BACKGROUND: The extent of the resection, whether clamped or non-clamping resection is factor that influences the operating time and intraoperative bleeding, the development of modern techniques for vascular control and resection, and determine of lesser blood loss, morbidity, and mortality. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the experience of General and Hepatobiliary Surgery Clinic at Aleksandrovska Hospital Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria in the treatment of patients with colorectal metastases in the liver and to compare literature reports on the influence of the extent of resection and Pringle maneuver (IPM) on operating time and perioperative bleeding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study covers the time period from January 01, 2006, until December 31, 2015. A total of 239 patients were included, from which: 179 patients were treated with radical surgery, 5 with palliative intervention, and 55 were subjected on operability exploration. RESULTS: The use of the IPM for vascular control insignificantly influenced the prolonged operative time, while intraoperative blood loss was significantly lower in patients with Pringle <15 min. There was no association between IPM and resection type, while intraoperative blood loss and operating time were significantly greater in patients with major resection. CONCLUSION: Resection size is directly proportional to operating time and perioperative blood loss, but it does not significantly influence perioperative morbidity. The IPM does not influence operating time, while blood loss is significantly lower in the group of patients with Pringle <15 min.

BACKGROUND: Primary stage IV breast cancer accounts about of 3–5% of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases. The management of this patient subset mostly comprises systemic therapy, with additional surgery or radiotherapy to control locoregional symptoms. Some of the retrospective studies showed the benefit of locoregional treatment as the first treatment of choice for overall survival (OS), but the efficacy of primary site surgery remains controversial for OS in prospective, controlled trials. AIM: We aimed to presents series of cases with primary metastatic breast cancer with diffuse bone metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was serial of cases with primary metastatic breast cancer with diffuse bone metastasis and a review of the literature. All of the cases were treated with upfront surgical resection of the primary in the breast. RESULTS: During the follow-up period of 36 months, all of our patients were still alive. CONCLUSION: Retrospective studies about resection of primary tumor as the first treatment of choice are with conflicting results, which may be related to randomization bias, including different biological types of breast cancer, different metastatic sites, and patients with different menopausal status. On the other hand, prospective studies did not show any powerful results that would lead the treatment in de novo stage IV breast cancer because of few limitations such a short follow-up period (between 23 and 40 months), younger patients, ER-positive/HER2 negative tumors, and type of chemotherapy given or not upfront. The effect of upfront surgery in newly metastatic breast cancer patients is still challenging, so there is a need to identify the exact cohort of patients who could benefit from surgery.

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Background/Aim. The presence of carotid stenosis is a risk factor for cognitive impairment. The aim of our study was to evaluate the degree of cognitive impairment in patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic carotid stenosis and correlate it with the presence, location, and extent of cerebral ischemic lesions. Material and methods. A prospective analysis of 180 patients aged 50-70years, divided into three groups (asymptomatic, symptomatic carotid stenosis and controls), was made. We assessed demographic characteristics, vascular risk factors, ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries, computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, and neuropsychological testing. Results. The brain CT findings at admission showed ischemic lesions in the left hemisphere in 13.3% patients of the asymptomatic and 41% in the symptomatic group. In the right hemisphere, lesions were registered in 10% of the asymptomatic and 46,7% of the symptomatic patients. The difference between groups was statistically significant. The lesion volumes measured on CT and MRI scans were significantly different (p < 0.001) between groups with asymptomatic and symptomatic carotid stenosis. The degree of cognitive impairment measured by the ACE-R test was significantly different between groups (p<0.05) with the most severe deficit in the symptomatic group. Conclusion. Our study has shown that cognitive impairment was more severe in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis, compared to the patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis.

Background: Given the number of prognostic studies, both short- and long-termed, in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), the data on predicting major adverse cardiac events (MACE) following discharge still remains limited. Aim: to identify early predictors of MACE in MI patients, that underwent Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI), with special emphasis on multiple cardiac biomarkers. Materials and methods: we analysed clinical, LV functional, angiographic variables, as well cardiac troponin, a marker of myocardial necrosis, natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a marker of myocardial stress, and white blood cells (WBC), as a marker of inflammation. The study population were 150 consecutive patients treated for acute myocardial infarction. Results: The average follow-up period was 31 months. In total, 26 patients suffered from at least one MACE. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified several independent predictors: NT-proBNP (p=0,07), number of diseased vessels (p=0,027), and need for loop diuretic therapy (p=0,050). ROC curve demonstrated excellent discriminatory function for MACE of NT-proBNP and WBC (area under the curve .640, and .658, p=0.025 and 0.011 respectively). Conclusion: The combination of biomarkers for myocardial stress and inflammation improves the prediction of major adverse cardiac events in MI survivors. Keywords: myocardial infarction, cardiac biomarkers, cardiac troponin, natriuretic peptide, prognosis, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), cardiac death