Safety of laparoscopic approach for acute cholecystitis: retrospective study of 609 cases.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is now widely accepted as the modality of choice for the treatment of symptomatic uncomplicated cholelithiasis. The application of the laparoscopic technique in the setting of acute cholecystitis (AC) is more controversial. The precise role as well as the potential benefits of LC in the treatment of the acutely inflamed gallbladder have not been clearly established through large clinical series.

[Is it useful to maintain specific scores for the early determination of the severity of acute pancreatitis?].

Study Aim: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a potentially life-threatening disease in which specific severity scoring system has been developed. The aim of this prospective study was to compare efficiency of the general severity of illness scoring system and the most widely used specific scoring system of AP in order to simplify the initial monitoring of AP at the time of admission.

Patients And Methods: Eighty-seven patients with AP were hospitalized in the same center.

Virtual reality applied to hepatic surgery simulation: the next revolution.

Objective: This article describes a preliminary work on virtual reality applied to liver surgery and discusses the repercussions of assisted surgical strategy and surgical simulation on tomorrow's surgery.

Summary Background Data: Liver surgery is considered difficult because of the complexity and variability of the organ. Common generic tools for presurgical medical image visualization do not fulfill the requirements for the liver, restricting comprehension of a patient's specific liver anatomy.

Value of microlaparoscopy in the diagnosis of right iliac fossa pain.

Background: The possibility of performing minimally invasive exploration of the abdomen could avoid unnecessary appendectomies. Micro-optics and instruments of 2 mm in diameter allow this type of exploration, but the feasibility and the accuracy of the diagnosis resulting from this method have not been evaluated.

Methods: A prospective study of 36 patients (11 men and 25 women) operated on for acute right iliac fossa pain was carried out.

[A new concept in surgery of the digestive tract: surgical procedure assisted by computer, from virtual reality to telemanipulation].

Surgical simulation increasingly appears to be an essential aspect of tomorrow's surgery. The development of a hepatic surgery simulator is an advanced concept calling for a new writing system which will transform the medical world: virtual reality. Virtual reality extends the perception of our five senses by representing more than the real state of things by the means of computer sciences and robotics.

[A new concept in digestive surgery: the computer assisted surgical procedure, from virtual reality to telemanipulation].

Surgical simulation increasingly appears to be an essential aspect of tomorrow's surgery. The development of a hepatic surgery simulator is an advanced concept calling for a new writing system which will transform the medical world: virtual reality. Virtual reality extends the perception of our five senses by representing more than the real state of things by the means of computer sciences and robotics.

[Intestinal intussusception in adults: contribution of ultrasonography].

After observing a benign tumour of the small bowel which led to ileo-ileal invagination in an adult we recalled the main data on the epidemiology, aetiology and diagnosis. In infants, the diagnosis is usually made but in adults, the situation is much rarer and the clinical and radiographic signs are not specific. Echotomography of the abdomen is the most reliable examination.

[Synthetic prostheses used in surgery to repair abdominal wall defects (excluding groin hernias). Characteristics, in situ behaviour and applications].

This study is an updating on synthetic prostheses used today to repair incisional hernias, eviscerations and abdominal wall defects due to a severe infection or a parietal excision of malignant tumours. The present prostheses are the fruits of the constantly developing plastic industry. Their characteristics and types (mesh or patch), together with the materials they are made of, are studied taking this development into account.