of Gastric Carcinoma. The survival rate was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method., Results: The stages of the 483 patients were as follows: stage Ia patients, 443 cases; stage Ib, 29 cases; stage II, 7 cases; and stage IV, 4 cases. The overall 5- and 10-year survival rates were 95.9% and 95.9% for stage Ia, 82.9% and 80.2% for stage Ib, 73.2% and 68.6% for stage II and 0% for stage IV, respectively. No difference was observed in the 5- and 10-year survival rates between patients with D1 and D2 dissections in cases without lymph node metastasis. In patients with n1 positive sm cancer, however, the 5-year survival rate of the patients who underwent D2 dissection was 91.0% while that of those who underwent D1 dissection was 80.0% (P<0.05). The incidences of postoperative morbidity from various cancers included 4.2% from surgical site infections, 1.6% from anastomotic dehiscence, 1.6% from intestinal obstructions, and 3.9% from respiratory and/or heart dysfunction. Three patients (0.6%) died of multiple organ failure. Five patients who had undergone gastrectomy for early gastric cancer were diagnosed as having early cancer in the gastric remnant during a periodic follow-up endoscopy and underwent regastrectomy., Conclusions: The prognosis of early gastric cancer is usually excellent, and the morbidity and mortality rates are satisfactory. D2 lymph node dissection is necessary in patients with n1 positive sm cancer. Periodic follow-up endoscopies in gastrectomized patients may be useful for the early detection of gastric remnant cancer.

Unlabelled: In traditional practice patterns, physicians take care of all clinical decisions, such as diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. In the Nippon Medical School Hospital a clinical pathway for distal gastrectomy patients, recorded as a post-operative care map, was introduced in August 2000. In January 2001 the post-operative management was analyzed and standardization of practice was carried out with printed order sets, such as drugs and infusion solutions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of the clinical pathway for gastrectomy patients by employing standardized postoperative management and printed order sets., Patients and Methods: From January 2001 to December 2001, 87 patients underwent distal (43), total (28), proximal (7) and partial gastrectomy (9) for gastric cancer (stage IA: 47, IB: 9, II: 7, IIIA: 8, IIIB 2, IV: 10) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (4). These patients were randomly assigned to either the main building or the east building of our hospital. In the main building 38 patients were looked after using traditional practice (control group). In the east building 47 patients were looked after according to the clinical pathway (path group) and 2 patients were excluded from the path group because of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and severe heart failure. Aspects of the patients' outcomes, including length of stay, the first day of the diet, morbidity, and medical costs, were compared between the path group and the control group. All data were expressed as means+/-standard deviation. Statistical analyses were made using Student t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and chi(2) test, and the 5%level was chosen for statistical significance., Results: The length of the hospital stay was 27.1+/-10.0 and 40.8+/-26.1 days (p<0.005) and the length of post-operative stay was 18.1+/-9.5 and 28.2+/-22.3 days (p<0.01) in the path group and the control group, respectively. The post-operative day when the diet was started for the path and control groups was 6.8+/-8.9 and 8.2+/-7.2, respectively; however, the length of the intravenous infusion for the two groups was 11.8+/-1.1 and 16.5+/-1.2 days (p<0.01), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the morbidity rate between the path group (3/47) and the control group (5/38). The total cost was 1,502,587 yen +/-41,650 in the path group and 1,932,197 yen +/-131,030 in the control (p<0.001)., Conclusion: A clinical pathway for gastrectomy patients proved useful to optimize their postoperative care, including medication management and diet education. It is suggested that the implementation of a standardized clinical pathway for gastrectomy patients reduced the length of the hospital stay and the medical costs.

Objective: To analyze the costs of gastrectomy patients treated with the clinical pathway., Patients and Methods: Seventy-six patients (path group 44, control 32) had undergone gastrectomy in our hospital in 2001. The clinical pathway included the same care map. Treatment costs were estimated from medical cost receipt data. The economical analysis was performed from the point of the direct cost payer's view., Results: The length of hospital stay in the path group was 27.1 +/- 5.9 days and decreased 8.3 days in comparison with the control(p < 0.001). The cost of the path group was 145.290 +/- 23.773 points and 19.278 points less than the control(p < 0.005). In the path group the operation case per bed was increased 30% and the cost per bed was also increased 15% more than the control., Conclusions: The implementation of the clinical pathway decreased the length and the cost of hospital stay. The clinical pathway is effective to use the hospital resources, such as bed.

