There was an overall reduction in the absolute revision rate of 4% in the LFA group and a significantly reduced rate of revision in the subgroup analysis of patients undergoing elective colorectal resections, in patients older than 70 years and in patients with hand-sewn anastomosis. This demonstrates that LFA is a method that may significantly reduce not only the rate of severe complications in colorectal surgery but also the hospital length of stay.

The biological aggressiveness of ACs and LCNCs has been demonstrated with this study. Our aim is to confirm these results with enhanced data collection through the ESTS NETs database.

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Approximately 40% of all lung metastases have a smooth surface and might be resected with small margins. Growth characteristics within the lung differ with the histologic subtype and safety margins should generally increase with the size of the metastasis.

Surgical treatment can achieve satisfactory results with low perioperative mortality, but the overall prognosis even with multimodality concepts and in earlier tumour stages is worse compared to other types of non-small cell lung cancer.

High grade lung neuroendocrine tumours are a heterogeneous subtype of pulmonary cancers including small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC). LCNEC represents approximately 2-3% of lung cancers, whereas SCLC represents 15-20% of lung cancers. Patients with SCLC and LCNEC have a poor prognosis compared with patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LCNEC is treated with primary surgical resection in stages I-II, which is similar to other NSCLCs. Neo-adjuvant treatment in stage III is similar to NSCLC but has not been well studied. LCNEC tumours have an unfavourable prognosis in higher stages but a more favourable prognosis in earlier stages. Surgery plays a minor role in treatment of SCLC because tumours are often locally advanced or have metastasized at the time of presentation and treatment relies on chemo- or chemoradiotherapy. However, patients with limited cancer may demonstrate better disease control upon surgical treatment. The resection rate of limited disease (LD) SCLC is low (1-6%), but 5-year survival rates of 31-42% after surgical resection are encouraging and are significantly higher than the survival rates of comparable patients that did not have surgery. Curing SCLC in stage I is reported in up to 66% of cases. Local treatment with either resection or radiotherapy alone is followed by high rates of locoregional and distant recurrences, so preoperative or adjuvant treatment is recommended. Here, we summarise the similarities and differences of SCLC and LCNEC and highlight the role of surgery in the treatment of SCLC and LCNEC and its effect on local recurrence prevention.

Cytokines play important roles in the expression of adhesion molecules and the function of anti-tumor effector cells in the immune system. In this study, the influence of interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IL-18 on the expression of ICAM-1 and natural killer (NK)-cell mediated lysis in a human osteosarcoma cell line (HOS) was evaluated. ICAM-I expression of HOS cells were analyzed by flow cytometry following treatment with IL-12, IL-18 or both, and in co-cultures with peripheral lymphocytes. NK-cell activation in response to IL-12 and IL-18 was investigated by selective flow cytometry using propidium iodide. ICAM-1 expression on HOS cells was significantly enhanced by IL-12, but only when co-cultured in cell-to-cell contact with peripheral lymphocytes. Antibodies to interferon-gamma abrogated this effect. If HOS cells and peripheral lymphocytes were separated in co-cultures, IL-18 could substitute for cell-to-cell contact, facilitating IL-12-mediated enhancement of ICAM-1. Addition of IL-18 also enhanced NK-mediated cytolysis of HOS cells. These findings demonstrate that IL-12 can enhance the expression of ICAM-1 in the presence of IFN-gamma and, with IL-18, enhances NK anti-tumor activity. Immunomodulation via cytokine therapy may lead to improved eradication of chemotherapy-resistant osteosarcomas.