Infectious ileocecitis--appendicitis mimicking syndrome.

The purpose of our study is to emphasize the central role of ultrasound (US) in finding the cause of abdominal pain in children. Ultrasound of the lower abdomen quadrant should be considered in all cases in which the clinical signs and symptoms are not diagnostic of appendicitis. There is a wide range of clinical syndromes and diseases which can easily be diagnosed using a high resolution ultrasound with adjunct of color and power Doppler. The spectrum of abnormalities includes appendicitis, mesenteric lymphadenitis, infectious ileocecitis, Crohn's disease, intussusception, ovarian cysts, and encysted cerebrospinal fluid. One of the most common causes of acute abdominal pain in children is acute terminal ileitis (infectious ileocecitis) with mesenteric lymphadenitis. Ultrasound is the best tool to rapidly differentiate this disease from acute appendicitis, and prevent unnecessary laparotomy (Ref. 12).

Benign epithelial gastric polyps--frequency, location, and age and sex distribution.

Prospective investigation has been undertaken with the aim to study the frequency, location and age and sex distribution of various histological types of benign gastric epithelial polyps. Histological type--adenomatous, hyperplastic and fundic gland polyps--was diagnosed on the basis of at least three histological samples taken from the polyp. Biopsy samples were also taken from the antrum and the body of the stomach so that gastritis could be graded and classified, and the presence of H. pylori could be determined by histology. All 6,700 patients, who had undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in a one-year period, participated in this study. Among them 42 benign gastric epithelial polyp were found in 31 patients: adenomatous gastric polyps in 7 patients, hyperplastic gastric polyp in 21 and fundic gland polyp in 3 patients. All patients with hyperplastic polyps had chronic active superficial gastritis, whereas most of the patients with adenomatous polyps had a chronic atrophic gastritis with high prevalence of intestinal metaplasia. Among 21 patients with hyperplastic gastric polyps, 16 (76%) patients were positive for H. pylori infection in contrast to only 2 patients (29%) with adenomatous gastric polyps and 1 patient (33%) with fundic gland polyp. Presented data indicates that hyperplastic gastric polyps are the most common and they are associated with the presence of chronic active superficial gastritis and concomitant H. pylori infection. Adenomatous polyps are rarer and they tend to be associated with chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. Fundic gland polyp is the rarest type of gastric polyps.

Radiologically defined osteoarthrosis in the finger joints of adult residents of Zagreb.

Degenerative changes in the finger joints were studied in 550 Zagreb inhabitants, above the age of 45. The sample was selected by the method of unproportional stratified choice according to age and sex. Radiographs of both hands were taken and osteoarthrosis on the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints was graded according to the five-point Kellgren-Lawrence scale. Body weight, height and arterial blood pressure were measured and occupational work load was evaluated. The prevalence of osteoarthrosis in the finger joints was significantly higher in women (40.9%) than in men (24.8%). It increased with age so that 18.7% of men and 15.0% of women aged 45-54 had finger osteoarthrosis compared to 36.3% of men and 68.2% of women aged 75 and older. Distal interphalangeal joints were more often involved (22.8% of men and 37.9% of women) than the proximal ones (9.7% of men and 19.6% of women). The factors most closely associated with osteoarthrosis were age and body weight. Occupational work load, as classified in this study, was not significantly related to the development of osteoarthrosis, except in the group of housewives, in whom the prevalence of finger arthrosis was greater than in the other groups of women.

Laparoscopic management of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is a common problem in pediatric surgery. Conventional management by the upper laparotomy was the method of choice over the last few decades. Advanced minimally invasive surgery allows successful endoscopic management of this entity too. We report on our initial experience with endoscopic surgery in the treatment of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis with respect to some technical details. The operative procedure was well tolerated by the infant. After a short and uneventful postoperative course, the infant regained eating habits and was discharged from the hospital on the fifth postoperative day. Our favourable initial experience suggests that laparoscopic pyloromyotomy could be a safe and efficient alternative to the open surgery.

[Choledochal cysts: surgical treatment]. / Ciste koledohusa: kirursko lijecenje.

The excision of the choledochal cyst with bile drainage through intestinal conduit is a standard operative procedure in the surgical management of choledochal cysts. During the last eight years five patients have been treated with this operation at the University Children's Hospital in Zagreb. All the patients were girls aged from two months to twelve years. The classical triad of pain, jaundice and abdominal mass was observed in only one patient, an eight-year-old girl. The only symptom in infancy was jaundice. Diagnosis was made by abdominal ultrasound, bibliography, CT scan with hepatotropic contrast and in older children by ERCP. Four cysts were type Todani I, and one cyst was Todani type II. The complete excision of the choledochal cyst with the Roux-Y jejunal conduit without antireflux valve was performed. There was neither operative morbidity nor mortality. Three months postoperatively the control ultrasonography and liver laboratory tests were without abnormalities. The routine control which followed did not show episodes of cholangitis, lithiasis, lipid malabsorption, blood clotting abnormalities or growth failure. The complete excision of the cyst with Roux-Y hepaticoenterostomy is an operative treatment with good results in infancy and childhood.