Background Critically-ill surgical patients are at higher risk for sarcopenia, which is associated with worse survival. Sarcopenia may impair the respiratory musculature, which can subsequently influence the outcome of ventilator weaning. Although there are a variety of weaning parameters predictive of weaning outcomes, none have tried to incorporate “muscle strength” or “sarcopenia”. The aim of the current study was to explore the association between sarcopenia and difficult-to-wean (DtW) in critically-ill surgical patients. The influence of sarcopenia on ICU mortality was also analyzed. Methods Ninety-six patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) were enrolled. Demographic data and weaning parameters were recorded from the prospectively collected database, and the total psoas muscle area (TPA) was determined at the level of the 3 rd lumbar vertebra by computed tomography. Sarcopenia was defined by previously established cut-off points and its influence on clinical outcomes was examined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to investigate the predictive capability of TPA and weaning parameters for predicting weaning outcomes. Results The median age of the studied patients was 73 years. Thirty patients (31.3%) were sarcopenic and 30 (31.3%) were defined as DtW. Eighteen patients (18.8%) had ICU mortality. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that sarcopenia was an independent risk factor for DtW and ICU mortality. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of TPA for predicting successful weaning was 0.727 and 0.720 in female and male patients, respectively. After combining TPA and conventional weaning parameters, the AUC for DtW increased from 0.836 to 0.911 and from 0.835 to 0.922 in female and male patients, respectively. Conclusion Sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for DtW and ICU mortality. TPA has predictive value when assessing weaning outcomes and can be used as an effective adjunct predictor along with conventional weaning parameters.

BackgroundIntrahepatic biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms are rare hepatic tumors and account for less than 5% of intrahepatic cystic lesions. Accurate preoperative diagnosis is difficult and the outcome differs among various treatment modalities.The aim of this study is to investigate the clinico-radiological characteristics of intrahepatic biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms and to establish eligible diagnostic and treatment suggestions.MethodsNineteen patients with intrahepatic biliary cystadenomas and two patients with biliary cystadenocarcinomas were retrospectively reviewed. Their clinico-radiological variables and survival outcome were analyzed.ResultsOf the 19 patients with biliary cystadenoma, 16 (84.2 %) were female. 11 (57.9 %) patients had symptoms before operation with the most common presenting symptom being abdominal pain. Among the patients with available data, serum and cystic fluid CA 19–9 levels were invariably elevated and the CA 19–9 level in the cystic fluid was significantly higher than that in the serum. Loculations (84.2 %) and septations (63.2 %) were the most common radiologic findings. For treatment, 11 (57.9 %) patients received radical resection by either enucleation or hepatic resection, while the remaining 8 (42.1 %) patients underwent only fenestration of liver cysts. Radical resection provided a significantly better clinical outcome than fenestration in terms of tumor recurrence (p = 0.018). The only two male patients with biliary cystadenocarcinoma received radical hepatic resection and achieved a disease-free survival of 16.5 months and 33 months, respectively.ConclusionIntrahepatic biliary mucinous cystic neoplasms are rare and preoperative diagnosis is difficult. Internal septations and loculations on radiologic examinations should raise some suspicion of this diagnosis. Complete tumor excision is the standard treatment that may provide patients with better long term results after the operation.

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Resveratrol, a polyphenol extracted from red wine, possesses potential antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, including the reduction of free radicals and proinflammatory mediators overproduction, the alteration of the expression of adhesion molecules, and the inhibition of neutrophil function. A growing body of evidence indicates that resveratrol plays an important role in reducing organ damage following ischemia- and hemorrhage-induced reperfusion injury. Such protective phenomenon is reported to be implicated in decreasing the formation and reaction of reactive oxygen species and pro-nflammatory cytokines, as well as the mediation of a variety of intracellular signaling pathways, including the nitric oxide synthase, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, deacetylase sirtuin 1, mitogen-activated protein kinase, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 alpha, hemeoxygenase-1, and estrogen receptor-related pathways. Reperfusion injury is a complex pathophysiological process that involves multiple factors and pathways. The resveratrol is an effective reactive oxygen species scavenger that exhibits an antioxidative property. In this review, the organ-protective effects of resveratrol in oxidative stress-related reperfusion injury will be discussed.