More than one-third of all appendicectomies are unnecessary. A study was directed towards reducing the misdiagnosis of appendicitis, thus preventing needless operations. Thirty-six women in the fertile age group and with a diagnosis of appendicitis were subjected to laparoscopy before surgery. All women had undergone a gynaecological examination to rule out disease of the female genitalia. As a result of the laparoscopy, surgery was cancelled in one-third of the cases, which were found to have acute gynaecological disease not requiring surgery.

Benign disease of the biliary tract has become the most common indication for major abdominal surgery. Septic complications play an increasingly important role in the morbidity and mortality of biliary tract disease and biliary surgery. This prospective study deals with 800 consecutive cholecystectomies in which bacteriology data were studied and correlated with clinical data. The general incidence of positive bile cultures was 27%. Patients with a high incidence of positive cultures (high-risk group) included those with acute cholecystitis, jaundice, choledochal stones, diabetes mellitus, nonfunctioning gallbladders, and patients over 70. Patients not presenting any of the above features (low-risk group) had a very low incidence of positive bile cultures (less than 7.1%). The types of bacteria cultured were gram-negative bacteria in the great majority of cases, gentamicin showing the highest sensitivity rate (91%). Close correlation was found between positive bile cultures and the incidence of septic complications. The results of this study support the view that perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in biliary surgery should be given only to those patients defined as high risk. In the low-risk group, about 60% of all cases, antibiotics can be omitted safely.

The etiology of hemorrhoids has been explained in the past based on anatomic principles, but this study examines the relationship of resting anal pressures to hemorrhoid etiology in 38 patients with hemorrhoids and 29 controls with no perianal symptoms. Three months after treatment by elastic band ligation, anal pressures were again measured in the hemorrhoid group. Anal pressures were significantly higher in the hemorrhoid group before treatment (102 +/- 26.33 mmHg) as compared with the controls (76.75 +/- 19.56 mmHg) (P less than .001). Three months following elastic band ligation there was a small drop in anal pressure (100 +/- 26.84 mmHg) but it remained significantly higher than the control group. There was also a significant correlation between symptoms and level of anal pressures. The results indicate that persons with hemorrhoids have higher anal pressures than controls. Elastic band ligation relieves the symptoms but should not affect the anal sphincter pressure. The fact that the anal pressures remained high after treatment could imply that higher pressures are an etiologic component in the formation of hemorrhoids.