Factors known to affect the process of tissue and wound healing are independently associated with tissue and wound complications following gastrointestinal surgery.

Injury to the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve (IPBSN), is known to cause regional hypoesthesia of the lower leg after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. The aim of this study was to determine if the orientation of the graft harvest incision does influence the prevalence of postoperative hypoesthesia. Furthermore,to describe change, if any, of the hypoesthetic area, during the first postoperative year. Our hypothesis was that an oblique incision parallel to the nerve branch would reduce the incidence of this complication and the area with hypoesthesia after ACL reconstruction, compared to the vertical incision. Secondly, that the area with hypoesthesia is reduced over time. Fifty patients underwent a primary ACL reconstruction using hamstring graft. Twenty-five patients were operated using a vertical incision for graft harvest,and 25 were operated using a slightly oblique incision. Twelve days after surgery and at a one year follow-up the patients had their sensibility of the lower leg examined. We found that hypoesthesia is a common complication (88%) after hamstring ACL surgery. Change from vertical to slightly oblique incision did not reduce the morbidity.Furthermore, the area with sensory loss,felt by the patient shortly after surgery, was shown to decrease significantly by 46.3 percent after one year.

Premorbid factors, characteristics of the disease, the patients' preoperative condition, operative factors, and the surgeon's training are all associated with surgical outcome across different gastrointestinal operations and should be assessed when auditing surgical outcome.

There is a risk of overlooking lymph node metastases and thereby contributing to inaccurate nodal staging when performing partial axillary dissection in conjunction with total mastectomy in female breast cancer. The Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) analysed this risk in a prospective nation-wide adjuvant trial dealing with primary operable breast carcinoma. The series comprised 3114 patients, initially found to have lymph node negative axillae, followed for a median of 24 months (quartiles 12-40). It was found that the probability of early ipsilateral axillary relapse of cancer, estimated by means of the life table method, decreased with the number of nodes removed. After 2 years the recurrence rate was 12 per cent for patients with no lymph nodes removed, 7 per cent with one or two nodes removed and 2 per cent with three or more nodes removed. It is concluded that the risk of false negative nodal staging in conjunction with partial axillary dissection is modest, provided at least three lymph nodes are removed and found to be negative on histological examination.

We reviewed 37 cases described previously in the literature to provide a patient operated upon for a retroperitoneal nonchromaffin paraganglioma with qualified advice concerning followup examinations and prognosis. This type of tumor apparently grows slowly and metastasizes late. A radical operation is the treatment of choice and provides a good prognosis. We suggested that our patient undergo clinical followup and ultrasound investigations at 3 to 6-month intervals.