Massive pulmonary thromboembolism during elective spine surgery.

Massive pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is a condition that can still be seen in the operating room despite the use of thromboprophylaxis. A high degree of suspicion of this condition is necessary to achieve an early diagnosis and a rapid treatment to improve patient outcome. We report on a 27-year-old patient who sustained a massive PTE while undergoing a second-stage anterior release and posterior fusion of his thoracolumbar spine for idiopathic scoliosis.

Cerebellar hemorrhage caused by cerebrospinal fluid leak after spine surgery.

Spine surgery is associated with a wide range of surgical and anesthetic complications. Excessive cerebrospinal fluid leak can be a cause of cerebellar hemorrhage postoperatively. We report a 43-yr-old patient who had lumbar spine reexploration surgery complicated by a cerebrospinal fluid leak which led to cerebellar hemorrhage manifested by postoperative mental status changes.

Comorbidity in dementia: an autopsy study.

Context: There is a paucity of accurate postmortem data pertinent to comorbid medical conditions in patients with dementia, including Alzheimer disease.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were (a) to examine general autopsy findings in patients with a dementia syndrome and (b) to establish patterns of central nervous system comorbidity in these patients.

Design: Review of autopsy reports and selected case material from 202 demented patients who had "brain-only" autopsies during a 17-year period (1984-2000) and from 52 demented patients who had general autopsies during a 6-year period (1995-2000).

CD54 and CD62L expression by lymphoid cells in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children.

Altered expression or function of adhesion molecules on leukaemic blasts may contribute to the evolution and biological behaviour of acute leukaemia. This work studies the expression of CD54 and CD62L by lymphoid cells and the serum level of the shed form of L-selectin (sL-selectin) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) at initial diagnosis and after first remission, and their relationship to disease activity and subtype. The study is conducted on 20 children (age range 2-10 years) newly diagnosed with ALL and admitted to Alexandria University Children's Hospital.

The anesthetic management of ventricular septal defect (VSD) repair in a child with mitochondrial cytopathy.

Purpose: To present the anesthetic management for the correction of a ventricular septal defect (VSD) in a patient with multiple acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (glutaric aciduria type II; GAII). A review of the literature about anesthetic management of patients with mitochondrial diseases undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is also included.

Clinical Features: An 11-yr-old girl with GAII manifested as severe hypoglycemia since she was a newborn and generalized muscle weakness.