Decolourization of dye-containing effluent using mineral coagulants produced by electrocoagulation.

The colour and colour causing-compounds has always been undesirable in water for any use, be it industrial or domestic wastewaters. The discharge of such effluents causes excessive oxygen demand in the receiving water and then a treatment is required before discharge into ecosystems. This study examined the possibility to remove colour causing-compounds from effluent by chemical coagulation, in comparison with direct electrocoagulation.

[When should mitral valve prolapse be considered a real disease?].

Mitral valve prolapse should be considered as a disease when superior displacement of the mitral leaflets during systole is more than 2 mm with a maximal leaflet thickness of at least 5 mm. Using these criteria, the prevalence of mitral valve prolapse is 1.3% in the general population, nearly the same in men and women.

Sleep apnoea syndrome and the extent of atherosclerotic lesions in middle-aged men with myocardial infarction.

Background: To determine whether extended atherosclerotic lesions are correlated to the presence of sleep breathing disorders.

Experimental Design: A prospective clinical study.

Setting: A tertiary regional referral center.

[Radiofrequency ablation in auricular flutter. Predictive factors of primary success and medium term results].

Ninety-one consecutive patients underwent radiofrequency ablation of chronic or paroxysmal atrial flutter. The average age of the patients was 66. There was a previous history of atrial fibrillation in 38% of cases and of cardiac surgery in 14.

[Ostial stenosis of the common trunk of the left coronary artery 20 years after mediastinal irradiation].

A 43-year-old woman with no risk factors received mediastinal radiotherapy of 35 Grays at the age of 23 years for Hodgkin's disease, followed by cure of the neoplastic disease. Twenty years later, following a threatened infarction syndrome, coronary angiography revealed ostial stenosis of the left coronary trunk. The course was rapidly unfavourable immediately following the examination.

[Predictive factors of smoking cessation after myocardial infarction. Review of the literature].

This paper reviews the current state of knowledge about smoking after myocardial infarction in smokers. After presenting results emphasizing the value of post-infarction smoking cessation, all of the predisposing factors to smoking cessation are analysed. The objective of this review of the literature is to recognize these factors in order to more precisely define the various medical, psychological and social aspects of an assistance programme adapted to post-infarction smoking cessation.

[Lactobacillus acidophilus endocarditis].

Background: Lactobacillus is a commensal germ found in the buccal cavity, the digestive tract and the vagina. Usually non-pathogenic except in case of dental caries, it can occasionally be the causal agent in severe endocarditis.

Case Report: A 70-year-old woman developed endocarditis on an aortic valve bioprosthesis.

[Postoperative transparietal Doppler ultrasonographic study of the internal mammary artery graft flow with respect to quality of the underlying myocardium].

The authors studied flow in the internal mammary artery by Doppler ultrasonography after bypass surgery of the left anterior descending artery to determine the correlation between the flow pattern and the quality of the distal run off. A pulsed Doppler was used to record flow from the right and left internal mammary arteries in the first, second and third intercostal spaces and the supraclavicular fossa. Only the best quality recordings with the highest amplitudes were retained for analysis.

[Efficacy and tolerability of trandolapril in overweight hypertensive patients].

An open multicentre study, performed in 340 overweight (body mass index: BMI > or = 25), hypertensive (95 mmHg < or = DBP < 115 mmHg) patients, evaluated the clinical and metabolic safety of trandolapril and confirmed its antihypertensive activity. After a two-week washout period, the patients received trandolapril 2 mg as a single morning dose for 12 weeks. Doubling of the dosage was authorized after the first four weeks when the DBP remained higher than 90 mmHg with a fall in DBP < 10 mmHg.

Acute limb ischemia and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: the value of echocardiography in eliminating a cardiac source of arterial emboli.

