Regional anaesthesia for a Caesarean section in women with cardiac disease: a prospective study.

Background: We conducted a prospective observational survey of pregnant women with cardiac disease. The aim was to analyse and present the mode of delivery, outcome, and haemodynamic changes during a caesarean section under regional anaesthesia in women with cardiac disease.

Methods: All pregnant women with a cardiovascular diagnosis, except hypertension, were included in the registry.

[Middle-aged man with fever, hypoxia and bilateral alveolar infiltrates].

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare condition characterized by excessive amounts of surfactant phospholipids and proteins within the pulmonary alveoli. Depending on the amount of surfactant in the alveoli, varying degrees of disturbed gas exchange develop. We report the case of a middle-aged man presenting with fever, dyspnoe, cough and bilateral alveolar infiltrates on chest X-ray.

Perioperative cardiac function and predictors for adverse events after transmyocardial laser treatment.

Background: Previous studies have reported that mortality and morbidity after transmyocardial laser treatment (TML) mainly occur perioperatively. The present study was designed to evaluate left-ventricular function and identify risk factors for cardiac-related adverse events in this phase.

Methods: Forty-nine patients were studied.

Transmyocardial revascularization with CO2 laser in patients with refractory angina pectoris. Clinical results from the Norwegian randomized trial.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate clinical effects, exercise performance and effect on maximal oxygen consumption (MVO2) of transmyocardial revascularization with CO2-laser (TMR) in patients with refractory angina pectoris.

Background: Transmyocardial laser revascularization is a new method to treat patients with refractory angina pectoris not eligible for conventional revascularization. Few randomized studies comparing TMR with conventional treatment have been published.

[Video-assisted heart surgery--an alternative in the future?].

Percutaneous angioplasty has been the procedure of choice for one- or two-vessel coronary artery disease because it is less invasive than open heart surgery. Video-assisted coronary artery bypass surgery, using the internal mammary artery, may be an alternative method which is also less invasive than conventional open heart surgery. A technique of video-assisted coronary bypass surgery is described.

Single lung transplantation. Surgical experiences with the first seven patients.

Seven single lung transplants are reported. The patients were severely disabled and oxygen dependent below sixty years of age with a poor prognosis. Diagnosis were alfa 1-antitrypsin deficiency (3), sarcoidosis (3) and idiopathic emphysema (1).

[Single lung transplantation as treatment of terminal lung diseases].

The article describes the first cases of single lung transplantation in Norway. The indication for surgery was end-stage pulmonary disease (1 sarcoidosis, 2 emphysema) in three severely disabled patients requiring administration of oxygen. The operation necessitated cardiopulmonary bypass in all patients.