Recent advances in liver surgery have highlighted the effects of the splenic circulation on the hepatic circulation with respect to the hepatic arterial buffer response (HABR). The aim of the present study was to investigate the actual hemodynamic effects of splenic artery embolization/ligation and splenectomy on the hepatic circulation in patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy through in vivo experimental models. In vivo models of splenic artery embolization/ligation (only splenic artery clamping) and splenectomy (simultaneous clamping of both the splenic artery and the splenic vein) were created in 40 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for various reasons. The portal venous flow velocity, the portal venous flow volume, the hepatic arterial flow velocity, and the hepatic arterial resistance index were measured with color Doppler ultrasonography. Clamping of the splenic artery induced an immediate and significant increase (16%) in the hepatic artery velocity (P < 0.001), and the portal venous flow also decreased significantly (10%, P 5 0.03). Fifteen minutes after the clamping of the splenic artery, the hepatic artery velocity remained significantly increased at the level of the initial clamping, and the portal venous flow significantly decreased (16%, P < 0.001). Clamping of the splenic vein, which was performed after the clamping of the splenic artery, resulted in an immediate and significant decrease (30%) in the portal venous flow (P < 0.001), but the hepatic arterial flow was not affected. Fifteen minutes after the clamping of the splenic vein, there was no change in the portal flow, which remained significantly lower (28%) than the flow in controls, whereas the hepatic arterial flow further significantly increased (31%, P < 0.001). In conclusion, our findings indicate that both splenic artery embolization/ligation and splenectomy are effective for increasing hepatic arterial flow and decreasing portal flow, with splenectomy providing a greater advantage. The HABR underlies these hemodynamic changes. Liver Transpl 20:116-121, 2014. V C 2013 AASLD.Received June 1, 2013; accepted September 13, 2013.Splenectomy has been performed for patients with liver cirrhosis not only to cure or relieve intractable gastroesophageal varices 1,2 but also to improve liver function before hepatectomy, 3,4 especially in Japan. The technical advances and deeper knowledge gained in the field of liver transplantation have highlighted another role of splenectomy in the regulation of the hepatic circulation via modifications of the splenic circulation. 5,6Abbreviations: HABR, hepatic arterial buffer response; SAS, splenic artery syndrome; SFSS, small-for-size syndrome.

We herein describe a case of somatostatinoma coexisting with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in the duodenum of an 81-year-old woman with Von Recklinghausen's disease (VRD) and common bile duct stone who presented with diarrhea of three months in duration. Gastroduodenoscopy revealed an ulcer on the second part of the duodenum. A 2.1-cm enhancing tumor was observed to extend from the ulcer on an abdominal computed tomography scan. Subtotal stomach-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy revealed a somatostatinoma on the papilla of the vater and duodenal GIST. There have been only eight reports on VRD associated with ampullary somatostatinoma and GIST. An awareness of this possibility in patients with gastrointestinal lesions is necessary for proper treatment and patient management.

Even though S-1 is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, there is no evidence for its use in an adjuvant setting for biliary tract carcinoma (BTC). Patients who underwent surgical treatment for BTC between August 2007 and December 2018 were selected. Propensity score matching was performed between patients who received S-1 as adjuvant chemotherapy (S-1 group) and those who underwent surgical treatment alone (observation group). Of 170 eligible patients, 38 patients were selected in each group after propensity score matching. Among those in the matched cohort, both the median recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in the S-1 group were significantly longer than those in the observation group (RFS, 61.2 vs. 13.1 months, p = 0.033; OS, not available vs. 28.2 months, p = 0.003). A multivariate analysis of the OS revealed that perineural invasion and adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors. According to a subgroup analysis of the OS, the S-1 group showed significantly better prognoses than the observation group among patients with perineural invasion (p < 0.001). S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy might improve the prognosis of BTC, especially in patients with perineural invasion.