A randomized, prospective study was designed to compare a continuous with an interrupted technique for closing an abdominal incision. Five hundred seventy-one patients were randomized between the closure methods and stratified as to type of wound: clean, clean-contaminated, or contaminated. In mid-line incisions, the dehiscence rate was 2.0% (5/244) for the continuous group versus 0.9% (2/229) for the interrupted group. The difference was not statistically significant. Ventral hernias formed in 2.0% (4/201) of the continuous group vs. 0.5% (1/184) of the interrupted group. The type of wound had no influence on the results. In oblique incisions, 0% (0/39) of wounds closed continuously dehised while 2% (1/50) of incisions closed interruptedly dehised. No ventral hernias formed. Further analysis of the data indicated that dehiscence was more likely related to improper surgical technique than to the method of closure. An abdominal incision could be closed with a continuous suture in approximately half the time required for placing interrupted sutures (20 vs. 40 minutes). A continuous closure is preferred because it is more expedient and because it has the same incidence of wound disruption compared with an interrupted closure.

Functional hepatic reserve was determined in 32 patients wvitli known liver or biliary tract disease employing kinetic analysis of hepatic removal of indocyanine green (ICG). The initial removal rates of incremental doses of ICG (0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg body weight) were plotted as a reciprocal against the inverse of dose (Lineweaver-Burk plot)

To investigate the long-term effectiveness of choledochoduodenostomy (CDD), the experience with 71 patients followed for 5 or more years after CDD was analyzed retrospectively. From 1968 to 1984, 134 patients underwent CDD. Eight patients (6%) died in the immediate postoperative period, 55 left the hospital, 8 of them were lost to follow-up, and 47 were followed but died before 5 years elapsed after CDD. The remaining 71 patients form the data base for this analysis: 38 were followed for more than 5 years, 25 were followed for more than 10 years, and 8 were followed for more than 15 years (mean 12.1 years +/- 1.3 SEM). Choledocholithiasis, chronic pancreatitis, and postoperative stricture were the indications for CDD. Cholangitis was observed in only three patients. The diameter of the common bile duct (CBD) was large in most patients (mean 18 mm +/- 0.9 SEM). These results infer that CDD is effective to treat non-neoplastic obstructing lesions of the distal CBD on a long-term basis and that the presence of a dilated CBD (more than 16 mm) that allows the construction of a CDD more than 14 mm is essential to obtain good results.

Potentially curative radical pancreaticoduodenectomy for ampullary adenocarcinoma was performed in 24 patients over a 35-year period. The overall operative mortality was 12.5%. Actuarial survival rate at 5 years was 61% +/- 13.4 standard error of the mean (SEM) and subsequently remained unchanged. In the same time period, 21 patients underwent potentially curative radical pancreaticoduodenectomy for periampullary tumors of pancreatic origin. Similar analysis showed an overall operative mortality of 23.8% and a survival rate at 5 years of 27% +/- 12.5 SEM. The results of radical pancreaticoduodenectomy for ampullary carcinoma in the most recent years (1976 to 1988) were compared with those of former years (1953 to 1975). There were no statistically significant differences in the 5-year survival rate; however, the operative mortality decreased from 25% in the former period to 6.3% in the recent period. Survival was dependent on nodal status. The 5-year survival rate was 78% +/- 11.5 SEM in the absence of nodal metastasis versus 50% +/- 25 SEM in the presence of regional nodal metastasis. These findings support the concept that radical pancreaticoduodenectomy offers a realistic probability for cure in a selected group of patients with carcinomas of the ampulla of Vater.

In this review of a collected series of patients undergoing hepatic resection for colorectal metastases, 100 patients were found to have survived greater than five years from the time of resection. Of these 100 long-term survivors, 71 remain disease-free through the last follow-up, 19 recurred prior to five years, and ten recurred after five years. Patient characteristics that may have contributed to survival were examined. Procedures performed included five trisegmentectomies, 32 lobectomies, 16 left lateral segmentectomies, and 45 wedge resections. The margin of resection was recorded in 27 patients, one of whom had a positive margin, nine of whom had a less than or equal to 1-cm margin, and 17 of whom had a greater than 1-cm margin. Eighty-one patients had a solitary metastasis to the liver, 11 patients had two metastases, one patient had three metastases, and four patients had four metastases. Thirty patients had Stage C primary carcinoma, 40 had Stage B primary carcinoma, and one had Stage A primary carcinoma. The disease-free interval from the time of colon resection to the time of liver resection was less than one year in 65 patients, and greater than one year in 34 patients. Three patients had bilobar metastases. Four of the patients had extrahepatic disease resected simultaneously with the liver resection. Though several contraindications to hepatic resection have been proposed in the past, five-year survival has been found in patients with extrahepatic disease resected simultaneously, patients with bilobar metastases, patients with multiple metastases, and patients with positive margins. Five-year disease-free survivors are also present in each of these subsets. It is concluded that five-year survival is possible in the presence of reported contraindications to resection, and therefore that the decision to resect the liver must be individualized.