Sentinel node mapping for malignant melanoma.

Sixty-seven patients with malignant melanomas were seen in our institute since 1998. We looked for a sentinel node in 26 (38%) patients with lesions thicker than 1 mm, employing a double technique: staining with methylene blue and gamma probe mapping after injection of 99mTc. Forty-six nodes were retrieved, 25% of them containing tumor cells. This approach enabled us to choose between a wait-and-see policy and radical surgery.

[Perforated endometriosis of the sigmoid. Report of a case]. / Endometriosi del sigma perforata. A proposito di un caso.

The term endometriosis means the presence in an ectopic site of normal functioning endometrial tissue, the ectopic endometrial tissue, as the normal uterine mucosa, undergo hormonal stimulation and follow the proliferative and functional changes along the menstrual course; this evolution, characterize the clinical story of patients affected by endometriosis. Endometriosis is considered to be one of the most common gynecologic disorders, occurring in about 10% of women in fertile age. An involvement of adjacent organs such as the pelvic colon and rectum by endometriosis is not uncommon and may cause symptoms difficult to distinguish from malignant or inflammatory disease located in the pelvic region. The purpose of the following case report is to elucidate certain diagnostic and therapeutic problems of a disease concerning both the surgeon and gynecologists. Our case concerns a 44 year old patient with two children and a negative previous clinical gynecological history; the patients reports the occurrence in the last two years of alterations of colic evacuation consisting in a period of constipation lasting 5-7 days. The patient reached us in emergency with a sub-occlusive state that has lasted for 5 days, in the last 12 hours the appearance of a violent trafictive pain referred to the lower abdomen configure the clinical picture of a acute abdomen. The patient underwent surgery and the laparotomy demonstrated the presence of a perforated tumours located at the recto-sigmoid junction. We proceed to perform an Hartman's resection and a right ovariectomy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Hemorrhagic necrotic acute pancreatitis: analysis of our case series in the light of the most recent diagnostic and therapeutic criteria]. / La pancreatite acuta necrotico emorragica: analisi della nostra casistica alla luce dei più recenti criteri diagnostici e terapeutici.

During the period between 1-1-1979 and 30-9-1992, 43 cases of hemorrhagic necrotic acute pancreatitis were referred to the authors' attention. Six patients were not operated, 12 underwent emergency surgery and laparotomy was postponed in 25 cases. The introduction of sophisticated diagnostic methods, such as Eco, CT, ERCP, intensive medical therapy and postoperative NPT have allowed a more rational surgical approach in terms of timing and extent to be adopted, operating on patients who are metabolically more stable. NPT is a useful tool in the latter postoperative stage. In the series of patients undergoing emergency laparotomy there was a mortality rate of 66%. The mortality rate fell to 16% in those patients in whom surgery was postponed.