Should nurses be allowed to perform the pre-operative surgical site marking instead of surgeons? A prospective feasibility study at a Swiss primary care teaching hospital.

Background: Surgical site marking is one important cornerstone for the principles of safe surgery suggested by the WHO. Generally it is recommended that the attending surgeon performs the surgical site marking. Particularly in the case of same day surgery, this recommendation is almost not feasible.

Prospective multicenter registration study of colorectal cancer: significant variations in radicality and oncosurgical quality-Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research Protocol SAKK 40/00.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate in a multicenter cohort study the radicality of colorectal cancer resections, to assess the oncosurgical quality of colorectal specimens, and to compare the performance between centers.

Methods: One German and nine Swiss hospitals agreed to prospectively register all patients with primary colorectal cancer resected between September 2001 and June 2005. The median number of eligible patients with one primary tumor included per center was 95 (range 12-204).

A Life-Threatening Mediastinal Hematoma After Central Venous Port System Implantation.

Background: We report a case of surgical central venous port system implantation using Seldinger's technique with a life-threatening mediastinal hematoma due to the perforation of the superior vena cava.

Case Report: A 68-year-old woman was admitted to our institution for port implantation. Open access to the cephalic vein and 2 punctures of the right subclavian vein were unsuccessful.

Atypical Case of a Painful Presacral Tumor.

Background: Retention of surgical items after a surgical procedure is not only a medical error, but can also lead to various unexpected complications and additional surgery procedures even years after the initial operation.

Case Report: A 59-year old woman was referred to our hospital with intermittent pain in the lesser pelvis for about three months. She had undergone laparotomy for cholecystectomy 24 years ago and adnexectomy more than 30 years ago.