Background: Gastric cancer (GC) remains among the most common and most lethal cancers worldwide. Peritoneum is the most common site for distant dissemination. Standard treatment for GC peritoneal metastases (PM) is a systemic therapy, but treatment outcomes remain very poor, with median overall survival ranging between 3-9 months. Thus, novel treatment methods are necessary. Pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) is the most novel technique for intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Some preliminary data suggest PIPAC can achieve improved long-term outcomes in patients with GC PM, especially when used in combination with systemic chemotherapy. However, there is a lack of data from well-design prospective studies that would confirm the efficacy of PIPAC and systemic therapy combination for first-line treatment. Methods: This study is an investigator-initiated single-arm, phase II trial to investigate the efficacy of PIPAC combined with systemic FOLFOX (5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, leucovorin) as a first-line treatment for GC PM. The study is conducted in 2 specialized GC treatment centers in Lithuania. It enrolls GC patients with histologically confirmed PM without prior treatment. The treatment protocol consists of PIPAC with cisplatin (10.5 mg/m2 body surface in 150 mL NaCl 0.9%) and doxorubicin (2.1 mg/m2 in 50 mL NaCl 0.9%) followed by 2 cycles of FOLFOX every 6–7 weeks. In total 3 PIPACs and 6 cycles of FOLFOX will be utilized. The primary outcome of the study is the objective response rate (ORR) according to RECIST v. 1.1 criteria (Eisenhauer et al., Eur J Cancer 45:228–47) in a CT scan performed 7 days after the 4^th cycle of FOLFOX. Secondary outcomes include ORR after all experimental treatment, PIPAC characteristics, postoperative morbidity, histological and biochemical response, ascites volume, quality of life, overall survival, and toxicity. Discussion: This study aims to assess PIPAC and FOLFOX combination efficacy for previously untreated GC patients with PM. Trial registration: NCT05644249. Registered on December 9, 2022.

Background: Surgery is the only potentially curative treatment for gastric cancer, however, it bears a high postoperative morbidity and mortality rate. A recent randomized control trial proposed prehabilitation to reduce the postoperative morbidity in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. Currently, there is a lack of evidence of using prehabilitation for patients undergoing gastrectomy for gastric cancer. The aim of our study is to demonstrate that home-based prehabilitation can reduce postoperative morbidity after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: PREFOG is a multi-center, open-label randomized control trial comparing 90-days postoperative morbidity rate after gastrectomy for gastric cancer between patients with or without prehabilitation. One-hundred twenty-eight patients will be randomized into an intervention or control group. The intervention arm will receive trimodal home-based prehabilitation including nutritional, psychological and exercise interventions. Secondary outcomes of the study will include physical and nutritional status, anxiety and depression level, quality of life, postoperative mortality rates and full completion of the oncological treatment as determined by the multidisciplinary tumor board. Discussion: PREFOG study will show if home-based trimodal prehabilitation is effective to reduce postoperative morbidity after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Moreover, this study will allow us to determine whether prehabilitation can improve physical fitness and activity levels, nutritional status and quality of life as well as reducing anxiety and depression levels after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04223401 (First posted: 10 January 2020).

(1) Background: Diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) remains challenging; either computed tomography (CT) is universally used or negative appendectomy rates of up to 30% are reported. Transabdominal ultrasound (TUS) as the first-choice imaging modality might be useful in adult patients to reduce the need for CT scans while maintaining low negative appendectomy (NA) rates. The aim of this study was to report the results of the conditional CT strategy for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. (2) Methods: All patients suspected of acute appendicitis were prospectively registered from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018. Data on their clinical, radiological and surgical outcomes are presented. (3) Results: A total of 1855 patients were enrolled in our study: 1206 (65.0%) were women, 649 (35.0%) were men, and the median age was 34 years (IQR, 24.5–51). TUS was performed in 1851 (99.8%) patients, and CT in 463 (25.0%) patients. Appendices were not visualized on TUS in 1320 patients (71.3%). Furthermore, 172 (37.1%) of 463 CTs were diagnosed with AA, 42 (9.1%) CTs revealed alternative emergency diagnosis and 249 (53.8%) CTs were normal. Overall, 519 (28.0%) patients were diagnosed with AA: 464 appendectomies and 27 diagnostic laparoscopies were performed. The NA rate was 4.2%. The sensitivity and specificity for TUS and CT are as follows: 71.4% and 96.2%; 93.8% and 93.6%. (4) Conclusion: A conditional CT strategy is effective in reducing NA rates and avoids unnecessary CT in a large proportion of patients. Observation and repeated TUS might be useful in unclear cases.

