Open necrosectomy, the standard surgical treatment of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN), presents a high rate of postoperative complications and an associated mortality of 20–60%. In the last decade various minimally invasive approaches (MIA) have been proposed for the treatment of IPN and the results seem to improve on those reported with open necrosectomy. These MIA include: percutaneous, retroperitoneal, endoscopic (endoluminal) and laparoscopic (transperitoneal). The adoption of the step-up approach in the management of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) facilitates the implementation of MIA as the surgical treatment of choice in most cases. Since MIA require the expertise of radiologists, endoscopists and surgeons, patients suffering SAP should be treated by multidisciplinary teams in referral centers. We describe the MIA currently available and discuss their advantages, disadvantages, and results.
Varicocele has been regarded a curable cause of infertility for dozens of years. The impact of varicocele treatment in terms of increase in pregnancy rates is a debated issue. We evaluate data from a 10-year cohort of results from laparoscopic operative treatment of varicocele patients according to pregnancy rate, complication rate, and satisfaction with varicocele repair. Ninety seven patients were treated by means of laparoscopy between 1993 and 1996. Ten years after operation questionnaires were sent to all patients. Answers were obtained from 49/97 pts. (50,5%). Details connected with marital status, pregnancy rate, addictions and scrotal pain discomfort were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square independence test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. After 10 years, 75.5% who answered the questionnaire were fully satisfied with the results of treatment, 12.3% pts of patients were partially satisfied; 63.3% of patients fathered 1 to 3 children. Married patients and those who fathered children were found to be the most satisfied with the operation. We also found the statistically significant negative dependency between smoking addiction and number of children. There were no major complications intra- or postoperatively. No harmful consequences of testicular artery ligation were found. In conclusion, long-time 10 years follow-up enables better estimation of the results of laparoscopic treatment in patients with varicocele. Pregnancy rate may depend not only on varicocele repair but on smoking addiction as well. There is still no evidence of harmful consequences due to testicular artery ligation after varicocele repair
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.