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F. Lacaine Lymph node metastasis carries enormous prognostic weight in the evaluation of colon cancer and raises the question of how extensive a lymph node dissection should be. Lymph node dissection has several goals: 1) staging of the cancer at the time of intervention; 2) improving the chances for complete resection and cure; 3) evaluating the thoroughness and quality of a particular surgical procedure. The prognostic value of lymphadenectomy is evident from the direct practical decisions it entails: evidence-based recommendations (Level A) have proposed adjuvant chemotherapy for all patients with Stage III colon cancer since 1990. Studies have shown a statistically significant correlation between the number of nodes examined in an operative specimen and long-term survival in patients with Stage II disease. The more closely lymph nodes are examined, the more metastasis is found; one can then see the aberrations of stage migration described as the "Will Rogers Phenomenon." Without randomized studies, it is impossible to say whether resection of a larger number of lymph nodes actually improves the prognosis or whether that number is simply a marker of better surgical management including the quality of the surgical gesture, the careful pathologic examination of the specimen, and subsequent choices for adjuvant chemotherapy. The recovery of 12 lymph nodes correlates with a better global prognosis. At the very least, it is an effective marker for the quality of the surgical resection and can be used in the evaluation of professional practice.

Are physicians and their relatives at risk of postoperative complications when they are scheduled for surgery? With the aim to answer this question, a case control study was performed from a cohort of 11,756 patients scheduled for surgery from 01/01/1987 to 12/31/2002. Fourty seven patients were physicians and 122 were a close relative to a physician. The percentage of physicians in the current series is comparable to that in the general urban population in France. Each of these patients was matched with 5 patients as controls regarding sex, age, diagnosis, procedure, and date of surgery.No statistically significant difference was observed between the 47 physicians and their 235 controls in the occurence of postoperative complications: 6% vs 6% (Odds ratio (OR)=1,07; CI(95%): 0,28-3,74), unplanned return to the operative room: 2% vs 2% (OR=1,00; CI: 0,11-8,8), and postoperative mortality: 0% vs 0,5% (p=0,07). No stastistically significant difference was observed between the 122 close relatives to a physician and their 610 controls in the occurence of postoperative complications: 6% vs 6% (OR=1,00; CI: 0,43-2,3), unplanned return to the operative room: 2% vs 3% (OR=0,55; CI: 0,18-3,4), and postoperative mortality: 1% vs 0,5% (OR=1,67; CI: 0,13-12,12).this study does not confirm the widespread opinion that postoperative course would be worse in physicians as patients and in their close relatives. Their recovery is not different from that to other patients if they are treated as well as other patients.

Contrary to the fears raised in surgical publications of the 1950's and 60's, the prognosis of porcelain gallbladder is not automatically associated with an increased risk of gallbladder carcinoma. Two recent cohort studies have allowed a better definition of the appropriate therapeutic attitude for a patient with a calcified gallbladder. In cases of "true" porcelain gallbladder, i.e., the presence of complete transmural calcification of the entire gallbladder wall, indications for cholecystectomy are based on biliary symptoms, all the more so since choledocholithiasis is often associated with porcelain gallbladder. In the case of partial calcification of the gallbladder, i.e., focal plaques of calcification involving the mucosa, prophylatic operative treatment is indicated. In these cases, the incidence of malignancy is markedly increased (14 times that of a control population). Cholecystectomy can still be performed laparascopically as long as the rules for prevention of peritoneal dissemination of tumor cells are scrupulously observed--the gallbladder should not be opened nor bile spilled, the specimen should be placed in a bag for removal through the abdominal wall, the pneumoperitoneum should be evacuated with the trocars still in place and the specimen should be opened and examined after removal with immediate frozen section pathologic exam if there is any question of tumor.

La chirurgie ganglionnaire dans le cancer du colon F. Lacaine L’importance pronostique de l’envahissement ganglionnaire pose la question de l’etendue de l’exerese ganglionnaire dans la chirurgie du cancer du colon. Le curage ganglionnaire a plusieurs buts : 1) caracterisation du stade d’evolution de la maladie au moment de l’acte operatoire (« staging » de la maladie) ; 2) meilleure curabilite de la maladie ; 3) appreciation de la qualite de l’exerese chirurgicale per se . Le caractere pronostique, dans une perspective de staging, de l’envahissement ganglionnaire est souligne par son application pratique directe : il est recommande (niveau A) d’administrer une chimiotherapie adjuvante chez les malades de stade III depuis 1990. Des etudes ont trouve une liaison statistiquement significative entre le nombre de ganglions analyses sur une piece operatoire et la survie des malades presentant un cancer stade II. Plus on cherche de ganglions envahis plus on a de chance de les trouver : on illustre alors le « phenomene de Will Rogers » qui decrit la migration de stade. Faute d’essais randomises, impossibles dans cette situation, on ne peut conclure que l’amelioration dans la collecte ganglionnaire suffise par elle-meme a ameliorer le pronostic, ou si cette collecte est simplement un meilleur marqueur d’une meilleure prise en charge du cancer, incluant l’amelioration de la qualite de la chirurgie, de l’examen anatomopathologique et de l’administration d’une chimiotherapie. Le recueil d’un nombre « suffisant » de ganglions ( 12) aboutit donc a un meilleur traitement global des malades. Il devient alors un marqueur efficace de la qualite de l’exerese et peut etre utilise comme une bonne evaluation de pratique professionnelle.

Seven patients have been treated by partial splenectomy, performed with TA 90 linear stapler instrument (U.S. Surgical Corp). Three patients had non parasitic cyst of the spleen, two had malignant disease and two were operated for traumatic injuries. The section and the hemostasis of the spleen was performed with the linear stapler instrument. No patient required blood unit transfusion. Postoperative course was uneventful. Partial splenectomy with the TA 90 stapler, which does not supply the complications of total splenectomy, is an easy and safe procedure. It should be more often indicated.

In choledocholithiasis, after opening the common bile duct, we used to perform choledochoduodenostomy in old patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate our results in 77 patients. The mean age of the patients was 75 years. Twenty-two patients were operated for angiocholitis, 19 had jaundice, and 36 had gallstones without angiocholitis or jaundice. There was two hospital deaths (2.6 p. cent). All the patients but two could be traced. The mean follow-up was 6.7 years. Two patients had had transients episodes of angiocholitis. Twenty-five patients have dead. Expected mortality in french population corresponding in age and sex was 29 deaths. Our results suggest that choledochoduodenostomy is a safe and effective procedure in the management of calculous biliary tract disease for old patients.