We report an unusual thromboembolic event occurring during severe heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. A left intraventricular thrombus was diagnosed as the source of multiple arterial emboli, resulting in an initial cerebrovascular event and subsequent bilateral acute lower extremity ischemia requiring emergency surgery. No underlying heart disease was detected.

Role of transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis and management of traumatic aortic disruption.

Background: Traumatic disruption of the aorta (TDA) is a life-threatening injury that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment. Emergency aortography, which is the current standard diagnostic imaging modality, is invasive, time-consuming, and difficult to perform in hemodynamically unstable patients with multiple trauma. We performed transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in patients with suspected TDA to determine the diagnostic accuracy and impact on patient management of this alternative, portable imaging modality.

[Total permanent auricular paralysis. Review of the literature apropos of 109 cases].

Analysis of 109 well documented cases of permanent total atrial paralysis reported in the literature illustrated the features of this arrhythmia which is a well defined entity consisting of suppression of all electrical and mechanical activity of both atria lasting for more than 6 months. Standard electrocardiogram reveals junctional bradycardia of about 40 bpm without any visible P waves and narrow supraventricular QRS complexes in 80% of cases. This diagnosis can only be confirmed by meticulous bipolar endocavitary recordings exploring all atrial walls without recording an auriculogram and by right intra-atrial and coronary sinus stimulation which proves to be ineffective.

Transesophageal echocardiography for the diagnosis and management of nonobstructive thrombosis of mechanical mitral valve prosthesis.

Background: Diagnosis of a mechanical mitral valve prosthesis thrombosis is currently made with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography and occasionally with fluoroscopy. However, identifying a thrombus on a valve prosthesis may be difficult, especially if the thrombus is nonobstructive. To prospectively define the role of transesophageal echocardiography for identification of nonobstructive thrombi, we studied a series of patients in whom the prosthetic valve was considered to function normally on clinical examination and transthoracic echocardiography.

[Prognostic effect of diverse surgical parameters in significant stenoses of the left coronary trunk. Retrospective study of 185 cases].

A retrospective study of 185 cases of left main coronary artery stenosis operated between 1980-01-01 and 1991-06-15 at the Limoges University Hospital Center was performed. The influence of operative procedures: cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross clamping times, type and number of coronary grafts, time between coronary surgery and coronary angiography, on early (before the 30th days after surgery) and late postoperative vital prognosis was studied. This study confirms in our study the poor early postoperative prognosis of: 1) cardiopulmonary bypass time over 140 min; 2) coronary bypasses in an emergency context (surgery less than 24 h after coronary angiography); 3) incomplete coronary revascularization.

[Syncopal angina caused by sinus arrest; cured by transluminal coronary angioplasty and calcium inhibitor].

The authors report the case of a 42 year old man who smoked and who presented with recurrent spontaneous anginal chest pain followed by syncope due to sinus arrest. The mechanism underlying these symptoms was spasm of the left circumflex artery at the site of severe stenosis of its middle segment just before the origin of the sinus node artery. Treatment with a calcium antagonist with transluminal coronary angioplasty of the narrowed segment of the circumflex artery resulted in complete regression of all symptoms with a follow-up of 15 months.

[Frequency of angiographic restenosis after 6 months and long-term outcome of coronary angioplasty].

Five hundred patients with a mean age of 59 years were followed up for an average of 32 months after coronary angioplasty. All patients were included in a prospective study comprising coronary angiography at 6 months for 379 patients (91% primary successes). The long-term outcome was evaluated by a questionnaire or telephone interview in all cases.

[Significant stenosis of the common trunk of the left coronary artery. Retrospective study of 227 cases].

Significant left main coronary artery disease is a separate disease entity in coronary artery disease. The prognosis is classically poor and the treatment of choice is surgical. A retrospective study of patients with left main coronary disease, diagnosed and treated at the CHRU Dupuytren, Limoges, between 1/01/80 and 15/06/91 was undertaken to determine the aetiological, clinical and therapeutic factors which influence mortality related to this condition.