[Concepts of the German Society of Tropical Surgery].

The DTC promotes access to surgical care facilities of acceptable medical quality for all people in third world countries. To achieve this goal following concepts and activities are persued: Establishment of a 2-year training programme district surgery Postgraduate surgical training in Germany Workshops and annual scientific meetings Development of adapted surgical technologies Cooperation with national and international organisations Promotion of north-south partnerships between colleagues and hospitals.

Ischemia after carotid endarterectomy: comparison between transcranial Doppler sonography and diffusion-weighted MR imaging.

Background And Purpose: Hyperintense signals on diffusion-weighted MR images (DWIs) are believed to correspond accurately with cerebral ischemic events. Intraoperative transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) can reveal hemodynamic and embolic events during carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Our purpose was to determine whether the occurrence of hyperintense signals on postoperative DWIs corresponds to intraoperative embolic or hemodynamic events.

High rates of appendicectomy in a developing country: an attempt to contribute to a more rational use of surgical resources.

Objective: In view of the high appendicectomy rate in a university teaching hospital in a developing country, we investigated the regional epidemiology of appendicitis.

Design: Prospective clinical and pathological study.

Setting: Teaching hospital, Madagascar.

[Current proctology--modern functional diagnosis].

The large majority of pathological conditions in proctology can be recognized and distinguished from each other by clinical and endoscopic means of diagnosis. Manometric and neurophysiological investigations are especially useful for understanding pathophysiology; these methods are of great clinical value whenever their results contribute to a specific concept of therapy. Functional tests are able to distinguish among the various causes of sphincteric dysfunction.