ReMine, William H.

AbstractThe experiences of 206 patients who underwent palliative operations for advanced gastric carcinoma have been reviewed to evaluate the effect of treatment. Gastroenterostomy for obstruction alleviates vomiting for most patients, but significant palliation followed operation in only 1/3 of cases. The procedure was accomplished with an acceptable mortality rate, and the average period of postoperative hospitalization was 13 days. The results of palliative partial gastrectomy for patients having obstructive symptoms preoperatively were only slightly better than those following gastroenterostomy. Approximately 1/3 of the patients lived in relative comfort for more than a year. The poor progress of 6 patients who received total gastrectomy supports the opinion that total gastrectomy is not a satisfactory palliative operation. Palliative esophagogastrectomy for patients with dysphagia gave results similar to, or possibly better than, palliative resections for distal lesions. Although the results following the use of prostheses for inoperable malignant stricturing of the esophagogastric junction were disappointing, the procedure had significant advantages when compared with the marked limitations and disadvantages of jejunostomy and the transient relief afforded by transesophageal dilatation. Review of the records of patients who had had a feeding jejunostomy confirmed the general opinion that this procedure seldom is indicated in the management of advanced gastric carcinoma.

AbstractOperation for gastric carcinoma should be undertaken in the presence of known or probable carcinoma of the stomach, in the absence of clear contraindications. These contraindications include serious disease elsewhere (such as cardiac insufficiency, advanced pulmonary disease, and pronounced renal failure), definite objective evidence of distant metastases, and evidence of local extension beyond the point of resectability. To deny a patient the potential benefits of exploratory laparotomy is to eliminate the chance of cure. After thorough exploration of the abdomen, curative resection of gastric cancer involves radical subtotal gastrectomy for lesions restricted to the distal 2/3 of the stomach, and total gastrectomy with splenectomy for lesions in the upper 1/3. When there is local extension of the cancer, resection of adjacent organs should be performed if it appears that the growth can be completely removed. When curative resection is not possible, palliative resection or gastroenterostomy is often indicated to relieve symptoms.

AbstractDuring a 30‐year period (1951–1981), seventeen patients underwent bilateral adrenalectomy for established adrenal medullary disease with catecholamine excess. Fourteen patients had the MEN IIa syndrome and 3 had the MEN IIb syndrome. There was no major operative morbidity and no operative mortality.One patient died 23 months after initial operation because of metastatic pheochromocytoma. The remaining patients were followed for a mean of 129 months and all were personally interviewed. Three patients had 7 uneventful pregnancies. Twelve patients underwent 23 other surgical procedures requiring general anesthesia during the followup period without any morbidity. Two patients have metastatic pheochromocytoma; 3 have clinical metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma; 5 patients have high calcitonin values and 6 patients are in excellent health at intervals of 15, 27, 58, 110, 134, and 373 months following resection. The need for adrenal replacement therapy has not caused significant problems in any patient.The results of this study confirm that bilateral total adrenalectomy is a safe modality for the treatment of adrenal medullary disease in this syndrome and that it does not produce significant long‐term morbidity.