Objective To study the safety and feasibility of modified laparoscopic Dixon surgery for rectal cancer. Methods In the procedure of modified laparoscopic Dixon surgery, the rectum with tumor was pulled out and cut and colon-rectum anastomosis was performed through anus. The clinical data of patients with rectal cancer between modified laparoscopic Dixon surgery (laparoscopy group) and open Dixon surgery (open group) were compared and analysed prospectively. The clinical data included operative time, volume of bleeding, number of lymph node dissection, volume of abdominal drainage, time to bowel gas passage, hospital stay and relative complications, such as anastomotic leakage, ureteral injury, dysuria and fecal incontinence. Results Fifty-eight cases were selected in this study between September 2007 and July 2008, including 25 laparoscopic surgery in laparoscopy group and 33 open surgery in open group. Patient’s data on gender, age, distance between tumor and anus edge, tumor diameter, tumor pathologic type and Dukes stage were similar between two groups by statistic analysis (Pgt;0.05). All the operations were performed successfully. Two cases experienced anastomotic leakage in laparoscopy group, while 1 case experienced anastomotic leakage in open group. All these patients got recovered by conservative treatment at last. No other complications were experienced, such as ureteral injury, dysuria, fecal incontinence, and so on. There were no significant differences in term of operative time, volume of bleeding and number of lymph node dissection between two groups (Pgt;0.05). The volume of abdominal drainage was less while the time to bowel gas passage and hospital stay were shorter in laparoscopy group than those in open group (P＜0.05). Conclusion This study reveals that it is safe and feasible to perform modified laparoscopic Dixon surgery for rectal cancer, and it presents the character of minimal invasion.
Tumor-treating fields (TTFields) is a novel treatment modality for malignant solid tumors, often employing electric field simulations to analyze the distribution of electric fields on the tumor under different parameters of TTFields. Due to the present difficulties and high costs associated with reproducing or implementing the simulation model construction techniques, this study used readily available open-source software tools to construct a highly accurate, easily implementable finite element simulation model for TTFields. The accuracy of the model is at a level of 1 mm3. Using this simulation model, the study carried out analyses of different factors, such as tissue electrical parameters and electrode configurations. The results show that factors influncing the distribution of the internal electric field of the tumor include changes in scalp and skull conductivity (with a maximum variation of 21.0% in the treatment field of the tumor), changes in tumor conductivity (with a maximum variation of 157.8% in the treatment field of the tumor), and different electrode positions and combinations (with a maximum variation of 74.2% in the treatment field of the tumor). In summary, the results of this study validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed modeling method, which can provide an important reference for future simulation analyses of TTFields and clinical applications.