Colorectal cancer still remains the third cause of cancer death among cancer patients. Early diagnosis is crucial and they can be either endoscopic or with blood biomarkers. Endoscopic methods consist of gastroscopy and colonoscopy, however; in recent years, endoscopic ultrasound is being used. The microenvironment is very important for the successful delivery of the treatment. Several proteins and hormones play a crucial role in the efficiency of the treatment. In the current mini review we will focus on interferon-γ.

Patient: Female, 76Final Diagnosis: Complicated recurrent diverticulitisSymptoms: Abdominal pain • bloating • inability to pass stool and gasMedication: —Clinical Procedure: Hartmann’s procedureSpecialty: SurgeryObjective:Unusual clinical courseBackground:Although diverticular disease is well described and treated in daily clinical practice, there are cases that attract great interest because of their complexity and difficulty in management. Herein, we describe a rare case of colo-colonic fistula-complicated diverticulitis that necessitated urgent surgical intervention.Case Report:A 76-year-old female patient with a known history of diverticular disease of the sigmoid colon presented in the Emergency Department for evaluation of left lower quadrant abdominal pain. The clinical and radiological examinations revealed a recurrent episode of acute diverticulitis of the sigmoid colon. However, it was of great interest that we detected a sigmoido-cecal fistula in the abdominal computed tomography (CT). The patient was admitted to the hospital for conservative treatment. After 48 hours, the patient’s clinical status deteriorated, with pain aggravation, abdominal distension, bloating, and metallic bowel sounds. The simple abdominal x-ray revealed large-bowel obstruction and the CT demonstrated worsening inflammation of the sigmoid colon. An exploratory laparotomy revealed an inflamed dolichol-sigmoid colon forming a fistulous tract with the cecum and thus, mimicking a closed loop obstruction. The sigmoid colon was transected en bloc with the sigmoido-cecal fistula and a Hartmann’s procedure was performed.Conclusions:This case is extremely unusual as the patient presented at the same time two complications of diverticular disease, both obstruction and this rare formation of sigmoido-cecal fistula. It is presented in order to acquaint surgeons with the possibility of an unexpected course of this disease which indeed necessitates an individualized management.

Patient: Male, 62Final Diagnosis: Gallbladder hypoplasiaSymptoms: Abdominal painMedication: —Clinical Procedure: —Specialty: SurgeryObjective:Congenital defects/diseasesBackground:There are different variations in the anatomy of the gallbladder. Congenital abnormalities of the gallbladder such as agenesis and hypoplasia are rare conditions and difficult to diagnose with imaging studies. Patients are usually asymptomatic or have symptoms that mimic gallstone disease. The diagnosis is often made intraoperatively and is established by histopathological examination.Case Report:We report a case of a 62-year-old male who had cholelithiasis symptoms and was falsely diagnosed with gallstone disease by abdominal ultrasound scan. The patient underwent an operation which revealed a rudimentary gallbladder. The histology result showed hypoplastic gallbladder tissue.Conclusions:This case suggests that surgeons need to take into consideration congenital anomalies of the gallbladder intraoperatively in order to avoid any iatrogenic injury to biliary tract during a routine laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Intraoperative cholangiography can be a useful tool to avoid unnecessary surgical risky interventions.

We present the case of a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with uterine leiomyosarcoma that produced beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG), evident by both serum and immunohistologic examination. Based on this and similar cases from the available literature, β-hCG-producing sarcomas tend to have poorer prognosis, indicating that β-hCG could potentially be used as a marker of disease status and response to the therapy; however, this association is inconsistent and should be further investigated.

Current statistics indicate that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Major predisposing conditions are hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. To date treatment approach includes liver transplantation, surgical resection and or ablation, however; recurrence, metastasis, and mortality still remains high. Therefore, alternative treatments such as gene therapy is increasingly being considered as a feasible proposal. In this mini review we will focus on novel data of the past 10 years on the subject of gene therapy and hepatocellular carcinoma.