Objective To determine if mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) improves survival compared to mediastinal lymph node sampling (MLNS) in patients undergoing resection for N0 or non-hilar N1, T1 or T2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Patients with NSCLC underwent sampling of 2R, 4R, 7 and 10R for right sided tumors, and 5, 6, 7 and 10L for left sided tumors. If all were negative for malignancy, patients were randomized to no further lymph node sampling (MLNS) or complete MLND. Results Of 1,111 patients randomized, 1,023 (498 MLNS, 525 MLND) were eligible/evaluable. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of demographics, ECOG status, histology, location of the cancer, type or extent of resection, or pathological stage. Occult N2 disease was found in 21 patients in the MLND group. At median follow-up of 6.5 years, 435 (43%) patients have died; (MLNS: 217 (44%);MLND:218 (42%)). The median survival for MLNS is8.1 years, and 8.5 years for MLND (p=0.25). The 5-year disease free survival rate was 69% (95% CI: 64%-74%) in the MLNS group versus 68%(95% CI: 64%-73%) years in the MLND group (p=0.92). There was no difference for local (p=0.52), regional (p=0.10), or distant (p=0.76) recurrence between the two groups. Conclusions If systematic, thorough presection sampling of the mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes is negative, MLND does not improve survival in patients with early stage NSCLC but these results are not generalizable to patients staged radiographically or those with higher stage tumors.

Patients undergoing video-assisted lobectomy had fewer respiratory complications and shorter length of stay. These data suggest video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is safe in patients with resectable lung cancer. Longer follow-up is needed to determine the oncologic equivalency of video-assisted versus open lobectomy.

Abdominal fascial closure with a continuous nonabsorbable suture had a significantly lower rate of incisional hernia. The ideal suture is nonabsorbable, and the ideal technique is continuous.

Introduction: Thymoma is a rare tumor for which there is little randomized evidence to guide treatment. Because of the lack of high-quality evidence, a formal consensus-based approach was used to develop recommendations on treatment. Methods: A systematic refview of the literature was performed. Recommendations were formed from available evidence and developed through a two-round modified Delphi consensus approach. Results: The treatment recommendations are summarized as follows: Stage I-complete resection of the entire thymus without neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. Stage II-complete resection of the entire thymus with consideration of adjuvant radiation for high-risk tumors. Stage IIIA-surgery either initially or after neoadjuvant therapy, or surgery followed by adjuvant therapy. Stage IIIB-treatment may include a combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery, or if technically possible, surgery in combination with chemoradiotherapy (concurrent cisplatin based). For bulky tumors, consideration should be given to sequential chemotherapy followed by radiation. Stage IVA-as per stage III, with surgery only if metastases can be resected. Stage IVB-treatment on an individual case basis (no generic recommendations). Recurrent disease-consider surgery, radiation, and/or chemoradiation. Chemoradiation should be considered in all medically inoperable and technically inoperable patients. Conclusion: Consensus was achieved on these recommendations, which serve to provide practical guidance to the physician treating this rare disease.

Conflict of interestNo funding was received for this study. Companies that make cyclosporin and tacrolimus and the principal investigators of each study were contacted in the course of the review. Vivian McAlister took part in clinical trials sponsored by each company and received, more than 10 years ago, laboratory grants-in-aid from each company.

Conventional hemorrhoidectomy is superior to stapled hemorrhoidopexy for prevention of postoperative recurrence of internal hemorrhoids. Fewer patients who received conventional hemorrhoidectomy complained of hemorrhoidal prolapse in long-term follow-up compared with stapled hemorrhoidopexy.

BackgroundCarcinoma of the esophagus is an aggressive malignancy with an increasing incidence. Its virulence, in terms of symptoms and mortality, justifies a continued search for optimal therapy. The large and growing number of patients affected, the high mortality rates, the worldwide geographic variation in practice, and the large body of good quality research warrants a systematic review with meta-analysis.MethodsA systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the impact of neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy on resectable thoracic esophageal cancer to inform evidence-based practice was produced.MEDLINE, CANCERLIT, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and abstracts from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology were searched for trial reports.Included were randomized trials or meta-analyses of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatments compared with surgery alone or other treatments in patients with resectable thoracic esophageal cancer. Outcomes of interest were survival, adverse effects, and quality of life. Either one- or three-year mortality data were pooled and reported as relative risk ratios.ResultsThirty-four randomized controlled trials and six meta-analyses were obtained and grouped into 13 basic treatment approaches.Single randomized controlled trials detected no differences in mortality between treatments for the following comparisons:- Preoperative radiotherapy versus postoperative radiotherapy.- Preoperative and postoperative radiotherapy versus postoperative radiotherapy. Preoperative and postoperative radiotherapy was associated with a significantly higher mortality rate.- Postoperative chemotherapy versus postoperative radiotherapy.- Postoperative radiotherapy versus postoperative radiotherapy plus protein-bound polysaccharide versus chemoradiation versus chemoradiation plus protein-bound polysaccharide.Pooling one-year mortality detected no statistically significant differences in mortality between treatments for the following comparisons:- Preoperative radiotherapy compared with surgery alone (five randomized trials).- Postoperative radiotherapy compared with surgery alone (five randomized trials).- Preoperative chemotherapy versus surgery alone (six randomized trials).- Preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy versus surgery alone (two randomized trials).- Preoperative chemoradiation therapy versus surgery alone (six randomized trials).Single randomized controlled trials detected differences in mortality between treatments for the following comparison:- Preoperative hyperthermia and chemoradiotherapy versus preoperative chemoradiotherapy in favour of hyperthermia.Pooling three-year mortality detected no statistically significant difference in mortality between treatments for the following comparison:- Postoperative chemotherapy compared with surgery alone (two randomized trials).Pooling three-year mortality detected statistically significant differences between treatments for the following comparisons:- Preoperative chemoradiation therapy vers...

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