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A total of 168 restorative proctocolectomies have been performed without mortality during the past nine years. Morbidity from pelvic sepsis (12%), ileoanal stricture (15%), and pouch related fistulas (16%) have become less with increasing experience of the operation. Pouch excision, which occurred in 30% of the first 50 patients was undertaken in only 4% in the last 68 patients. Despite this, intestinal obstruction (18%) continues to complicate the operation. We have abandoned restorative proctocolectomy after failed ileorectal anastomosis in patients with slow transit constipation as half have now requested pouch excision because of poor results. Failure to identify Crohn's disease continues to influence the outcome: in 10 patients now known to have Crohn's disease six developed post operative fistulas, three have required pouch excision. Sexual impairment has occurred in three male patients (4%). Ten women had children after operation, eight uncomplicated vaginal deliveries occurred without impaired continence. Seven of nine patients over 60 years of age have had a successful outcome. Our data also indicate that the operation may be justified in distal disease if urgency is socially inconvenient. Frequency of defecation is usually less than three per 24 hours in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis but remains variable in those with ulcerative colitis.

A previously fit 23 year old adult male who presented with a sudden onset of profound autonomic neuropathy, for which no cause could be found, is described. The patient subsequently developed ischaemic enterocolitis that ultimately necessitated colectomy and subtotal enterectomy. Potential neural and humoral mechanisms are discussed.

This study reports on the outcome of four patients having ileal pouch anal anastomosis after orthotopic liver transplantation for sclerosing cholangitis complicating ulcerative colitis. There were no deaths on follow up. Early postoperative bleeding was a complication of colectomy or rectal excision in three, one of whom developed hepatic artery thrombosis and the overall complication rate was high. All patients are continent but one has chronic pouchitis (while receiving longterm metronidazole) and one patient has recurrent sclerosing cholangitis in the transplant.

Emergency Abdominal Surgery. Edited by Jones PF, Krukowski Z, Youngson GG. (Pp 556; illustrated; £45.00) UK: Chapman & Hall, 1998. ISBN 0412819503 (HB). The clear track record of success of Emergency Abdominal Surgery is proved by the publication of a third edition. The authors, who are all from Aberdeen, classify themselves as general surgeons and the book is dedicated to the general surgeons of the future. As we enter the millennium, general surgery is still vital to the management of unclassified surgical emergencies, and surgeons of all disciplines need to …

One hundred and twenty seven patients undergoing elective surgery for inflammatory bowel disease were divided into three groups according to their preoperative ideal body weight (less than 80%, 80-90%, and greater than 90%). The groups were well matched in respect of age, sex, corticosteroid therapy, pre-existing sepsis, peroperative antimicrobial chemotherapy, and resection site. None received peroperative nutritional support. The postoperative outcome was similar in each of the three nutritional groups including the incidence of postoperative sepsis, duration of hospital stay, and mortality. Serial peroperative changes in weight, fat, and muscle bulk were assessed by anthropometric measurements in 21 of these patients. The deficits in weight, fat, and muscle bulk were similar at 10 and 21 days postoperatively in the three groups. At 84 days those malnourished preoperatively had recovered their nutritional status faster than the well nourished patients. We conclude that in these patients undergoing elective resection for inflammatory bowel disease preoperative weight loss did not adversely affect the postoperative outcome.

Editorial. Causes possibles: defauts de l'excision, implantation de cellules malignes exfoliees, alterations des proprietes biologiques au niveau des anastomoses du colon