Angiosarcoma of the eyelid.

Background: Angiosarcomas are uncommon malignant tumours of vascular endothelium. They frequently affect the face and scalp, but to our knowledge there are only three reports of eyelid involvement.

Methods/results: We report a case of angiosarcoma arising from the eyelid skin in a 79-year-old woman.

The bilobed flap in medial canthal reconstruction.

Background: Although several techniques for repair of medial canthal defects have been described, most have shortcomings which prevent satisfactory repair. We describe the use of a bilobed flap which allows for optimal reconstruction in this area.

Surgical Technique: A bilobed flap was used to repair 36 medial canthal defects in 35 patients.

Effect of ethanol on development of fetal mouse thymocytes in organ culture.

Exposure of mouse fetuses to ethanol in utero retards thymus development. The direct effect of ethanol on growth and differentiation of thymocytes was studied using organ cultures of 14-day fetal mouse thymuses. Fetal thymus organ cultures containing 0.

Experience with three different third-generation cardioverter-defibrillators in patients with coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathy.

Clinical investigations are being performed in multiprogrammable devices whose therapeutic options include antitachycardia pacing, cardioversion, defibrillation and bradycardia pacing. Three different third-generation devices were implanted in 46 research patients at 1 clinical center to document their safety and efficacy for the treatment of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. Additionally, the purpose of the study was to determine if antitachycardia pacing is a desirable and frequently used feature of tiered devices.

Conversion rates of induced versus spontaneous ventricular tachycardia by a third generation cardioverter defibrillator. The VENTAK PRx Phase I Investigators.

Seventy consecutive patients received the first VENTAK PRx pulse generators (Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.) implanted in the United States. This multiprogrammable device has therapeutic options that include: (1) antitachycardia pacing; (2) low energy cardioversion; (3) defibrillation shocks; and (4) bradycardia pacing.

Ocular complications of bone marrow transplantation.

Forty-one patients who had undergone bone marrow transplantation were examined. Nineteen (63%) of the 30 who had received fractionated total body irradiation (TBI) had cataracts in comparison with only 1 (9%) of the 11 non-irradiated patients. No significant differences in steroid therapy were demonstrated between these groups of patients.

Ninety-six episodes of spontaneous ventricular tachycardia in 1 week: success of ramp pacing by a pacer-cardioverter-defibrillator.

This case report describes the flexibility and usefulness of a pacer-cardioverter-defibrillator for the management of a 63-year-old patient with malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Ninety of 96 episodes of ventricular tachycardia were terminated successfully with ramp pacing in a 1-week period. In those patients who have frequent episodes of ventricular tachycardia that respond to antitachycardia pacing, the multifunction device can add to the patient's comfort and increase acceptance of this type of device.

Effects of the angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitor perindopril on cerebral blood flow in awake hypertensive rats.

As chronic hypertension shifts the lower limit of cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation to higher pressure levels, we studied the effects of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, perindopril on mean arterial pressure (mean BP), basal CBF, and CBF autoregulation in awake renovascular hypertensive (2 kidneys, 1 clip model) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Blood pressure was measured via a chronically implanted arterial cannula and CBF by hydrogen clearance. Chronic renovascular hypertension, like spontaneous hypertension, caused a marked shift in the lower limit of CBF autoregulation but did not alter basal CBF.

A prospective study utilizing a transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission program to manage patients in the first several months post-ICD implant.

We prospectively enrolled 20 consecutive patients (11 men and 9 women; mean age 63 +/- 9.5 years) post-AICD implant in a transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission (TET) program. The monitor was chosen for its retrograde (30 seconds) and antegrade memory capabilities (45 seconds).

Prognostic significance of the pattern visual evoked potential in ocular hypertension.

This paper reports a prospective study on 49 ocular hypertensive patients to evaluate the prognostic significance of transient abnormalities in the pattern visual evoked potential (VEP) in the development of glaucoma. Seven of 24 patients with VEP abnormalities at diagnosis of ocular hypertension developed glaucomatous field defects in the follow-up period as compared with none of 25 patients with normal VEPs at diagnosis. We conclude that appropriately designed pattern VEP testing is a valuable complement to careful (preferably computerised, static) perimetry.

Long-term community hospital experience with the internal defibrillator.

Seventy-seven patients with drug refractory ventricular tachycardia (57) and ventricular fibrillation (20) received the implantable defibrillator. There were 55 men and 22 women with a mean age of 63 +/- 10 years. The anatomical diagnoses were coronary artery disease in 61 patients, cardiomyopathy in 15 patients, and aortic stenosis in one patient.

The value of plain radiography in suspected intraocular foreign body.

Patients presenting to an eye casualty department with a history of exposure to high velocity particles often undergo radiological investigation to rule out clinically undetected intraocular foreign bodies (IOFB). We reviewed the indications for and the results of X-rays performed in our eye department over a five year period to determine the effectiveness of such screening. Our results suggest that most of the X-rays are performed needlessly and that radiological investigation could be restricted to those patients with clinical evidence of penetrating ocular and orbital trauma and patients with subconjunctival haemorrhage.

Chronic treatment with the angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitor, perindopril, restores the lower limit of autoregulation of cerebral blood flow in the awake renovascular hypertensive rat.

Chronic hypertension shifts the lower limit of cerebral blood flow autoregulation to a higher pressure level. Although acute administration of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors restores the lower limit of cerebral blood flow autoregulation the chronic effects have not received much attention. We studied the effect of the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, perindopril, on mean arterial pressure, basal cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood flow autoregulation in renovascular hypertensive (two-kidney, one clip model) and normotensive male Wistar rats.

AIDS knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in Kansas.

Clearly, medical professionals and educators must mobilize in supporting personal, professional and public AIDS education efforts. AIDS health education should continue to emphasize facts and dispel myths about risk associated with blood donation, casual contact, mosquitos and sharing eating utensils. Messages should encourage counseling, testing for those at risk and resource referrals, and should urge compassion.