[Hand ischemia and increased CRP level in a 75-year-old female patient].

The complexity of the diagnosis and therapy as well as the deficits in care are presented on the basis of the casuistry of a 75-year-old female patient with giant cell arteritis and a complicative course.

[Recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis in the absence of skin disease].

History And Admission Findings: A 64-year-old man complained of pain and a symmetric swelling of the clavicles. There were no fever and chills. 27 years earlier, a resection of the mandible was necessary, due to osteomyelitis.

Optimal lymph node harvest in rectal cancer (UICC stages II and III) after preoperative 5-FU-based radiochemotherapy. Acetone compression is a new and highly efficient method.

Introduction: Preoperative 5-fluorouracil-based radiochemotherapy (RCT), followed by total mesorectal excision, is accepted as standard therapy in rectal cancers (UICC stages II and III). The accurate evaluation of ypN status after RCT with valuable lymph node (LN) harvest is essential for postoperative risk-adapted treatment decisions. Actual numbers of assessed LNs and validity of ypN status vary extensively depending on the methods used.

[75-year old female with progressive idiopathic lung fibrosis].

A 75-year old female was admitted to the intensive care unit because of a respiratory insufficiency during a bronchoscopy. Extubation was done rapidly. Two months before, the patient suffering from breast cancer without metastases underwent a radical mastectomy.

[Acetone compression. A fast, standardized method to investigate gastrointestinal lymph nodes].

Lymph node staging is the most important prognostic parameter in malignant gastrointestinal tumors. Manual dissection of adipose tissue is time-consuming and also depends on the experience of the individual examiner. By combining elution with acetone and mechanical compression using simple equipment it was possible to completely embed adipose tissue from 404 surgical specimens (colon 348, stomach 28, greater omentum 14, other location 14) without manual dissection.