[Financial analysis of a department of general surgery in a French hospital. The new "fee-for-service" reimbursement system results in a high deficit for emergency care].

Goal: The aim of this study was to perform a detailed analysis of income and expense in a department of general surgery in a French hospital under the new system of funding based on a "fee-for-service" principle.

Methods: All hospital stays of year 2006 were analysed retrospectively. The conditions of admission (elective vs.

Sigmoid diverticulitis. Longitudinal analysis of 222 patients with a minimal follow up of 5 years.

Objective: The surgical treatment of severe attacks of sigmoid diverticulitis and the indications for prophylactic surgery are currently matters of debate. We have analysed our experience in a university hospital, bringing new information into the discussion.

Method: All patients admitted to our department between 1995 and 2002 for an attack of sigmoid diverticulitis were reviewed.

[Primary retroperitoneal synovial sarcoma revealed by hemorrhagic shock].

Introduction: Primary retroperitoneal synovial sarcoma is a rare malignant neoplasm that typically arises in young adults. We report here an unusual presentation of this tumor during hemorrhagic shock and retroperitoneal hematoma.

Case: A 31-year-old man was admitted complaining of acute violent pain of the right lower abdominal quadrant.

[Spiegelian hernias. Report of 51 cases].

We describe 51 cases of Spiegel's hernias, and report a critical review of the relevant literature. The patients presented with an isolated mass in 17 cases, abdominal pain in 17 cases, and a complication in 14 cases (intestinal occlusion in 8, incarceration in 6). The hernia was discovered fortuitously by compute tomography in three cases.

[Analysis of the drainage fluid after cephalic duodenopancreatectomy: a reliable clinical criterion].

The authors have retrospectively analysed the drainage fluid of 39 patients undergoing Whipple's operation over a 18-year period. The aim of the study was to assess whether the volume and amylase concentration of the drainage fluid were good criteria of healing of the pancreatico-jejunal anastomosis. The patients have been divided into two groups: Group I (30 patients) with no complications at the pancreatico-jejunostomy--Group II (9 patients) with a pancreatic leak.

[Ischemic colitis. A surgical series of 88 cases].

We report our experience in 88 cases of ischemic colitis including 76 cases of gangrene with 17 perforations, 6 cases with stenosis and 6 cases which regressed. The left colon was involved in 59 cases with extension to the transverse colon in 20 the right colon in 10 and global involvement in 18. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, and meteorism occurred in 81, 62 and 78% of the cases respectively.

[37 so-called biliary cysts of the liver in adults].

Clinical manifestations, clinical course and therapeutic schemes were studied in 37 patients with a surgical indication for biliary cysts of the liver observed in a surgery unit over 25 years. Cyst size varied from 2 to 30 cm and was greater than 10 cm in 12 cases. Yellowish-clear contents were observed in 23 cases and purulent or hemorrhagic contents in 3 each.

Protective transverse loop colostomy associated with low colo-rectal anastomoses.

A transverse loop colostomy to protect a low colorectal anastomosis should be carried out with minimal morbidity and mortality related to its creation and closure. A modification of the conventional technique is described.

[Ogilvie's syndrome or colonic pseudo-obstruction. Apropos of 26 cases].

From twenty six personal cases, the authors make a review of the literature. 92% of their cases are met in a post operative (28%), neurological (28%), general (24%) context, or in intensive care with assisted ventilation (36%). The major symptom is the meteorism (100%) with in one out of three cases, abdominal pain, vomiting, right iliac defense, absence of bowel sounds.

[Evolution of Hartmann's procedure. 249 interventions].

A retrospective study of 249 patients undergoing Hartmann's procedure over twenty-five years was undertaken to analyse the evolution of indications and results. Patients were divided into three time period groups: from 1969 to 1978, 1979 to 1990 and 1991 to 1994. Mean age was 68 years old.

[Stenosis caused by mechanical colorectal anastomosis. Technique of plasty].

Stenosis occurs in 1.2 to 4% of the cases after colorectal anastomosis, especially after stapling. Ischaemia may have been favoured in our two cases.

[Reoperation for locoregional recurrence of cancer of the rectum].

71 recurrences after rectal resections for adenocarcinoma have been operated upon. After 43 initial anterior resections (AR), the treatment of recurrence was in 19 patients a new resection and in 18 a simple colostomy. When the initial treatment was a Mile's operation (APR in 23 patients), it has been performed 10 new exerses and 5 electrocautery.