Objectives—The objective was to compare the effectiveness of observation in standard-of-care computed tomography (CT) in adult patients with suspected acute appendicitis (AA). Methods—Patients with clinically suspected AA and inconclusive diagnosis after primary clinical examination, laboratory examination, and transabdominal ultrasound (TUS) were eligible for the study, and they were randomized (1:1) to parallel groups: observation-group patients were observed for 8–12 h and then, repeated clinical and laboratory examinations and TUS were performed; CT group (control group) patients underwent abdominopelvic CT scan. The study utilized Statistical Analysis System 9.2 for data analysis, including tests, logistic regression, ROC analysis, and significance evaluation. Patients were enrolled in the study at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos in Lithuania between December 2018 and June 2021. Results—A total of 160 patients (59 men, 101 women), with a mean age of 33.7 ± 14.71, were included, with 80 patients in each group. Observation resulted in a reduced likelihood of a CT scan compared with the CT group (36.3% vs. 100% p < 0.05). One diagnostic laparoscopy was performed in the observation group; there were no cases of negative appendectomy (NA) in the CT group. Both conditional CT and observation pathways resulted in high sensitivity and specificity (97.7% and 94.6% vs. 96.7% and 95.8%). Conclusions—Observation including the repeated evaluation of laboratory results and TUS significantly reduces the number of CT scans without increasing NA numbers or the number of complicated cases.

The optimal approach for treating cytology-positive (Cy1) gastric cancer (GC) patients without additional non-curative factors remains uncertain. While neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by gastrectomy shows promise, its suitability for Western patients is not well supported by existing data. To address this knowledge gap, a cohort study was conducted across four major GC treatment centers in Lithuania, Estonia, and Ukraine. Forty-three consecutive Cy1 GC patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2016 and 2020 were enrolled. The study evaluated overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), cytology status conversion, and major pathological response rates, along with the factors influencing these outcomes. All patients underwent surgery post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with 53.5% experiencing cytological status conversion and 23.3% achieving a major pathological response. The median OS and PFS were 20 (95% CI: 16–25) and 19 (95% CI: 11–20) months, respectively. Conversion to negative cytology significantly reduced the relative risk of peritoneal progression (RR: 0.11; 95% CI: 0.03–0.47, p = 0.002). The study suggests that neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by gastrectomy holds promise as a treatment option for Cy1 GC without additional non-curative factors, associating cytology status conversion with improved long-term outcomes and reduced peritoneal relapse risk.

Background: Peritoneal metastases (PM) of gastric cancer (GC) are considered a terminal condition, with reported median survival ranging from 2 to 9 months. Standard treatment typically involves systemic chemotherapy alone or combined with targeted therapy or immunotherapy, though efficacy is limited. Pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC) has emerged as a novel technique for treating GC PM, although it remains an experimental treatment under investigation. This study aimed to summarize the outcomes of GC PM treatment with PIPAC from the Lithuanian PIPAC program. Methods: All patients who underwent PIPAC for GC PM at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos between 2015 and 2022 were included in this retrospective study. The safety of PIPAC was assessed by postoperative complications according to the Clavien–Dindo classification. Efficacy was evaluated based on the peritoneal carcinomatosis index (PCI), ascites dynamics throughout the treatment, and long-term outcomes. Results: In total, 32 patients underwent 71 PIPAC procedures. Intraoperative and postoperative morbidity related to PIPAC occurred after three (4.2%) procedures. Following PIPAC, there was a tendency towards a decrease in median PCI from 10 (Q1 3; Q3 13) to 7 (Q1 2; Q3 12), p = 0.75, and a decrease in median ascites volume from 1300 mL (Q1 500; Q3 3600) at the first PIPAC to 700 mL (Q1 250; Q3 4750) at the last PIPAC, p = 0.56; however, these differences were not statistically significant. The median overall survival after PM diagnosis was 12.5 months (95% CI 10–17), and the median survival after the first PIPAC procedure was 5 months (95% CI 4–10). Conclusions: PIPAC is a safe and feasible treatment option for GC PM; however, well-designed prospective studies are needed to fully assess its efficacy.