PURPOSE Surgical equipment used in breast cancer surgery that affects wound healing and minimizes complications seems to be a popular investigation topic. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of plasmakinetic cautery on wound healing in patients receiving mastectomy. METHODS Forty-six consecutive breast cancer patients receiving modified radical mastectomy were evaluated prospectiv...

Background: Historically open surgical drainage has been the treatment of choice for pyogenic liver abscess. The records of 54 patients with pyogenic liver abscess were reviewed to determine whether earlier diagnosis with current imaging tests and definitive treatment with antibiotics and aspiration drainage was an effective alternative to surgery. Methods: The clinical features, laborator...

Objective: To observe the clinical effects of minimally invasive puncture and borehole drainage for the treatment of chronic subdural hematoma. Methods: 100 chronic subdural hematoma patients were randomly divided into the control group and the observation group. The observation group was given minimally invasive puncture. The control group was given borehole drainage. Indexes and total effecti...

Descending necrotizing mediastinitis (DNM) is relatively rare inflammatory lesion with high mortality unless an appropriate surgical treatment is undertaken. Recently we successfully treated two surgical cases of DNM. In both cases, the disease started with pharyngeal abscess, and the mediastinal swelling followed. The surgery consisted with neck drainage and the mediastinal drainage through th...

BACKGROUND Epidural intracranial hematoma is one of the most common complications of surgeries for intracranial tumors. The non-regional epidural hematoma is related to severe fluctuation of the intracranial pressure during the operation. The traditional management of hematoma evacuation through craniotomy is time-consuming and may aggravate intracranial pressure imbalance, which causes further...

Objective: To determine necessity of use of drainage after cholecystectomy. Methods: The study included 70 patients under going cholecystectomy with and without drainage. Incidence of complications, sub-hepatic collection and time spent in hospital were noted in the two groups. Age and gender distribution, indications of surgery and operative procedures were similar in both groups. Results: No ...

Axillary lymph node staging is an important prognostic factor in patients with breast cancer. The long-term survival is poor if the number of metastatic axillary lymph nodes exceeds three. With 1-3 metastatic lymph nodes, survival in 30% of the patients is 20 years. The markedly different outcome of these patients with metastatic axillary lymph nodes suggests that other factors likely play a cr...

BACKGROUND Patients are often referred to thoracic units for management of empyema after the acute phase has been treated with antibiotics but without adequate drainage. This study evaluates the effects of delay in surgical treatment of empyema thoracis on morbidity and mortality. METHODS Thirty nine consecutive patients were studied from January 1991 to June 1992. Two groups (group 1, 16 pat...