Evaluation of colour images printed by a thermal dye diffusion process.

Dry printing of medical images, without photochemicals, may be based on the principle of thermal dye diffusion. The Drystar (Agfa Gevaert, Mortsel, Belgium) system was evaluated in colour-coded Doppler examinations of the carotid arteries. A total of 25 consecutive patients were examined for the colour test and 37 patients for the black-and-white test.

Long-term follow-up after division of a pharyngeal flap for severe nasal obstruction.

Between 1965 and 1986, nine patients were noticed to have significant nasal airway obstruction following surgery for velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI). All had a superiorly based pharyngeal flap. Division of the flap was recommended to correct the posterior obstruction.

[Is velopharyngeal competence stable with growth in patients with cleft palate?].

It is possible to have a good velopharyngeal closure at 8 years of age and slowly deteriorate to present with velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) at adolescence? Authors disagree on this subject so we undertook a study to find the answer in our cleft palate population. One hundred and seventy-three patients born between 1968 and 1972 with a cleft palate or cleft lip and palate were reviewed. The appreciation of their velopharyngeal closure at 8 years of age, as rated in their chart, was classified as good (group I, 125 patients), borderline (group II, 17 patients) or incompetent (group III, 35 patients).