Background: The remnant stomach after surgery for gastric cancer is at high risk for the metachronous development of multiple gastric cancers. Here, we report on eradication therapy of Helicobacter pylori in the remnant stomach, comparing the eradication rate with that in unoperated stomachs. We examined gross and histological changes after treatment., Methods: Forty H. pylori-positive patients after distal gastrectomy were treated with proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-based dual and triple therapies. After eradication, histological changes were classified on the basis of the updated Sydney system., Results: The eradication rate in the remnant stomach was 70% (14 of 20) after dual therapy and 90% (18 of 20) after triple therapy, using per-protocol analysis, and these rates were comparable to the rates of 70% (186 of 264) and 88% (58 of 66), respectively, in nonsurgery patients. After eradication, three sites in the remnant stomach showed similar histological changes: significant decreases in inflammation and activity scores (P < 0.001) and no significant changes in glandular atrophy and intestinal metaplasia scores., Conclusion: PPI-based therapy was as effective for H. pylori eradication in the remnant stomach as in the unoperated stomach, and eradication therapy resulted in a significant decrease in inflammatory cell infiltration of the mucosal layer.

Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with many gastric diseases, such as peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. We examined the remnant stomach for H. pylori infection after gastrectomy for gastric cancer or peptic ulcer between October 1992 and July 1997. H. pylori DNA in the gastric juice of 109 patients [mean age 62.4 years, male/female 78/31, gastrectomy for gastric cancer 83/peptic ulcer 26, Billroth I (BI) anastomosis 72/Billroth II (BII) 37, mean postoperative interval 6.0 years] was amplified by PCR and detected by Southern blot hybridization. The serum of 135 patients was assayed by ELISA for IgG antibody against H. pylori (mean age 61.8 years, male/female 99/36, gastrectomy for gastric cancer 111/peptic ulcer 24, BI anastomosis 93/BII 42, mean postoperative interval 5.4 years). H. pylori was positive in 68/109 (62.4%) by PCR and 113/ 135 (83.7%) by ELISA. H. pylori cytotoxin gene cagA, a H. pylori virulence factor gene, was found in 15/16 (93.8%) cases by PCR. A significant difference in H. pylori positivity by PCR was found according to the type of anastomosis (BI vs. BII) but not according to age group, sex, disease (cancer or ulcer), or postoperative interval by PCR and ELISA. BII anastomosis was followed by a significantly lower rate of H. pylori infection (17/37; 45.9%) than BI anastomosis (51/72; 70.8%; p=0.01) according to the results of PCR. Moreover, some patients with BII anastomosis (3/8; 37.5%) showed positive to negative seroconversion for H. pylori infection after the operation (mean 2.47 years) according to the results of ELISA, but this phenomenon was not observed in patients with BI (0/12) anastomosis. This may reflect the role of bile reflux, which is more common in BII than BI, because bile reflux interferes with colonization by H. pylori.

The concentrations of cell mediators in the peritoneal and wound fluids of patients who underwent abdominal surgery or mastectomy were determined sequentially and compared with the concomitant changes in blood components. The level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the peritoneal and wound fluids was significantly higher than the plasma level after gastrectomy (P < 0.001), cholecystectomy (P < 0.05), and mastectomy (P < 0.05), although the level of plasma IL-6 was also higher postoperatively than before surgery (P < 0.001, P < 0.05). Significantly higher levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha were detected in the peritoneal and wound fluids (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, respectively) after surgery despite its absence in plasma. A platelet-specific protein and a protein specific for fibroblasts were also measured. Thus, mediators derived from various cells were shown to be present in human peritoneal and wound fluids, indicating that the local production of these mediators plays an important role in the process of tissue repair.