[Double pylorus. Description of two new cases and survey of the literature].

Double pylorus is an extremely rare pathology: it can be an acquired or congenital lesion. Two new cases complicating a peptic ulcer are reported and the clinical appearance and evolution of the different etiological type are described.

[Pneumoperitoneum caused by barotrauma. Laparoscopic approach to an unrecognized pathology].

Pneumoperitoneum as a complication of barotrauma is a rare condition due to mechanical ventilation. The diagnostic dilemma often leads to perform an exploratory laparotomy, with the suspect of perforation of a hollow viscus, that makes worse the prognosis of these patients. We describe three patients who developed pneumoperitoneum, secondary to barotrauma.

[Laparoscopic second-look in acute intestinal ischemia].

The early surgical reexploration to check the viability of intestinal loops in patients operated on for acute mesenteric ischaemia (the so called "second-look"), has contributed in improving the prognosis of this disease. However, since there are no certain predictive criteria for the progression of ischaemia, and not all patients are reoperated for a "second-look", some patients will undergo an unnecessary surgical and anaesthesiological procedure (negative second-look), and others, for which a surgical "second-look" might be beneficial, will not be operated on. In order to find a method which allows an effective early exploration of all patients operated for acute intestinal ischaemia, we performed a "laparoscopic second-look" on the last two patients we have operated on.

[Acute diaphragmatic lesions due to closed thoracic-abdominal trauma].

Diaphragmatic injuries due to blunt trauma are steadily related to a high mortality. Their diagnosis may be difficult, due to the lack of specific symptoms and, more frequently to the high incidence of coexisting lesions which can mask the clinical appearance. This work presents the main aspects of ten cases admitted to the Emergency Surgery Division of Cagliari (USL 21), during the last seven years, with a review of the literature.

Functional and biochemical characterization of osteoclast-like cells derived from giant cell tumours of bone.

Cells harvested from human giant cell tumours of bone were characterized on the basis of morphological features, proliferative capacity, total(AP) and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity, and hormonal response. Culture were formed by mononucleated and multinucleated cells. Mononucleated cells showed fibroblastic morphology, whereas multinucleated cells showed osteoclastic phenotype.

[Autotransfusion in vascular surgery].

This report describes 51 vascular patients with peripheral vascular disease treated intraoperatively by means of the autotransfusion apparatus with a minimum of 750 cc of reinfused blood. An early decrease of Hct, Hb, RBC, fibrinogen and Plt count was observed without any significant coagulation disorder.