Case of fake acute abdomen by metastatic melanoma.

Malignant melanoma is the neoplasm with highest probability of cardiac metastatization. Cardiac involvement by metastatic melanoma is rarely identified ante-mortem (5-30% of cases) for non-specificity of cardiac symptoms. In fact we show in this case report that abdominal pain can represent the predominant symptom.

Ovarian hydatid cyst: A case report.

Discovering an hydatid cyst in pelvic region, especially as primary localization, is a rare event; as a matter of fact according to data provided by literature the incidence is between 0.2 and 2.25%.

[Presacral myelolipoma: a case report].

Background: Presacral tumors are more frequently benign, and only occasionally malignant, showing a slow growth and an incidence of 1:40.000. They are asymptomatic in the 26-50% of the cases.

Emergency treatment of complicated incisional hernias: a case study.

Background: The emergency treatment of incisional hernias is infrequent but it can be complicated with strangulation or obstruction and in some cases the surgical approach may also include an intestinal resection with the possibility of peritoneal contamination. Our study aims at reporting our experience in the emergency treatment of complicated incisional hernias.

Methods: Since January 1999 till July 2008, 89 patients (55 males and 34 females) were treated for complicated incisional hernias in emergency.

Fibrin glue in the treatment of anal fistula: a systematic review.

Background: New sphincter-saving approaches have been applied in the treatment of perianal fistula in order to avoid the risk of fecal incontinence. Among them, the fibrin glue technique is popular because of its simplicity and repeatability. The aim of this review is to compare the fibrin glue application to surgery alone, considering the healing and complication rates.

A severe case of hemobilia and biliary fistula following an open urgent cholecystectomy.

Background: Cholecystectomy has been the treatment of choice for symptomatic gallstones, but remains the greatest source of post-operative biliary injuries. Laparoscopic approach has been recently preferred because of short hospitalisation and low morbidity but has an higher incidence of biliary leakages and bile duct injuries than open one due to a technical error or misinterpretation of the anatomy. Even open cholecystectomy presents a small number of complications especially if it was performed in urgency.

Virtual colonoscopy in stenosing colorectal cancer.

Background: Between 5 and 10% of the patients undergoing a colonoscopy cannot have a complete procedure mainly due to stenosing neoplastic lesion of rectum or distal colon. Nevertheless the elective surgical treatment concerning the stenosis is to be performed after the pre-operative assessment of the colonic segments upstream the cancer. The aim of this study is to illustrate our experience with the Computed Tomographic Colonography (CTC) for the pre-operative assessment of the entire colon in the patients with stenosing colorectal cancers.

[Abdominal compartimental syndrome as a complica-tion of Fournier's gangrene].

Analyzing a complex case and referring to the literature, the authors describe abdominal compartmental syndrome as a complication of Fournier's gangrene, stressing out the importance of an early diagnosis to perform prompt and effective treatment. The characteristic of this case is not represented only by the Fournier's gangrene rarity, but also by the appearance of an abdominal compartmental syndrome due to the gangrene extension from the scrotum to the abdominal wall and cavity through the spermatic funiculus. The treatment of the abdominal compartmental syndrome was the surgical toilette of the necrotic regions (scrotum, abdominal wall and cavity) together with an orchiectomy.

Feasibility of laparoscopy for small bowel obstruction.

Background: Adherential pathology is the most common cause of small bowel obstruction. Laparoscopy in small bowel obstruction does not have a clear role yet; surely it doesn't always represent only a therapeutic act, but it is always a diagnostic act, which doesn't interfere with abdominal wall integrity.

Methods: We performed a review without any language restrictions considering international literature indexed from 1980 to 2007 in Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library.

[Minimally invasive treatment of synchronous colorectal tumours].

In patients with colorectal cancers synchronous neoplastic lesions are an increasingly frequent finding at preoperative staging; 3% of the cases are other cancers while 33-35% of the synchronous lesions are villous adenomas. The treatment of most colorectal adenomas can be performed by endoscopic poplypectomy. In 5% of cases there are synchronous colorectal lesions also requiring surgical treatment.

[Virtual colonoscopy in stenosing colorectal cancer].

In 5-10% of patients it is not possible to achieve a complete endoscopic examination of the colon, because of obstructing cancer, excessive length of the colon, anatomical abnormalities or adhesions. Virtual colonoscopy is currently capable of investigating the colic lumen with a non-invasive technique, with high specificity and sensitivity. From January 2005 to July 2007 we treated 21 patients with obstructing neoplastic colorectal lesions, preventing a complete endoscopic examination.

[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis].

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis and to determine the optimal timing.

Patients And Methods: The study was performed in two groups of 70 consecutive patients (similar in age and ASA classification), retrospectively reviewed, who had been diagnosed with acute cholecystitis and were underwent early or delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In early group surgery took place within 48 hours of admission in hospital.

Acute appendicitis: a descending trend?

Aim: The diagnosis-related group (DRG) system is a prospective hospital payment system used to categorize hospital patients expected to require similar hospital services. In Italy, hospital productivity is calculated from DRG-based data coded according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), which is a classification system for coding of diagnoses and operations for indexing medical records by diagnosis and operations. The aim of our survey was to determine the national incidence of appendectomies based on the coded summary of selected data in hospital discharge reports (HDR).

[Laparoscopic adhesiolysis in acute small bowel obstruction].

At the beginning of the laparoscopic surgery, intestinal obstruction was considered an absolute contraindication for this approach, because of the high risk of injuring the bowel. Today laparoscopic surgery for small bowel obstruction is still under evaluation. Adhesions are the most common cause of obstruction; although an important proportion of these patients can be nonoperatively treated, some of these require immediate operation.