Research - General and Digestive Surgery Service

The research carried out by the General and Digestive Surgery Department is clinical and translational and is conducted in the Liver, Digestive System, and Metabolism Area of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Members of the General Surgery Department are part of the following research groups.

Research lines and projects:

• Scientific coordination of the national oesophago-gastric cancer registry (EURECCA).
• ALCE project for predicting the risk of dehiscence after oesophagectomy.
• BYPSADIS prospective randomized study of gastric bypass vs duodenal switch with single anastomosis (SADI-S) for the treatment of grade III obesity.
• Functional study of revision bariatric surgery.
• Influence of the microbiota on postoperative outcomes in oesophageal and colorectal cancer.
• Study of the mechanisms involved in the association between anastomotic leakage and recurrence of colorectal cancer.
• Predictive value of metabolic characterization in colorectal cancer recurrence.
• Study of the predictive value of liquid biopsy in response to total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) and in monitoring recurrence in patients with rectal cancer (REVEAL).
• Comparison between robot-assisted surgery and laparoscopic surgery in the surgical treatment of rectal cancer: study of short- and long-term outcomes.
• Impact of the type of anastomosis (Kono-S versus mechanical side-to-side) on the recurrence of Crohn's disease.
• Evaluation of the impact of robot-assisted surgery on complex pancreatic procedures.
• Development of strategies to reduce postoperative complications in pancreatic surgery.
• Optimization of strategies to minimize recurrence of pancreatic cancer after surgery.
• Evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes in papillary thyroid carcinoma using the OSNA technique.
• miRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in thyroid cancer.
• Prospective multicentre trial on predictive factors for the aggressiveness of medullary thyroid cancer (MIELO)
• Impact of intraoperative indocyanine green angiography on the preservation of the parathyroid glands in total thyroidectomy with or without central cervical lymph node dissection. Randomized multicentre study.

The research activity of the Department is also carried out within the framework of the Networked Biomedical Research Centers (CIBERs) and is distributed within CIBERehd (the CIBER for Liver and Digestive Diseases). The overall objectives of the research conducted in the Department of General and Digestive Surgery are aimed at optimizing the procedures used in daily clinical practice to improve patients’ quality of life, identifying predictive factors and evaluating surgical outcomes, and understanding the mechanisms involved in tumor recurrence after surgery with curative intent.