[Moral and ethical aspects of surgery in the octogenarian].

Through the evolution of medicine, its recent progress, in particular, in the geriatric surgery, new ethical problems arise. It is the surgeon's task to study these problems and, bearing in mind the moral and medical factors, to suggest lines of conduct. On examining the results of this surgery, it is noticeable that one cannot speak of therapeutic eagerness.

[Ventriculo-cardiac derivation in late complications of hemispherectomy (author's transl)].

After briefly stating the circumstances in which hemispherectomy is indicated the authors review the possible complications of the operation on the basis of available literature. Two cases are described, one with autopsy findings and the other with CAT scan data which revealed extreme dilatation of the remaining ventricle and led to the installation of a ventriculo-cardiac derivation; this case progressed favourably. The author concludes that this type of complication could be detected rapidly by CAT scanning, with no risk to the patient.