BACKGROUND/AIMS Endoscopic extraction of bile duct stones is difficult and often complicated in patients with a Billroth II gastrectomy. We evaluated a simpler technique to achieve an adequate ampullary opening for the removal of choledocholithiasis using endoscopic papillary large balloon dilation (EPLBD) combined with a guidewire-assisted needle-knife papillotomy. METHODS Sixteen patients w...

BACKGROUND A wide range of foreign bodies has been retrieved from the gut and reported. The presentation may be in the form of complications like intestinal obstruction, perforation and formation of abscesses etc but there is no case report of a half open clasp knife being retrieved from the ileum, the patient having thrived, in spite of its presence for a period of eight months. CASE PRESENT...

Balanced (exponential) growth cannot be generalized to a concept which would not require knife-edge conditions to be imposed on dynamic models. Already the assumption that a solution to a dynamical system (i.e. time path of an economy) satisfies a given functional regularity imposes at least one knife-edge assumption on the considered model. In particular, regular (quasi-arithmetic) growth requ...

Primary needle-knife fistulotomy for preventing post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: Importance of the endoscopist’s expertise level