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Early Experience with the Advanced Breast Biopsy Instrumentation System in a Multicentre Study In an Austrian multicentre trial between September 1998 and December 2001, 474 procedures were performed with the Advanced Breast Biopsy Instrumentation (ABBI), and 389 were entered in the protocol. For reasons of patient comfort, radiological accuracy and low complication rate, the stereotactic excision biopsy with the ABBI system is a useful alternative to 'open' biopsy of non-palpable breast lesions, although there are technical limitations. The question of the therapeutic option in breast cancer cannot be answered yet.

In the present study the influence of a near normoglycemic state induced by continuous insulin infusion on various factors possibly involved in the pathophysiology of late diabetic complications was studied in 9 insulin-dependent diabetics. The application of a two-week continuous intravenous insulin infusion (CIVII) resulted in a normalisation of lipoprotein- and apolipoprotein fractions, whereas the in vivo platelet function remained unchanged. The low-T3-syndrome associated with an insufficient metabolic control in diabetics disappeared under the CIVII-treatment. The long-term effect of subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) administered by portable pumps was evaluated in 14 diabetic patients with different clinical problems or complications. Although the metabolic control and the daily life conditions improved significantly in these patients, nevertheless the pump treatment should be restricted at the present time to diabetics, who cannot be sufficiently controlled by conventional insulin therapy.

Results are presented following conservative treatment of 79 patients for injuries of the palmar plate of the proximal interphalangeal joint. There was in addition, a slight shell-shaped chip in the base of the middle phalanx of 73 patients. These results show that the functional results are influenced by the age of the patient and the length of the immobilization. 36 of 43 (83.7%) patients under 30 years old, who were immobilized for two to three weeks, had very good results. Immobilization for a longer period of time brought very good results for only nine of fifteen (60%) patients. In the group over thirty years, seven out of fifteen (46.7%) patients had very good results with up to three weeks' immobilization. With longer periods of immobilization, only one out of six (16.7%) had a very good result. The authors recommend fourteen days immobilization in a finger cast with the proximal interphalangeal joint at 15 degrees and the metacarpophalangeal joint at 80 degrees of flexion. Operative correction should only be considered in cases with a tendency to sublux.