Open abdomen closure methods for severe abdominal sepsis: a retrospective cohort study.

Purpose: The open abdomen (OA) procedure as part of damage control surgery represents a significant surgical advance in severe intra-abdominal infections. Major techniques used for OA are negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and non-NPWT. The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the effects of different abdominal closure methods and their outcomes in patients presenting with abdominal sepsis treated with OA.

[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the day surgery setting].

The first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the Department of Surgery of the S. Giacomo Hospital in Rome was performed in April 1991. At that time, for the complete study of the patient and recovery from the operation, a mean period of five days was necessary.

[Therapy of asymptomatic gallstones: indications and limits].

Gallstone disease is one of the most common health problems world-wide. It is also one of the main causes of medical expenditure in Western countries. Asymptomatic gallstones are defined as stones that have not given rise to biliary cholic or other biliary symptoms.

[Laparoscopy in abdominal emergencies. Indications and limitations].

Laparoscopy, which has been well known as a diagnostic procedure for more than a century, has recently established itself as an important therapeutic procedure in several branches of surgery. In the present study the authors report on 221 patients over a 10-year period (1991-2001), admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of acute abdomen or abdominal trauma. All patients were submitted to emergency laparoscopic surgery; 128 patients (57%) presented acute appendicitis, 40 (18%) acute cholecystitis, 13 (6%) occlusive ileus, 10 (5%) adnexal pathologies, 9 (4%) perforation of abdominal viscera, 3 (1.