[Is the introduction and realization of the Japanese system of staging and surgical treatment for stomach cancer possible in Spain?]. / Es posible la implantación y realización, en nuestro país, del sistema de estadiaje y tratamiento quirúrgico japonés para el cáncer de estómago?

Discrepancies in the five-year survival rates after treatment of gastric cancer between the West and the East have been attributed to differences in the biological behavior of the tumor or in the incidence of early cancer. Alternatively, the better staging system and the national standardization of the diagnosis and treatment used in the East may explain their findings. Poor definition of stages and curability, scarce interest in standardization of techniques, and lack of basic information in many pathological reports are frequent in Western countries. Between May 1988 and April 1991 a prospective study on a consecutive series of 89 patients diagnosed of gastric carcinoma in the Hospital "Príncipe de Asturias" using the directions given by the Japanese Research Society for Gastric Cancer has been made. Our results support the use of the Japanese system in a General Hospital of our country and confirm its accuracy in defining the type of surgery performed, the later being its main advantage over the TNM staging system.

[Omental graft, without devascularization, in the hepatic hilum. Experimental study]. / Injerto de epiplón, sin desvascularizar, en hilio hepático. Estudio experimental.

Epiploon grafts were made into the resected hepatic hilum of dogs with the aim of creating anastomosis between the intrahepatic and epiploic lymphatic systems. Various hepatic enzymes were observed over a three month period, and then a histopathological study of the grafted area was made. This type of graft was also applied to rabbits, after tying off the common hepatic duct, and the histopathological study made fifteen days after. The results show no lymphatic anastomosis between the liver and the grafted epiploon. So we would not advise using this type of technique to drain intrahepatic cholestasis in biliary atresia, at least not as the procedure of choice.