[Digestive system surgery in octogenarians]. / Chirurgie digestive chez l'octogénaire.

Between October 1, 1977 and June 30, 1983, 139 G.I. tract operations were performed in patients over 80 years-old. 45,3% were post-operatively admitted to the I.C.U.; the criteria for admission were emergency surgical interventions, the type and duration of the operation. The operative mortality was 15,8%. Contributory factors were the type of the intervention, its curative nature and the necessity for post-operative reanimation. The urgent nature of the intervention as well as the histology of the lesion had no bearing on the mortality. Local complications were noted in 34,5% of the cases and were mainly superficial and deep wound infections. General complications, mainly involving the cardio-pulmonary and urinary tract systems, occurred in 68,3% of the cases. Morbidity was mainly associated with the timing of the intervention.

[Tennis elbow: surgical findings in 17 cases and etiopathogenetic hypothesis]. / Les epicondylites: découvertes opératoires dans 17 cas et hypothèses etio-pathogéniques.

Lateral epicondylitis is the most common source of elbow pain. Surgical treatment is easy but precise etiology remains uncertain. We reviewed 17 medical files of surgically treated lateral epicondylitis. Chondral lesions of the radial head were systematically looked for. Out of those 17 elbows, 11 showed extension limitation before surgical treatment. From this sub-group, 9 presented chondral lesions. None of the 6 elbows without extension limitation showed chondral lesions. Increased tension of the extensor carpi radialis brevis associated with the eccentric movement of the radial head, seems to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of those lesions. We believe that chondropathy of the radial head is a consequence of lateral epicondylitis.