Prevalence of Ectopic Breast Tissue and Tumor: A 20-Year Single Center Experience.

Background: Ectopic breast tissue, which includes both supernumerary breast and aberrant breast tissue, is the most common congenital breast abnormality. Ectopic breast cancers are rare neoplasms that occur in 0.3% to 0.

Outcome of iatrogenic injuries to the abdominal and pelvic veins.

Purpose: To analyze the management and outcome of iatrogenic injuries to the abdominal and pelvic veins.

Methods: We reviewed a series of patients who sustained iatrogenic vein injuries between 1989 and 2004.

Results: Thirty patients (21 men and 9 women ranging in age from 38 to 82 years; mean age, 53.

[The thyroid pyramidal lobe: frequency, morphological features and related diseases].

The Authors examine the features of thyroid pyramidal lobe in 1405 operated patients over the period from January 1992 to January 2006. Pyramidal lobe morphology and diseases are reported. The pyramidal lobe was detectable in 25.

Surgical therapy of medullary thyroid carcinoma.

This study describes the findings of a retrospective study of 57 medullary thyroid cancer patients observed at the main Sicilian centres for endocrine surgery. Six of these patients were observed locally in order to add a further dimension to the discussion of surgical therapies for medullary thyroid carcinoma. A review of the literature on sporadic forms of medullary thyroid carcinoma and hereditary neoplastic syndromes is followed by presentation of the authors' series.

[Day-surgery as a factor in reducing hospital stay].

The authors analyse the factors that have conditioned the early development of day-surgery in Italy and enumerate its fields of application. They outline the history of day-surgery and report the results of studies, citing laws, documents, rules and guidelines governing its application in Italy today. They also analyse the reasons why a more widespread use of day-surgery is proving difficult in Italy.

[Hemostatic problems in surgery].

In this study the authors analyse hemostatic problems in surgery, with particular reference to the perioperative management of the patient. They examine the numerous factors giving rise to hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications, namely, the hemostatic technique adopted, the use of drainages, patient risk factors, pharmacological prophylaxis, etc. Prevention of bleeding, however, depends essentially on adequate preparation of the patient at surgery and on the surgeon's skill and experience.

[Ileal leiomyosarcoma presenting with an episode of acute massive intestinal bleeding].

The aim of this article was to present a case of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) presenting with acute intestinal bleeding. The Authors outline the histogenetic, clinical, diagnostic and prognostic profile of this pathology. Technical progress in immuno-histochemical and ultrastructural diagnostics has made possible to go beyond the old definition of gastrointestinal stromal tumours and identify several subgroups of such tumours on the basis of nervous and/or muscular phenotypic differentiation.

[Haemorrhagic complications in thyroid surgery. Control of bleeding from retroneural vessels using collagen and thrombin gelatine granules].

They conclude that numerous factors contribute towards causing haemorragic complications, such as the technique used for haemostasis, the drainage, and the haemorragic risk factors presented by the individual patient. Prevention of bleeding, however, will depend essentially on the surgeon's experience and the precautions he takes. Of particular interest is the use of FloSeal (collagen and thrombin gelatine) to treat bleeding from retroneural arterial vessels, wich has often been seen to pose a serious problem for the surgeon.

[Iatrogenic injuries to the colon].

The authors examine a number of aetiological, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of iatrogenic injuries to the colon on the basis of an analysis of their own experience and a review of the literature. They highlight the low incidence of this kind of injury, which accounts for only 0.3% of all visceral injuries.

[Complications of open prosthetic surgery for large incisional hernias].

The authors examine the complications of open prosthetic surgery for incisional hernias and analyse them from different points of view. The case series includes, over a period of 16 years, 492 hernioplasties for incisional hernias and 160 (32.5%) for large incisional hernias.

[Pancreatic echinococcosis. Report of a clinical case and review of the literature].

We report a case of a suppurative hydatid cyst of the pancreas treated surgically (internal drainage on Roux "Y" loop). Follow-up at 6 months revealed no evidence of the cyst. We emphasise the low incidence of the disease in a pancreatic site (02-2% in the literature).

Transclavicular access as an adjunct to standard cervical incision in the treatment of mediastinal goitre.

There are cases in which resection of cervico-mediastinal goitres requires additional thoracic access as an adjunct to standard transverse cervicotomy, and typically this takes the form of sternotomy or thoracotomy. The authors propose transclavicular access as an alternative to thoracotomy or sternotomy access for the removal of such goitres. This technical variant is performed by means of resection of the middle third of the clavicle and extraperiosteal disarticulation.