ITALY

National Congress of Surgery  The Società italiana di chirurgia held its thirty-eighth national congress in Bari, under the chairmanship of Professor Righetti. The official speakers on the topic "Associated Syndromes of the Right Half of the Abdomen" were Prof. Nicola Leotta of Bari and Dr. Giulio Vita of Palermo. Leotta divided the associated syndromes of the right half of the abdomen into four groups: (1) right abdominal syndrome; (2) right abdominal syndrome with cholecystitis; (3) right abdominal syndrome with gastric ulcer; (4) right abdominal syndrome with cholecystitis and gastric or duodenal ulcer. The right abdominal syndrome comprises changes in the appendix, and the adjacent intestine and lesions of the omentum and the perivisceral structures. One must assume the constant existence of an appendicitis, active or inactive. The foregoing changes are the result of a chronic peritoneal infective process.The peritoneal lesions are associated with a simple chronic peritonitis of digestive