Transection of the retrohepatic vena cava in a case of total situs inversus following blunt trauma.

Total transection of the retrohepatic inferior vena cava from blunt trauma is a rare and usually fatal injury. Such an injury in a patient with total situs inversus and previous surgical correction of great vessel transposition is described. A possible mechanism for the injury is suggested.

Cost-benefit analysis of two strategies for prevention of Haemophilus influenzae type b infection.

A cost-benefit analysis for Haemophilus influenzae type b disease prevention was developed to examine two officially recommended preventive strategies: H influenzae type b capsular polysaccharide immunization and rifampin prophylaxis of exposed contacts. The social costs of H influenzae type b disease in the 1984 US birth cohort will be $1.937 billion when base case assumptions are made.

[Cantrell's syndrome].

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is associated with a high mortality, especially when combined with other defects. The unusual repeated combination of the same congenital abnormalities by a number of patients and the fact that during embryonic life these organs develop from the mesoderm implies the existence of a specific syndrome. This article summarises the available clinical data and reports on three cases with Cantrell's syndrome, showing different pattern of congenital defects such as: 1) supraumbilical abdominal wall defects; 2) a defect of the lower sternum; 3) a deficiency of the anterior diaphragm; 4) a defect in the diaphragmatic pericardium; 5) congenital intracardiac defects.

[Ovarian pseudocysts in female newborn infants: prenatal ultrasonic diagnosis and surgical consequences].

During the last year we diagnosed within the scope of preventive medical care of pregnant women in about the 30th pregnancy week, seven foetuses with abdominal cystic tumours by ultrasound examination. Postpartal ultrasound controls of the mature newborn confirmed the findings. After laparotomy we found ovarian pseudocysts with a volume up to 90 ccm.

Evaluation of a commercially available latex agglutination test for rapid diagnosis of group B streptococcal infection.

We studied the clinical value of Wellcogen, a latex particle agglutination test designed to diagnose rapidly Group B streptococcal infections in 620 infants. The sensitivity and specificity were 18 of 20 (90%) and 18 of 22 (81%), respectively. False negatives were documented in 2 patients and false positive tests occurred in 4.

[Intestinal invagination. Analysis of case reports in the last 45 years].

The retrospective study analyses 219 children with intussusception, who were treated in the Dpt. of Pediatric Surgery, university of Heidelberg between 1942 and 1986. The patients were divided into three groups.

[Gastrointestinal perforations in neonatal surgery].

From 1970 until 1987 we treated 69 newborns with gastro-intestinal perforations. Immediate measures in form of laparotomy were undoubtedly necessary. Regarding our casuistic the authors present the clinical findings, necessary preoperative diagnostic measures and intra-operative and postoperative treatment.

Tumour-induced intraluminal stenoses of the cervical trachea--tumour excision and tracheoplasty.

Three children with stenoses of the cervical trachea caused by tumours are reported on. The first was a 13-year-old girl with a sarcoma of the tracheal wall 20 cm down. We performed partial resection of the trachea and turned a skin flap according to Denecke into the defect.

Hemophilus influenzae type B disease in children vaccinated with type B polysaccharide vaccine.

We studied 55 cases of invasive Hemophilus influenzae type b disease occurring in children at least three weeks after vaccination with type b polysaccharide vaccine. Their mean age at the time of immunization was 27.8 months (range, 18 to 47).

[Peculiarities of juvenile vertebral fractures and dislocations of the cervical vertebrae].

In addition to diagnostic and therapeutic problems of the bony spine injuries in childhood, questions of the participation of the growth plate arise and indicate the following treatment. In the last decade we treated 23 spine injuries, resulting after fall from height. Most of the cases showed single to multiple compression fractures of the anterior spine followed in a descending frequence by the lateral compression fractures, the disconnection ot the epiphyseal plate of the axis and the actual luxation fractures with injury of the stratum germinativum.

Pathogenicity of a rifampin-resistant cerebrospinal fluid isolate of Haemophilus influenzae type b.

Two children in a day care facility developed Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis. The second child was enrolled in the facility after rifampin had been administered to the other attendees. The isolate from the first child was susceptible to rifampin, but the isolate from the second was resistant.

Haemophilus influenzae type b infections in day care attendees: implications for management.

Haemophilus influenzae type b is a major cause of several infectious syndromes in young children, the most important of which is meningitis. The mortality rate for H. influenzae meningitis in the United States is less than 10%; 10%-15% of survivors are left with neurologic sequelae.

[Delivery planning and interdisciplinary management of large coccygeal teratomas].

Prenatal sonographic screening and a growing experience of examiners with regard to possible congenital malformations such as large coccygeal teratomas have induced the request for an early interdisciplinary consultation between obstetrician, human geneticist, paediatric surgeon, neonatologist and psychologist. It should aim at a careful information and counselling of the parents with regard to the mode of delivery and possibilities of operative management. The prerequisites for far sighted planning and performance of delivery are demonstrated by the example of large coccygeal teratomas.

[Delayed diagnosis in right sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia].

Report on two cases with delayed diagnosis of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The cause of partial and total opacity of the right chest was recognised only after thoracotomy which followed misdirected diagnostic procedures such as tomography, bronchoscopy and repeated punctures of the pleural cavity. In both cases a transdiaphragmatic liver prolapse with signs of transthoracic liver punctures was found.

Effect of rifampin chemoprophylaxis on carriage eradication and new acquisition of Haemophilus influenzae type b in contacts.

We conducted a multicenter trial designed to assess the efficacy of three different drug regimens on eradication of Haemophilus influenzae type b (HIB) from the nasopharynx of household contacts of patients with invasive type b Haemophilus disease. The drug regimens studied were rifampin, 20 mg/kg, once daily for four days; rifampin, 10 mg/kg, twice a day for four days; and placebo, once daily for four days. Shortly after admission of the index patient to the hospital, 26% of 492 household contacts were found to be colonized with HIB.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis in a 6-week-old infant.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis was documented in a 6-week-old infant with Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis who received many medications. We inoculated infant mice with the K. pneumoniae isolate but were unable to produce histologic changes resembling those seen in our patient.

[Cystic duplications of the cervical esophagus].

Cystic duplications in the cervical region are very rare. In most cases compression of the trachea leads to severe symptoms of respiration. Two cases of cystic duplication are described - a nine months old child and a newborn baby.