Penetrating abdominal trauma: the challenge.

High-velocity missiles fired from weapons of war cause severe injuries because of the intense energy that they transfer on impact with the living targets. The most important factors in the reduction of morbidity and mortality are first aid, rapid evacuation of victims and early primary surgery. Infection of wounds can arise from skin organisms and from enteric aerobes and anaerobes.

Necrotising fasciitis of the leg as a complication of ischiorectal abscess.

This case report describes the rare complication of necrotising fasciitis of the right thigh and calf after drainage of an ischiorectal abscess. The important early symptoms and signs of this life threatening infection, and the need for urgent treatment with aggressive surgical debridement and broad spectrum antibiotics, are emphasised in order to facilitate early recognition and prompt initiation of the appropriate therapy in future cases.

Staples for wound closure: a controlled trial.

Skin staples were compared with two conventional suture methods for speed, convenience, effectiveness and cost. One hundred and ninety-five patients having linear abdominal incisions were randomly allocated to one of three methods of interrupted skin closure--polypropylene sutures, polyglactin sutures or stainless steel staples and the wounds were assessed over 30 days. The mean rate of wound closure using sutures was 4.

Breast lumps and lymphoma.

We report two cases of young women in whom a breast lump was the first symptom of disseminated lymphoma. They were managed by wide excision of the affected segments of breast. Histological diagnosis was aided by immunoperoxidase stains for immunoglobulin chains.