Background: Most diabetic wounds are slow healing and have a considerable area for which healing takes a long duration by conservative methods. Hence we wanted to check the effectiveness of methods of accelerating the healing process. Aim of the study was to analyse the effectiveness of split skin grafting as a curative procedure in these ulcers. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 100 cases of diabetic ulcer who had undergone split skin grafting between 2009 and 2012 was performed to check the effectiveness of the procedure in curing the ulcer. Results: Split skin graft cured about 88% of the patients (graft take more than 90%) with recurrence of about 5%. The rest had graft taken less than 90% but the ulcer had healed. Donor site infection was seen in 5% and all were treated conservatively. Conclusions: The major goal in diabetic foot management programmes is to reduce morbidity, early wound healing and early ambulation. This procedure of split skin grafting helps to achieve this. But the ideal way forward is to avoid the development of such diabetic ulcers by patient education and improving glycemic control. Follow up in diabetic clinics should include vascular and neuropathic assessment of the foot and education about foot care.

Background: Solitary thyroid nodule is considered a challenge by surgeons and pathologists alike. Prevalence increases with age and their occurrence is spontaneous.Methods: This is a prospective study conducted in our hospital conducted over period of 2 years. About 100 patients who were confirmed as solitary nodule by clinical examination and ultrasound were included in this study and all relevant data were collected.Results: The swelling was found to be more common in women and in the age group of 20 to 30 years. The lesion was found to be benign in 92% and malignant in 8%. Out of the 8%, 4% of cases were diagnosed as malignant by FNAC. About 90% patients had undergone hemithyroidectomy and 10% underwent total thyroidectomy. The most common complication was wound infection.Conclusions: The majority of solitary nodule of thyroid was found to be benign and this clearly illustrates that hemithyroidectomy is the preferred surgery unless malignancy is suspected by fine needle aspiration cytology.

INTRODUCTIONAbdominal pain is an important and common cause of hospital visit in paediatric patients. The anxiety of parents in most cases and the difficulty in obtaining history from children makes it difficult for the doctors to handle these patients. On an average about 5 to 10% of emergency department visit by children is attributable to abdominal pain.1 The presentation of abdominal pain can be acute or chronic. Among the acute causes some require urgent treatment while in others the treatment is nonurgent.It is a triage of sorts which helps in differentiating a serious condition from a benign one. Among the various causes, studies show that about 20% were of surgical etiology.2 Accurate diagnosis of cause of the pain is not possible with the assessment of the symptoms only because abdominal organs are devoid of pain sensation and the pain is usually a due to propagation of impulses to another area or due to visceral pain receptors activation.3,4 The management requires blood counts and urine analysis and is often supplemented with the judicial use of diagnostic modalities like ultrasound, abdomen X ray and CT scan when warranted. The diagnosis of acute appendicitis by only clinical examination has a sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 78% which is not satisfactory in clinical settings.5 This article analyses the common causes of abdomen pain in children and the treatment initiated.The aim of this study was to evaluate the various surgical causes of abdominal pain in children less than 15 yrs. We also evaluated the intervention given and the outcome. METHODSThis was a retrospective study in the department of surgery in our hospital during a period of 3 years from ABSTRACT Background: Abdominal pain is a very prevalent problem in children and one of the common causes for visit to the hospital. They may be of acute or chronic presentation and depending on severity may also require admission to hospital. Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted in our hospital over a period of 3 years. About 200 children who came to the hospital with abdominal pain and received treatment in surgical outpatient or referred to surgery department from emergency were included in this study and all relevant data were collected. Results: The pain was found to be more in boys and in the age group of 9 to 12years. The most common cause was found to be mesenteric adenitis followed by acute appendicitis. About 38% of children required surgical intervention on that admission due to various surgical causes. Conclusions:The database of our retrospective study regarding age and sex incidence, clinicopathological features and therapeutic outcome was comparable to other studies in various literatures.