Ten years of Swedish experience with intraductal electrohydraulic lithotripsy and laser lithotripsy for the treatment of difficult bile duct stones: an effective and safe option for octogenarians.

Background: Endoscopic procedures using electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) or intraductal laser lithotripsy (ILL) are the methods of choice for managing difficult common bile duct (CBD) stones. This retrospective study examined 10 years of Swedish experience using a mother-baby endoscopic system to assist in the fragmentation of CBD stones by EHL and ILL.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2006, 44 patients with a median age of 80 years underwent EHL or ILL at two Swedish centers after conventional endoscopic fragmentation of CBD stones had failed.

Improved outcome after laparoscopic cholecystectomy with ultrasonic dissection: a randomized multicenter trial.

Background: In conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy, dissection with electrocautery starts at the triangle of Calot. In a randomized single-center trial, the fundus-first method (dome down) using ultrasonic dissection was faster, involved less pain or nausea, and had a shorter postoperative sick leave. This may relate to the fundus-first method or to the ultrasonic dissection.

Analysis of patient selection and external validity in the Swedish contribution to the COLOR trial.

Objective: The colon cancer laparoscopic or open resection (COLOR) trial is an international, randomised controlled trial comparing outcomes of open and laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer. The main purpose of this study was to determine representability by comparing included and nonincluded patients in the participating Swedish centres.

Design: At eight centres, which included 391 of the 422 Swedish patients, a local database search was performed to identify retrospectively all patients (n = 2,384) who underwent surgery for colon cancer during the inclusion period, and data was retrieved from medical records.