[Uncommon causes of hemorrhage in the upper digestive tract].

The authors submit data on 12 patients with infrequent and rare sources of haemorrhage from the upper digestive tract, emphasize diagnostic difficulties, frequent relapses of haemorrhage and frequent operations associated with it. They draw attention to the high mortality which is three times higher than in "common" sources of haemorrhage and the large consumption of blood and blood derivatives. They do not doubt the fundamental role of endoscopy in the diagnostic process and finally provide evidence of the difficult leading position of the surgeon in the treatment of these patients.

[Iatrogenic injuries of the abdominal aorta during surgery of intervertebral disks of the lumbar vertebrae].

The authors present the case-histories of two successfully treated patients following injury of the infrarenal part of the abdominal aorta. The injury occurred during extirpation of sequestra of discs of lumbar vertebrae. Some problems of the tactics of surgical treatment are discussed.

[Treatment of open fractures of the foot using external fixation].

The authors give an account of their experience with the use of compression--distraction for the treatment of open dislocation fractures of the foot. The device was designed by the authors and the results are satisfactory when the apparatus is used in the mentioned indications.

[Treatment of fracture of the talar joint using the malleolar transtibial traction loop].

The authors submit their own experience with the treatment of malleolar fractures by means of a transtibial traction malleolar loop of their own modification which makes it possible by means of a minimal amount of osteosynthetic material to fix all three fragments of the malleolar fracture, incl. the tibiofibular syndesmosis. The authors applied this method in 20 patients with good results.