Analysis of fifty-six cochlear implant device failures.

Objective: Our aim was to present a failure analysis after cochlear implant revision surgery in a large series of children and adults and to assess the outcome and audiologic performance.

Methods: Fifty-six cochlear implant failures that occurred in 422 devices implanted between 1990 and 2007 at the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Mainz, Germany, were retrospectively analyzed. The causes of failure were reviewed evaluating the individual history, telemetric and intraoperative findings and manufacturer's investigation reports.

Invisible gastric carcinoma detected by random biopsy: long-term results after photodynamic therapy.

Background And Study Aims: Gastric cancer diagnosed from routine gastric biopsies without any evidence of a visible lesion and negative repeated biopsies is an infrequent but serious clinical problem for which gastrectomy has usually been recommended, even if operative specimens do not show cancer either. We report on a series of 22 such patients undergoing long-term follow-up after attempted treatment with photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Patients And Methods: 22 patients with invisible gastric cancer (IGC) who presented during a 10-year period (10 men, mean age 56 +/- 15 years) were prospectively included.

Diagnostic laparoscopy.

Each diagnostic procedure needs to be viewed in the context of all the other available diagnostic tools, and therefore has to be reevaluated periodically. This is also true of diagnostic laparoscopy, whether performed by gastroenterologists in patients under sedoanalgesia or by surgeons in patients under general anesthesia. Publications during the previous year have shed light on many important issues.

Endoscopic stenting for postoperative biliary strictures due to hepatic hydatid disease: effectiveness and long-term outcome.

Background: Postoperative strictures due to hepatic hydatid disease caused by Echinococcus surgery is considered to be a rare cause of benign bile duct strictures, especially in the Western world.

Goals: The aim of this retrospective study is to demonstrate possible characteristics of the strictures as well as the effectiveness of long-term endoscopic stenting.

Study: Between 1994 and 2001, we treated 10 of these cases in our clinic.

Endoscopic laser palliation for rectal cancer-- therapeutic outcome and complications in eighty-three consecutive patients.

Objective: The treatment of advanced rectal cancer is still a challenge. We analysed the short-term success, treatment-related complications and the long-term outcome after laser palliation for rectal cancer.

Methods: Over a ten-years period eighty-three consecutive patients (median age 81 (46-94) yrs; 43 female) were treated mainly for obstructive symptoms or tumour bleeding.

Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis: review of symptoms including upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Background: Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis (EIP) is a rare condition manifested by multiple, flask-shaped outpouchings in the wall of the esophagus, which represent dilated excretory ducts of esophageal mucous glands.

Study: Five patients with EIP were evaluated with regard to symptoms and concomitant diseases, as well as endoscopic, radiologic, and manometric findings.

Results: Primary clinical symptoms reported by the five patients (three men and two women; age range, 59-72 years) were increasing dysphagia ( n = 3), upper gastrointestinal bleeding ( n = 1), and no symptoms ( n = 1).

Buprenorphine or procaine for pain relief in acute pancreatitis. A prospective randomized study.

Background: To assess the analgesic efficacy and side effects of buprenorphine and procaine in patients with acute pancreatitis.

Methods: Forty patients (average age, 50 years; 23 male) with acute pancreatitis or an acute bout of a chronic pancreatitis were prospectively randomized to receive buprenorphine or procaine for pain relief. Both analgesics were administered as constant intravenous (i.

Hemosuccus pancreaticus--a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding: diagnosis and interventional radiological therapy.

Hemorrhage from the pancreatic duct, i.e. hemosuccus pancreaticus (HP), is a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Choledochocele imaged with magnetic resonance cholangiography.

Choledochal cysts are rare developmental malformations of the biliary tree. Percutaneous and endoscopic ultrasound, as well as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, are recommended diagnostic tools. Magnetic resonance cholangiography may also contribute to the workup and treatment plan of patients with choledochal cysts.

Long-term results (7 to 10 years) of endoscopic papillotomy for choledocholithiasis. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors for the recurrence of biliary symptoms.

Background: The long-term outcome after endoscopic papillotomy is poorly defined. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term results of this method in the treatment of common duct calculi and to determine which prognostic factors are associated with the relapse of biliary symptoms.

Methods: Between 1985 and 1988, 223 consecutive (149 women, mean age 67.

Value of magnetic-resonance cholangio-pancreatography (MRCP) after unsuccessful endoscopic-retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP).

Background And Study Aims: The present study tries to evaluate the success rate of MRCP when two attempts by experts to perform ERCP in a center failed.

Patients And Methods: From March 1996 to December 1996 thirteen patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The MR cholangiopancreatograms were acquired using commercially available software in a clinical MR scanner (Magnetom Expert 1 T-Scanner, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany).

Laser fragmentation of pancreatic duct stones using a rhodamine laser with an automatic stone-tissue detection system. Basic in-vitro studies.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to examine the suitability of a rhodamine 6G laser with an integrated stone-tissue detection system (STDS) for fragmenting pancreatic stones.

Methods: A total of 64 pancreatic duct stones were measured for weight, diameter, main chemical components and in some cases for their computerized tomography density. Recognition of all stones was checked with the standard STDS or a prototype version.

Endoscopic biliary stenting for the palliation of pancreatic cancer: results, survival predictive factors, and comparison of 10-French with 11.5-French gauge stents.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy and complications of different stent lengths and diameters in the palliation of jaundice caused by pancreatic cancer, as well as investigate survival predictive factors and the success of endoscopic therapy.

Methods: This study summarizes our results with 103 pancreas cancer patients treated by endoscopic plastic biliary stenting, of whom 87 were followed up until death or the time of writing. Before therapy, bilirubinemia, tumor primary size, presence of distant metastases, and signs of duodenal involvement were evaluated as prognosis risk factors.