Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and intraperitoneal CRP, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in early diagnostics of anastomotic leakage in the first 4 postoperative days after colorectal surgery. Methods: Between January 2023 and June 2023, one hundred patients with colorectal carcinoma were operated on with primary anastomosis. Ten patients had anastomotic leak (10%). Results: Based on serum CRP, a patient with a leak will be detected with a 78% probability on postoperative day 3 with values above 169.0 mg/L and on postoperative day 4 with values equal to 159.0 mg/L and above. Intraperitoneal CRP values greater than 56 mg/L on the fourth postoperative day indicate a 78% probability of a diagnosis of leakage. An anastomotic leak will be detected with a 70.0% probability based on an IL-6 value on the first day, at a cut-off value of 42,150. The accuracy of TNF-alpha in predicting anastomotic leak in the first two days is 70% at values higher than 78.00 on the first and 58.50 on the second postoperative day. Conclusion: In this study serum CRP proved to be the most accurate in predicting anastomotic dehiscence after colorectal surgery.

Background/Objectives: Recently, some new morphological features of colorectal cancer have been discovered as important prognostic factors; in this paper, we study the relationship between tumor budding (TB) and tumor deposits (TDs). Methods: The retrospective cohort study included 90 patients with pathohistologically confirmed stage III CRC who were treated with radical surgical resection. All hematoxylin and eosin (H and E)-stained slides from each patient were reviewed, and histological parameters were recorded. The samples were divided into two groups with similar sizes: a group without TDs (N = 51) and a control group with TDs (N = 39). The presence and TB grade were further analyzed in these groups and compared with other clinical and histological features. Results: The prevalence of TB in the investigated cohort was unexpectedly high (94.4%). Overall, there were 23 (25.6%) Bd1, 20 (22.2%) Bd2, and 47 (52.2%) Bd3 cases. The presence of TDs was significantly associated with a higher number of TB (p < 0.001, OR 16.3) and, consequently, with a higher TB grade (p = 0.004, OR 11.04). A higher TB grade (p = 0.001, HR 2.28; 95% CI 1.93–4.76) and a growing number of TDs (p = 0.014, HR 1.52; 95% CI 1.09–2.1) were statistically significantly associated with shorter survival. Conclusions: TDs appear more often in patients with higher TB grades in stage III CRC. A higher TB grade and a growing number of TDs were statistically significantly associated with shorter overall survival. These results could give additional emphasis to the importance of TB as an adverse prognostic factor since a strong relationship with TDs has been demonstrated.

In colorectal surgery, anastomotic leakage is a serious complication, leading to higher postoperative morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of serum and intraperitoneal C-reactive protein (CRP) in early diagnos...

Background/Objectives: Melanoma-associated antigen A3 (MAGEA3) is a cancer–testis antigen with potential biological and prognostic relevance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This study evaluated the association between OTI1H1-defined MAGEA3-directed immunoreactivity and clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival after pancreatic resection for PDAC. Methods: This retrospective cohort included 76 patients with histologically confirmed PDAC. Patients who died within 30 postoperative days were excluded, and all tumors were retrospectively restaged according to the eighth edition of the AJCC TNM classification. Immunohistochemical staining was assessed using the mouse monoclonal anti-MAGE3 antibody clone OTI1H1 (ab140678, Abcam) by a single experienced pathologist blinded to clinical and outcome data. The percentage of immunoreactive tumor cells was retained as the principal exploratory quantitative measure; the prespecified <10% versus ≥10% classification was evaluated secondarily. Results: Thirty-six of 76 tumors (47.4%) had ≥10% OTI1H1-reactive tumor cells. When staining was modeled continuously, the adjusted HR per 10-percentage-point increase was 0.969 (95% CI 0.898–1.046; p = 0.420). For the secondary binary classification, the adjusted HR for ≥10% versus <10% staining was 0.745 (95% CI 0.417–1.331; p = 0.320). No statistically clear association with overall survival was observed; however, the confidence intervals do not exclude potentially clinically relevant associations in either direction. Conclusions: No statistically clear association between OTI1H1-defined immunoreactivity and overall survival was observed in this cohort. Because OTI1H1 has known cross-reactivity with selected MAGE-A family proteins and no orthogonal molecular validation was performed, these findings should be interpreted as assay-specific and do not establish biological inactivity of MAGEA3 or related MAGE-A proteins.