Proposal for a multidisciplinary approach to the patient with morbid obesity: the St. Franciscus Hospital morbid obesity program.

Morbid obesity is a serious disease as it is accompanied by substantial co-morbidity and mortality. The prevalence is increasing to an alarming extent, in Europe as well as in the United States. In the past few decades, bariatric surgery has developed and gained importance.

[Surgical treatment of rectal prolapse].

Rectal prolapse must be distinguished from anal prolapse or mucosal prolapse since the treatment differs. The only effective treatment for rectal prolapse is surgery. The fact that rectal prolapse causes severe disability and that the morbidity of the current surgical treatment is low justifies surgery even at advanced age.

Long-term follow-up after gastric surgery for morbid obesity: preoperative weight loss improves the long-term control of morbid obesity after vertical banded gastroplasty.

Background: Gastric restrictive surgery in a large non-university teaching hospital has been combined with preoperative weight loss by diet. The aims of preoperative dieting were to test patient motivation, to reduce perioperative morbidity, to accustom patients to the restriction of food intake after surgery, and to increase total weight loss. This study was performed to investigate the long-term results of this approach.

Clinical and financial aspects of cholecystectomy: laparoscopic versus open technique.

Clinical and financial aspects of laparoscopic (LC) (n = 119) and open (OC) (n = 117) cholecystectomy are compared in a retrospective study. The number and nature of perioperative complications do not differ importantly between these techniques. In favor of LC, significant differences are observed regarding the numbers of days severe pain was suffered (mean 1.