The combination of gentamicin collagen fleece (Septocoll) with primary closure resulted in a shorter period to healing than the open technique without unwanted effects.

Sphincter replacement by electrically stimulated skeletal muscle neosphincter and artificial anal sphincter provide a continent option for patients with end-stage fecal incontinence and those requiring abdominoperineal resection. The guidelines offered in this document are intended to facilitate the controlled and safe development and acceptance of these new techniques.

Summary Staging and surgical as well as post-operative treatment of primary Fallopian tube carcinoma (FTC) followed the lines established for primary ovarian cancer (OC). In a nationwide retrospective analysis we were able to find a distinct difference between these two tumours. A total of 262 patients, 68 with FTC and 194 with OC, in stage I and II were included into this study. A univariate as well as a multivariate analysis for survival was performed, including factors such as age, histological type, grading and surgical and adjuvant treatment. A significantly poorer outcome (P = 0.0002) for FTC patients with a 5-year survival of 50.8% compared with 77.5% for OC patients was observed. This finding was persistent and independent of any investigated factor, in univariate as well as multivariate analyses. Therefore, we feel that a more aggressive therapeutic approach to the treatment of FTC even in early stages can be recommended. On the other hand, the retrospective character of our study has to be taken into account.Primary carcinoma of the Fallopian tube (FTC) ranks among the rarest of gynaecological malignancies, with a prevalence reported to be 0.15-1.8% compared with 9.4-15.8% for epithelial ovarian cancer (OC) (Hanton et al., 1966;Dodson et al., 1970;Engeler et al., 1981;Bohme et al., 1992). The average annual incidence of FTC is reported to be 2.9 per million women per year (Pfeiffer, 1989).Since both tumours have their origin in the Mullerian duct, OC and FTC are considered to be closely related (Frick, 1978). Thus, FIGO staging (until September 1991), surgical treatment and post-operative adjuvant therapy of FTC followed the lines established for OC (Hu et al., 1950;Behr et al., 1990;Morris et al., 1990;Pakisch et al., 1990).In most cases 'primary carcinoma of the Fallopian tube' is diagnosed intraoperatively or even as late as in the pathologist's post-operative histological examination; preoperatively, the tumour is mostly diagnosed as 'ovarian carcinoma' or 'malignant process in the adnexa' (Jones, 1965 al., 1993).Data for ovarian carcinoma were received from the University of Vienna (1st and 2nd Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology) and were collected and analysed by the second author (P.S.) at the University of Vienna, Austria. They involved patients with OC who had been entered into two multicentre studies, from all over Austria. FTC as well as OC patients were followed until the control date, October 1992.Patients with metastatic tumours, with a history of other malignancies and with borderline tumours were excluded from this study.For the staging of Fallopian tube carcinoma a new FIGO classification, founded in Singapore, 1991, was used, whereas for ovarian carcinoma the FIGO classification was applied.

No abstract

Age, gender and education influence the pre-operative expectations of patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer. In addition to the surgical standard, the care of the individual patient must be given due consideration in the treatment strategy.