Percutaneous ultrasound-guided drainage of the biliary tree in palliative treatment of mechanical jaundice: 17 years of experience.

Introduction: Advanced malignant tumours involving the head of the pancreas, gallbladder or extrahepatic bile ducts usually lead to the development of cholestasis. In such cases improvement of the quality of life of patients can be achieved with the decompression of jaundice. Endoscopic implantation of self-expanding or (seldom) rigid plastic stents into the biliary tree constitutes the most common technique allowing for restoration of bile duct patency.

[Microcirculatory disturbance in the course of acute pancreatitis].

Although as many studies are sacrificed to acute pancreatitis (AP), the pathogenesis of the disease remains undiscovered. The microcirculatory disturbances during AP as a cause of necrotic changes in the parenchyma of the gland, described first time by Panum in 1886, have become again a very attractive theory. In the last decades, several studies were done to prove that microcirculatory impairment plays a crucial role in pathogenesis of severe AP.

Is the Lichtenstein operation of strangulated groin hernia a safe procedure?

Background: In spite of many published articles describing the hernia repairs, there are only a few original reports concerning the polymer mesh application during emergency procedures for strangulated inguinal hernias. The aim of our study was to evaluate the results of the Lichtenstein and Bassini operations for strangulated groin hernias and to show the changing number of the tension-free repairs.

Methods: From 1997 to 2004, the Bassini procedure was performed in 21 patients, 6 of whom underwent small intestine resection and 2 others required resection of the necrotic omentum.

[Perforated peptic ulcer--incidence, localization, patients' age and gender].

Throughout last decades there was a noticeable change in the incidence and number of complications of peptic ulcer disease observed. The aim of our study was to determine the character of changes within the course of last 41 years in perforated peptic ulcer's incidence, localization together with patients' age and gender. To achieve that aim we analyzed the group of 784 patients admitted to 2nd Chair of Surgery of Jagiellonian University due to perforated duodenal and gastric ulcers from 1962 to 2002.

[Acute pancreatitis in pregnant women--case reports].

Two patients with acute pancreatitis were presented. In the first case the disease occurred in the 32 week of pregnancy and in the perinatal period in second case. Some changes in lipid metabolism and composition of the bile in pregnant women and their role in pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis are discussed.