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Objective: To study the data from the Laparoscopic Gastric Surgery Spanish National Register of laparoscopic Gastric Surgery and to analyse the type of surgery, the conversion to laparotomy, postoperative complications and mortality., Patients and Method: From March 2005 to July 2008, details of 302 laparoscopic gastric surgical interventions were sent to the Association of Spanish Surgeons web-site. Details of surgical technique, reconversion, clinical and pathological data, morbidity and mortality were collected and analysed., Results: A total of 245 patients had gastric adenocarcinoma, 35 of them stromal tumours and 22 other gastric pathologies. In gastric adenocarcinoma patients, resection was performed in 232 cases (95%). The most frequent histology was intestinal, mainly located in the distal third of the stomach, with 34% of the tumours being locally advanced. D2 lymphadenectomy was performed in 117 cases, D1 in 105, and D0 in 6. Reconversion was needed in 21 cases (9%), with technical difficulty being the most frequent cause. Postoperative complications were reported in 72 patients (31%), with anastomotic leak being one of the most significant. Postoperative mortality was 6%, with sepsis due to anastomotic leak and cardiac or respiratory complications the most frequent causes. The mean hospital stay of patients without complications was 9.2 +/- 3 days., Conclusions: Laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer is a feasible but technically demanding procedure. Potential benefits of minimal invasive surgery can be reduced due to a high rate of postoperative complications.

Context: Glucagonoma syndrome may present either associated with a pancreatic neoplasm which secretes glucagon or as a pseudo-glucagonoma associated with other diseases. It is extremely infrequent but well-known with a current prevalence estimated at 1/20,000,000., Design: A retrospective review of glucagonoma and pseudoglucagonoma cases observed between January 1998 and December 2003 in three hospitals., Patients: Five cases: 3 with a demonstrable glucagon-secreting tumor and 2 cases without an associated neoplasm., Main Outcome Measures: Age, sex, initial diagnosis, associated symptoms, and pathology were analyzed as were procedures employed in diagnosis, imaging studies, laboratory data, surgery and follow-up., Results: Hyperglycemia and elevated plasma glucagon levels were found in all cases. In 3 cases, hypo-aminoacidemia and a descrease in fatty acids were found. No changes of zinc levels were observed. Abdominal ultrasound studies were of no value except in evaluating pancreatitis. A CT-scan was conclusive when a pancreatic neoplasm existed and 3 patients were operated on a curative basis., Discussion: Necrolytic migratory erythema was the key diagnosis in all cases. Surgery was intended to be curative. The follow-up was of 8, 37 and 57 months in the cases of true glucagonoma syndrome., Conclusions: A real prevalence of glucagonoma syndrome could be greater than currently estimated. In our series, it was 13.5/20,000,000. Pseudoglucagonoma syndrome remains a rarity.

We report a series of 9 leiomyomas of the esophagus treated surgically. We review the literature, emphasizing diagnostic and therapeutic aspects, calling special attention to the good results obtained by submucosal enucleation of the tumor.

The authors report their experience on 132 liver transplants performed on 111 patients. Eighteen have a re-transplantation and in 3 of them a second retransplantation (total re-transplanted patients 21 = 15.9%). Hepatic cirrhosis was the most common indication (57.65%) for transplantation (34.37% of alcoholic etiology). The authors report briefly their operative techniques and the results of their experience. The per-operative mortality (30 days) was 16.21% (18/111). The most important complications were: 9 hepatic arterial thromboses (6.8%), 4 arterial strictures (3.03%), 1 portal stricture (0.75%), 4 portal vein thromboses (3.03%), 5 biliary fistulae (3.78%) (3 following biliary duct-to-duct anastomosis and 2 following hepatic-jejunoanastomosis) and 2 strictures of the choledocus (1.51%). The actuarial survival rate (48 months) is 80%.

A 49-year-old woman underwent emergency gastrectomy for suicidal caustic ingestion, followed later by transhiatal esophagectomy and left colonic interposition. A fistula developed postoperatively between the trachea and interposed segment of colon. This exceptional complication was successfully treated by resection of the fistula, closure of the colonic defect and tracheal myoplasty using the sterno-cleidomastoid muscle.

The present study evaluates the benefits of systematic intraoperative cholangiography (CIO) in 144 patients without preoperative suspicion of choledocholithiasis. Eleven (7.6%) of the intraoperative cholangiographies were considered abnormal by the surgeon and the presence of choledocholithiasis (3/11, 27%) was confirmed in only three cases. Pathology of the main bile duct that had been unsuspected preoperatively was found in only 2% (3/144). We conclude that routine intraoperative cholangiography of patients without preoperative suspicion of choledocholithiasis increases the cost of surgery, prolongs operative time, exposes the patient to radiation and sometimes yields false positives (5%) that lead to unnecessary exploration of the choledochus, which is accompanied by a potential increase in morbidity and a real prolongation of the postoperative hospital stay.

Surgery of the distal half of the rectum has changed considerably in the last decades; new technical procedures have made possible the conservation of the sphincters in a considerable number of patients. We present the most significant factors of this change in surgical approach. The supporting pilars of the change have been the possibility of automatic sutures (staplers), the reduction of the distal margin and the fact that the rate of complications is similar to that of the abdomino-perineal resection. We review the complications of the surgical treatment (stenosis and fistulas) and the advantages and disadvantages of the instrumental sutures and new surgical procedures.