Polyadenylic-polyuridylic acid as an adjuvant in resectable colorectal carcinoma: a 6 1/2 year follow-up analysis of a multicentric double blind randomized trial.

In a double blind study, patients with operable carcinoma of the colon and the upper rectum, who have undergone a macroscopically complete resection of their tumor, were randomized to receive either (i) polyadenylic-polyuridylic acid (AU), one i.v. injection of 60 mg (in 50 ml of solution) once a week for 6 weeks, or (ii) a placebo (P) one i.

Hepatic arterial infusion of floxuridine in patients with liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma: long-term results of a prospective randomized trial.

Purpose: A multicentric randomized study that compared patients who received intrahepatic arterial infusion (HAI) to a group of patients who did not receive HAI (control group) was performed for unresectable hepatic metastases from primary colorectal carcinoma.

Patients And Methods: One hundred sixty-six patients were assigned randomly to HAI of floxuridine (5 fluoro-2'deoxyuridine [FUDR]) 0.3 mg/kg/d for 14 days every 4 weeks or to the control group; this latter group, depending on the investigator's choice, was either under observation or received systemic fluorouracil (5-FU).

[Sixty-one cases of acute obstructions of the colon caused by cancer. Indications for emergency surgery].

Sixty-one cases of acute malignant colonic obstruction were operated upon within 24 hours after the patient's admission, between 1979 and 1989: 10 for a right colon carcinoma, 51 for a left-sided lesion. Indications, for emergency operation were: complete clinical obstruction, iliac tenderness, radiologic ileal fluid levels and arrest on barium enema. The initial procedures consisted of 8 right hemicolectomies, and for the left-sided obstructions, 32 colostomies, 7 colectomies with immediate anastomosis, and 12 colectomies without anastomosis.

[Peroperative cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy].

The aim of this study was to assess the ease and the success of a laparoscopic technique of cholangiography. Following an initial period of training to gain expertise in laparoscopic surgery, 70 patients were included in the study. Six of them had a history of suggestive choledocholithiasis.

[Adenocarcinoma of the duodenum. 17 cases].

Seventeen cases of duodenal adenocarcinoma are reported and compared with cases from the literature. Ten tumours were located in the second part of the duodenum, 9 were around the hepatopancreatic ampulla, 4 were above and 4 below this ampulla. Four tumours (23 per cent) had limited intramural expansion (Dukes' stage A or B) and 6 (35 per cent) involved the lymph nodes.

[Anal metastases from cancer of the colon].

Two cases of anal metastases from sigmoid carcinoma are reported. The two patients were treated by local excision. The various mechanisms of tumoral spread are discussed from a review of the literature; the most frequent mechanism is cellular exfoliation.

[33 cases of hematoma of the rectus abdominis muscle in a surgical department].

The authors report a series of 33 hematomas of the recti-abdominis muscles from a surgery department: 15 occurred under anticoagulants 6 were spontaneous, 5 followed trauma and 6 a surgical procedure. The clinical picture was subacute in 24 cases, combining an abdominal pain (32 cases) a mass (10 cases) and an extensive ecchymosis (6 cases). The picture was acute in 6 extensive hematomas with collapse and anemia.

[Extracorporeal lithotripsy of gallbladder calculi. Tolerability, complications and early results].

The purpose of this prospective study, conducted on 88 patients, was to assess the tolerance, efficiency and early complications due to a piezo-electric lithotriptor in the destruction of gallbladder stones. One hundred and sixty one sessions were performed in 82 patients. All patients had symptomatic, uncomplicated lithiasis, the diameter of which was less than, or equal to, 30 mm.

[Mirizzi's syndrome].

Six cases of Mirizzi syndrome are reported. The syndrome consists of a special anatomical variant of the cystic duct, which has a low opening but runs side-by-side with the common bile duct, associated with entrapment of a gallstone in the cystic duct or the neck of the gallbladder, partial or total obstruction of the hepatic duct by the stone and by inflammatory lesions, and recurrent cholangitis. Clinical signs are non-specific and suggest at first sight an obstructive jaundice.

[Emergency surgery of left colonic occlusion].

The authors have reported 61 emergency cases of left-sided colonic obstruction recorded over a period spanning for ten years. The observations break down showed that 44 patients had carcinoma of the colon; 9 presented with volvulus; 4 with diverticulitis; 1 with ischemic colitis, and 3 suffered from Ogilvie's syndrome. Surgical procedures, associated or not with cure, included colostomy (30 cases), colonoscopic detorsion (8 cases), resection (22 cases).