BACKGROUND Pancreatic anastomosis leakage and fistula formation following pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple's procedure) is a common complication. Delay in timely diagnosis and proper management is associated with high morbidity and mortality. To report our experience with management of pancreatic fistula following Whipple's procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this retrospective study, medical...

HYPOTHESIS Predictive factors of pancreatic fistula (PF) and the value of conservative management of PF following distal pancreatectomy (DP) are poorly known. DESIGN Case series. SETTING A university hospital referral center. PATIENTS From 1991 to 2003, 175 patients underwent DP with routine drainage of the pancreatic stump and postoperative repeated measures in drainage fluid. Pancreatic...

2 Director, Prosthetics Research Study, Seattle, Wash. AHE elective amputation must be considered plastic and reconstructive in nature. The need to create a dynamic and sensory motor end-organ should be foremost in the surgeon's mind in planning an amputation, and is emphasized here once more. The below-knee stump no longer hangs suspended in an open-end socket. The variable degrees of pressure...

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) has become one of the most common surgical procedures to date. To improve and standardize this technique further, cost-effective and reliable animal models are needed. METHODS In a pilot study, 30 Wistar rats underwent laparoscopic caecum resection (as rats do not have an appendix vermiformis), to optimize the instrumental and surgical parameters. A s...

BACKGROUND Avulsion of cystic duct during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is not a common intraoperative complication, but may be encountered by any laparoscopic surgeon. Surgeons are rarely familiar with management of this condition. METHODS Patients with gall stone related problems who were scheduled for LC at the minimal invasive surgery unit of a tertiary referral hospital during a 5 ye...

To assess the influence of digestive juice on the pancreatic stump when pancreaticogastrostomy was performed after pancreatoduodenectomy, the pancreatic stump was anastomosed to the intact stomach (group I), the stomach after partial gastrectomy (group II), or the jejunum (group III) in rabbits, and the nature of the digestive juice at the anastomotic site as well as the histologic changes of t...