following infrainguinal bypass for critical limb ischaemia, early results were similar in both gender groups. In the long-term, women patients suffered from significantly higher graft failure rate. However, their long-term survival and limb salvage rate remained comparable to those of men.

Diabetes mellitus adversely affects hospital mortality and long-term survival. Graft patency and limb salvage are not compromised by the presence of DM.

Background: Single-layer intestinal anastomoses have been constructed conventionally using an interrupted suture technique. It is, however, increasingly popular to perform such anastomosis using a continuous suture. Methods: One hundred and eighty consecutive patients with 254 continuous single-layer anastomoses performed over a 4 year period were included in the study. Sixty-one patients underwent oesophagectomy, oesophageal bypass or gastrectomy, 32 underwent biliary bypass, hepatic, biliary or pancreatic resection and 88 had colorectal operations. The median age was 67 years. Results: There were 254 anastomoses of which four leaked (1.6%). Fifteen patients (8.3%) died in hospital. Conclusion: These results show that the single-layer continuous suture technique is safe in gastrointestinal anastomoses.

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Background: Lower limb ischaemia due to peripheral arterial disease is uncommon in Chinese people, and few arterial bypass operations have been performed. The management of a consecutive series of patients who were admitted to our department with severe lower limb ischaemis between March 1990 and October 1996 is reported here. Methods: A total of 91 primary arterial bypass operations were performed for 83 patients (eight patients had bilateral, or two procedures). Of these, 84 operations were for foot salvage and seven operations were for debilitating claudication. There were 80 infra-inguinal bypasses, 10 of which required additional femoro-femoral crossover grafts to improve in-flow. The remaining 1 1 bypass procedures were performed for aorto-iliac occlusion, which included aortobifemoral bypass (9, axillobifemoral bypass (3) and cross-femoral bypass (3) grafts. There were 46 male and 37 female patients, with a median age of 70 years (36-94). Results: Six patients died (6.6%) postoperatively, all of whom were in the foot salvage group. The overall cumulative foot salvage rate and graft patency was 84 and 56%, respectively, at 5 years. Conclusions: These results justified the use of the same aggressive approach that was adopted in Western countries for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease, which seemed to be an emerging problem in Hong Kong.