Measurement issues when assessing quality of life outcomes for different types of hernia mesh repair.

Introduction: The NHS is required to collect data from patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) for inguinal hernia surgery. We explored the use of one such measure, the Carolinas Comfort Scale(®) (CCS), to compare long-term outcomes for patients who received two different types of mesh. The CCS questionnaire asks about mesh sensation, pain and movement limitations, and combines the answers into a total score.

A meta-analysis of outcomes after routine aspiration of the gallbladder during cholecystectomy.

We conducted a meta-analysis of published literature comparing outcomes after aspirating (ASP) the gallbladder versus nonaspiration (NASP). Electronic databases were searched from January 1985 to November 2009. A meta-analysis was performed to obtain a summative outcome.

Value of procalcitonin quick test in the differentiation between sterile and infected forms of acute pancreatitis.

Background/aims: Authors analyzed the clinical value of procalcitonin quick test (PCT-Q; BRAHMS Diagnostica, GmbH, Berlin) in infected pancreas necrosis verified by guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA).

Methodology: In the prospective, controlled study data of 24 patients were evaluated. PCT-Q was performed in patients with necrosis--verified on computer tomography (CT scan)--and/or sepsis.

[Surgery without boundaries].

Surgery at the turn of the century and at the millennium is characterised by an extremely rapid development. There are no boundaries anymore among the different branches of medicine, in different anatomical regions of the human body, between the living human and the artificial tissues, between the reality and the virtual reality. Nanotechnology and robotics offer new possibilities for minimally invasive procedures.

Complications of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Hungary: a multicentre study of 13,833 patients.

Objective: To report our countrywide experience of laparoscopic cholecystectomy with particular reference to complications.

Design: National multicentre retrospective study.

Setting: 71 university departments and public hospitals in Hungary.